To build, or not to build, more housing To build, or not to build, more housing (August 19, 2005)

When it comes to providing rental and affordable housing, Mountain View routinely finishes near the top among Peninsula cities, and the present City Council seems to be poised to continue the trend.

As noted in a series of Voice articles over the last two weeks, the city has more requests than ever to approve dense housing projects on sites once zoned as commercial or industrial. The reason: The price of single-family housing is skyrocketing, while commercial rentals are plagued by high vacancy rates and slumping income. Property owners who never considered building housing now are lined up at City Hall to do just that.

At the same time, many residents who live next to or near the planned projects fear their quality of life and property values will plummet if huge developments are permitted next door. In the case of Mayfield Mall, a 27-acre now-vacant property, residents in the adjoining Monta Loma subdivision, with about six houses per acre, are not happy that 631 units (just over an average of 23 units per acre) are planned for the site.

Many city officials understand their concern, but believe their mission is to provide as much housing as they can for the 15,000 workers a day who must travel to Mountain View because they cannot find homes here. For these commuters, even an affordable apartment or condominium in Mountain View may be better than an East Bay home that is an hour or more away in heavy commuter traffic.

So far the City Council has not given its final approval to the Mayfield project, or the others that are seeking the right to change zoning from commercial to residential, but all indications are that the proposal will be approved despite neighborhood opposition.

And although we sympathize with neighbors, at this time it is difficult to justify turning down offers to build housing on the Peninsula. Unfortunately, the days of building affordable single-family homes on large tracts of land are over in the Valley. With median single-family home prices in Mountain View steaming past $500,000, even more "affordable" homes, condos or townhouses are increasingly out of reach to workers who survive on wages that never would allow them to qualify for a housing loan.

But while more housing is needed, city officials must do everything they can to alleviate negative impacts from the more dense developments that are in the works or coming soon. In the case of Mayfield Mall, a group of single-family homes will be built on the periphery of large portions of the project to ease the transition from the new to the old neighborhood. The city should also ensure that the developer provides open space on the site, rather than paying an in-lieu fee to skip that requirement. Landscaping, traffic control, parks and common areas also could help bond the old and new neighborhoods.

With its acknowledged support of housing, Mountain View can lead the way by showing how relatively dense developments can fit into older residential neighborhoods. To do so will mean the city cannot rubber stamp developers' plans just to accomplish a housing goal. City officials, and the council, should take extra care to make sure every job is done right.

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