The City Council unanimously voted to study potential changes to the city's general plan on Tuesday, including the possibility of allowing 1,500 homes in the neighborhood near Google headquarters.
Council members had expressed reservations about allowing homes among the office buildings of North Bayshore, as new residents there could protest. Google's workplace services director Dan Hoffman said he supported studying the idea.
"If you don't study the options, you won't have any options," said City Manager Kevin Duggan.
Potential changes city-wide include doubling the density allowed along portions of El Camino Real and office buildings in the Whisman and North Bay Shore areas, and encouraging the revamp of the city's neighborhood shopping centers.
Resident Joan MacDonald said she was concerned that new general plan policies did not do enough to encourage subsidized affordable housing.
The council decided not to label the Francia family's orchard on Whisman Road as a community facility after concerns were expressed that it would look like a "taking," despite the neighborhood support for a park there.
Comments
Old Mountain View
on Dec 13, 2010 at 3:00 pm
on Dec 13, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I think we are generally going in the right direction with this General Plan update. During the visioning process, many residents expressed the desire to see Mountain View become a 'city of villages' - and the policies summarized here (which have been discussed & described much more in meetings the past few months) would get us closer to that point.
Putting some homes near our largest concentration of jobs would make North Bayshore a more self-sufficient 'village'. And putting a reasonable amount of new growth in targeted areas near shopping and services (like El Camino) would make these more complete as well. Better to put growth in these areas than squeeze it into the middle of our single-family neighborhoods.
Cuesta Park
on Dec 13, 2010 at 3:08 pm
on Dec 13, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I attended the meeting and noted to the council that, because of current Shoreline District tax diversions, not $1 extra would go toward school district operations. Until that situation is fixed, by either statue change (wake up Assemblyman Paul Fong), or judicial change, I think many concerned with school financing would oppose more residents down there. This would only increase the disparity in per pupil revenue between Los Altos and Mountain View elementary education.
Old Mountain View
on Dec 13, 2010 at 6:16 pm
on Dec 13, 2010 at 6:16 pm
That would be an insane mistake to not funnel those tax revenues towards schools. That area of Mountain View has no school, and the current schools would not be able to support a large increase in the number of students. A new elementary school would definitely have to be built and with any development. Or maybe re-open Whisman school.
Monta Loma
on Dec 13, 2010 at 7:47 pm
on Dec 13, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Couldn't they separate part where their planning this development apart from the rest of bayshore taxwise?
Old Mountain View
on Dec 14, 2010 at 12:40 pm
on Dec 14, 2010 at 12:40 pm
This would be great if they made these house affordable for people who don't work at Google!
Jackson Park
on Dec 14, 2010 at 3:12 pm
on Dec 14, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Why not just change the name of my city to 'Google View' I've never seen a city kiss more corporate butt in my life. What's going to happen when the evil Google decides it's time to move? Remember Silicon Graphics? How about Sun Microsystems? These issues with Google should be put up for a vote by citizens of Mountain View. This council doesn't have your best interest. How many people have been asking for school assistance? We don't need new housing and the council needs to listen to people that live in this city alone.
Cuesta Park
on Dec 16, 2010 at 9:23 am
on Dec 16, 2010 at 9:23 am
Actually, there are a lot of benefits for Mountain View if Googler's and other workers who work in shoreline commercial area live in the vicinity. Living close to work reduces the carbon footprint and relieves congestion. If/when Google does leave Mountain View, the arrangement of having housing close to commercial spaces with intentional planning will be attractive to businesses and future residents alike, and serves as a stable tax base for the city.
Developing local infrastructure so that work/live/play can be accomplished more locally is a good thing, and a better balance than what we currently have.
Old Mountain View
on Dec 16, 2010 at 12:58 pm
on Dec 16, 2010 at 12:58 pm
The city isn't concerned about adding tax revenue from this development for our schools. Google will start their own charter school and will not concern themselves with the rest of the cities schools......Do you people think they are going to bus their kids across highway 101.
................"JUST THINK ABOUT IT".............
Old Mountain View
on Dec 16, 2010 at 1:03 pm
on Dec 16, 2010 at 1:03 pm
How many of these houses are going to qualify as "Low Income Housing Units"???????????????????????????????????