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Mountain View is planning to make zoning changes to accommodate more housing growth, despite concerns that it could push out small businesses in certain parts of the city.
In a 5-1 vote, the City Council supported a staff recommendation for the city to update its zoning and land use designations, as part of a larger directive to meet its housing goals. The changes make good on the city’s newly updated housing element, which calls for rezoning certain commercial properties to better support residential development.
Council member John McAlister cast the dissenting vote at the Tuesday, Feb. 11 meeting while Council member Pat Showalter was absent from the proceedings.
The city’s housing element, updated in 2023, identified several pockets of the city that could support more residential development. In addition to the commercial properties, the housing element also flags the Mountain View Transit Center as an opportunity for more housing.
The council report described some of these areas as having older, vacant or underutilized lots, and called out properties along Leong Drive and Fairchild Drive. It also identified properties at 1702 and 1704 Miramonte Ave., 777 Cuesta Drive, 1949 Grant Road and 677-699 Calderon Ave.
Last month, the Environmental Planning Commission supported the staff recommendation to rezone these areas, but expressed concern that it could displace existing tenants from “naturally affordable” commercial sites.
At the council meeting, McAlister raised the same concerns. He pointed out that 677-699 Calderon Ave. is a strip mall that accommodates four or five small businesses.
“They could be displaced or put out of business,” McAlister said.
Many of the sites would still include a commercial component if rezoned as a Mixed-Use Village Center, according to Principal Planner Eric Anderson. But he also noted that the zoning did not require the same amount of commercial floor area, and existing tenants might not have space set aside for them to return to the new development.
City Council member Alison Hicks also sought to find ways to protect small businesses, and whether that should be a part of the council’s motion Tuesday or rolled into the city’s economic development strategy.
Community Development Director Christian Murdock said that city staff could explore more options as part of the zoning updates, like how to incentivize the preservation of commercial floor areas for small businesses or the return of existing tenants to developments.
On the whole, the City Council backed the staff recommendation to rezone these sites for higher housing density, with a request to look into small business protections too.
City Council member Emily Ann Ramos expressed particular enthusiasm for the Mountain View Transit Center – a site that city staff say could go as 75 residential units per acre.
“I’m totally open to making it as tall as possible,” Ramos said, noting that the city still needed to have discussions with Caltrain before anything could actually be built.
City staff always say “well we Could look into xxx options” and then they complain that they are over burdened with work.
They are so slow (and burdened) nobody wants to go through the process of setting up shop on Castro.
Staff either needs to sign up and do things or stop pretending they may do things just to convince Alison Hicks there’s a chance the world will be a better place.
I agree with Emily the Caltrain parking lot needs to be turned into a 20 story building. And in return for the height, make sure the developer puts a daycare on the ground floor.
Where can the public comment on the zoning updates?