MV approves ceding properties to Los Altos

To hear Stephen Friedman describe it, his neighborhood of Jardin Drive is like Mountain View’s version of the Bermuda Triangle. For the more than 30 years he’s lived there, he’s gotten used to having to explain to garbage men, emergency responders and sometimes even city officials that, yes, his house is in Mountain View.

For reasons that remain unclear, the Mountain View boundary along the southwest corner of town juts down like a hanging tooth to encompass a stretch of Friedman’s block. That means Friedman’s home and five other households belong to Mountain View even though they’re surrounded on three sides by the borders of Los Altos.

This might not seem like a big deal, but those who live there say that it is. While Los Altos houses on either side of the block have addresses in the 300s, Friedman and his neighbors have addresses in the 2100s. That anomaly alone produces a string of problems. He remembers calling 911 years ago after his wife fell unconscious, and the emergency crews couldn’t find his house.

“If you blink, you miss our homes — that’s the nature of these illogical boundaries,” Friedman described.

His neighbors who share his plight couldn’t agree more. On Tuesday they rallied before the Mountain View City Council to advocate a solution: having their properties formally incorporated into Los Altos. In a complicated process that needs to be approved by both cities, the households requested modifying the borders as well as the federal postal codes to add the six parcels to Los Altos.

“It’s nothing against Mountain View,” said Barbara Daniels, one of the affected homeowners. “But the streets, the school system … the surrounding area feels more like Los Altos.”

Losing territory isn’t something any level-headed government undertakes lightly, but Mountain View staff admitted that the Jardin Drive properties are truly in a unique situation that straddled both cities. For those six homes, services such as water and garbage pickup are handled by Mountain View while sewers and street maintenance are the responsibility of Los Altos.

It seems that no one really knows how this came to be the case. Friedman, who might have done the most research on the matter, said it apparently dated back to the 1950s when both cities were rapidly expanding in competition with one another. A developer built the Jardin Drive homes in the Los Altos unincorporated area and Mountain View later annexed the parcels. Yet the properties in many ways were treated like they were part of Los Altos, he said. Many county maps from the time didnt’ show the property as part of Mountain View, he said.

“I could show you seven maps at the county and every one of them are different — some show us in Los Altos; some show us in Mountain View,” Friedman said.

Adding to the tangle, the workmen building the original homes connected the sewer lines to the Los Altos system. Friedman guesses this was done for expediency.

This emerged as a major issue in recent years as Jardin Drive homeowners attempted to get permits for remodels, and Mountain View staff informed them that they had to pay for a new connection back to the city’s sewer system. This would cost $30,000 or more, Friedman estimated. Asked about this on Tuesday night, Public Works department officials explained they would make this requirement regardless of the city boundary issue because the sewer main underneath the homes is due to be replaced.

Mountain View staff ended up siding with the Jardin Drive residents. On Tuesday night, they recommended that a relatively simple way to clean up this issue would be to allow the parcels to join Los Altos. By doing this, Mountain View’s only direct cost would be the loss of some property taxes, worth about $9,000 a year.

But some in the audience said that far more was at stake. Local attorney Gary Wesley warned city officials that the Jardin Drive homeowners likely had an ulterior motive in trying to join Los Altos, saying their property values would skyrocket.

“Everyone on the border with Los Altos or Palo Alto who wants to live in those cities and make more money, they can now apply to (leave) your city.” he said. “I would be surprised if their property values didn’t increase by $300,000.”

Wesley wasn’t the only one with that perspective. In the audience, a group of Los Altos homeowners were watching the Mountain View council meeting intently, and said that they were concerned that annexing Mountain View homes could sink their property values.

It’s pretty much indisputable that the Jardin Drive homes would see a significant property value bump if they had a Los Altos address, according to Coldwell Banker real estate agent Theresa Couture. Exactly how much would depend on the list of factors for each individual parcel, such as lot size, home condition, and even the house’s direction in relation to the sun, she told the Voice. When it comes to government boundaries, Couture said, the biggest factor for home values is the school district, although the city can also be a significant element.

“The median price in Los Altos is much higher than the median price in Mountain View,” she said. “If I was in Mountain View and the city was going to put me in Los Altos, I’d be pretty happy with that.”

Asked about the property value gain, Friedman said that wasn’t what he and his neighbors cared about.

“The housing prices aren’t very different; the tax rates are about the same. The school district is what people are after,” he said. “I don’t think (property value) is a big deal — that’s not my motive.”

Most council members gave the residents the benefit of the doubt. A few on the council talked about how they learned of the odd neighborhood as they were walking precincts for past elections.

“I remember getting out the precinct map and wondering ‘What the heck is happening here?’ In a rational world this would be in Los Altos, but it’s in Mountain View,” said Councilman Chris Clark. “This is an anomaly and we have the opportunity to clean it up.”

But Councilman Ken Rosenberg admitted he had his suspicions. Before the meeting, he said he spoke with the residents petitioning to leave Mountain View to ask if there was a way to keep their parcels in the city. If the city worked to resolve the sewer and address issues, would the residents be willing to stay in Mountain View?

“Their answer was definitively no — they want to move to Los Altos,” Rosenberg said. “I can only assume that the reason for that is monetary: their housing values do go up.”

Saying he didn’t like the lack of honesty, Rosenberg cast the lone vote to oppose the transfer. The City Council approved supporting giving the six parcels to Los Altos in a 5-1 vote. Councilman Mike Kasperzak recused himself from the vote since he lives in the vicinity.

With Mountain View’s approval, the residents now will petition Los Altos to also sign off on the transfer. As part of the transfer, the Jardin Drive residents will be required to pay for new hookups for CalWater, the water service used in Los Altos. After that, the boundary change will also need to be approved by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission.