Re: Council Policy G-3 and CEQA Guidelines

Dear Chair Ramirez and Members of the Council Policy and Procedures Committee:

Mountain View YIMBY would like the Committee to include the 1992 CEQA Guidelines (referenced in Council Policy G-3) as part of the FY 2025-2027 City Council Work Plan item on updating council policies.

The 1992 CEQA Guidelines dictate how the city follows CEQA, and they were converted from Policy to Guidelines in 1992 due to concern about how out of date the policy was. However, the Guidelines have likewise been left untouched for decades, even as CEQA and the city have changed considerably.

Re: Agenda item 5.1

Dear Environmental Planning Commissioners,

We are concerned that the city’s priorities lean towards resisting change rather than encouraging housing.

Housing Element programs 1.4 (Religious and Community Assembly Sites for Housing) and 2.6 (Affirmatively Further Fair Housing) were created as the programs to address fair housing concerns under state and federal law by allowing a meaningful amount of affordable housing in areas that don’t see much physical change and have thus locked out those of lower incomes. These programs have been delayed without explanation even after limiting changes to a few lots, and Q4 2027 would be three years from what the city committed to the state.

At its May 26 meeting, the City Council introduced on first reading the city code amendments that implement AB 130 (Item 6.2). The headline result is good: qualifying housing projects that use the new statutory CEQA exemption will be approved at staff level, with no Environmental Planning Commission hearing and no Council hearing. Staff noted that over the past six months the city has approved more than 1,400 units across four projects using the AB 130 exemption, and Councilmember Kamei confirmed on the dais that projects like those four will no longer come to Council once these amendments take effect.

Re: Agenda item 6.2

Dear Mayor Ramos and Members of the City Council,

Mountain View YIMBY recognizes that city staff has the tough work of revising a municipal code that assumes significant local discretion with state law that shortens approval timelines and curtails per-project ambiguity.

We are concerned that the newly-proposed appeals process can delay project approvals past what they are now. While the Permitting Streamlining Act sets a general approval timeline, it does not apply if there is an administrative appeal (GOV 65922(b)). The city code (Sec. 36.56.50) does not set a timeline for deciding appeals nor criteria for their basis, so a project could be indefinitely delayed just by paying the appeal fee. This is against the spirit of streamlining housing approvals.

The May 12th Council meeting was the shortest in recent memory — Mayor Ramos adjourned at 9:29 PM with a “woo-hoo!” and noted it was the earliest she’d ever adjourned a meeting. The brevity wasn’t because the agenda was light. It’s because both public hearings landed as unanimous 7-0 votes with no friendly amendments, no carve-outs, and no McAlister speech against housing. Two long-running planning efforts crossed the finish line on first reading.

Re: Agenda item 6.2

Dear Mayor Ramos and Members of the City Council,

We support the changes that align the BMR program with current economic conditions and past project experiences, specifically Amendments 4 (addressing “exactly 100% AMI”) and 5 (removing obsolete HOA reserve fund).

On Amendment 6, we continue to support a graduated fee schedule, given anecdotes of how much the fees have impacted small unit development. However, we will reiterate our request that the schedule extend to projects up to 10 units, as directed by council. Subdivision projects are already penalized by the city via the park land dedication requirement; some form of fee relief is necessary to facilitate small-scale, local-developer homeownership projects, especially as the economic climate worsens. Deferring to the Low/Middle-Income Homeownership Strategy or the 2028 BMR Review delays the ability to measure actual outcomes and increases future scope of work for not a lot of benefit.

Re: Agenda item 6.1

Dear Mayor Ramos and Members of the City Council,

Mountain View YIMBY supports work on a Citywide TDM Ordinance. A standardized framework with a parking exemption pathway for residential projects is a significant step forward from the current ad hoc, project-by-project approach. We appreciate the exemptions for residential trip caps, travel surveys, and driveway counts, and the decision to keep TMA membership optional given Prop 218 concerns identified.

Re: Agenda item 5.1

Dear Chair Hicks and Members of the Council Transportation Committee,

Mountain View YIMBY supports work on a Citywide TDM Ordinance. A standardized framework with a parking exemption pathway for residential projects is a significant step forward from the current ad hoc, project-by-project approach. We appreciate the exemptions for residential trip caps, travel surveys, and driveway counts, and the decision to keep TMA membership optional given Prop 218 concerns identified.

Re: Agenda Item 6.1, April 28, 2026 City Council Meeting (Mixed-Use Development at 843-903 Castro Street, 700 West El Camino Real, and 750 Fairmont Avenue)

Dear Mayor Ramos and City Council,

Mountain View YIMBY recommends that Council approve the project known as Castro Commons, including approving the vacation of a portion of Fairmont Avenue.

The project has had a long history, starting as a 16 unit project in 2015 that would have replaced Gateway Park. It has since become the 140 stacked flat condo project it is today, with a paseo to maintain neighborhood connectivity and ground-floor retail to retain commercial opportunity. This was the product of extensive outreach to many members of the community and voluntary review by Design Review Consultation, a rarity given streamlining reform in state housing law.

The Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee heard AB 2252 (Lee) this afternoon on what the chair described as a presentation-only basis. No vote was taken, and AB 2252 is done for this session with no four-story fallback version planned.

We’ve been pushing for single-stair reform for a while. I spoke in support at Council in December. We asked it be included in the 2026 legislative program, and Council adopted it as platform item C.37 in February. Most recently, we asked the City to make AB 2252 a priority at the Cities Association.