Re: Agenda item 6.1

Mayor Kamei & City Councilmembers,

On behalf of Mountain View YIMBY, I am writing to express several concerns about the current direction of the Historic Preservation Ordinance and Historic Register Update. Our goal is to ensure that Mountain View’s approach to historic preservation prioritizes the preservation of genuinely unique historic resources while ensuring that we respect Mountain View’s history of being a vibrant, diverse, and continually changing city that welcomes new neighbors, stays affordable for current residents, and allows architectural innovation.

To the residents of Mountain View,

Mountain View YIMBY is proud to announce our endorsements for the 2024 City Council elections. We are endorsing Pat Showalter, Chris Clark, Devon Conley, and Emily Ann Ramos—four candidates who have demonstrated their commitment to increasing housing supply, advocating for affordable housing, and making Mountain View a more inclusive and sustainable place to live.

Pat Showalter

Pat Showalter has been a consistent YIMBY advocate during her multiple tenures on the Mountain View City Council. She is a strong supporter of policies that promote new housing development and remove arbitrary constraints on housing production. Pat’s technical background as a civil engineer has given her a deep understanding of how infrastructure and housing intersect, and she has used this knowledge to champion projects that will increase the housing supply in Mountain View. We are confident that Pat will continue to push for the housing solutions our city needs. Learn more at patshowalter.com.

Re: Agenda item 7.3 – Gatekeeper Review Process

To Mayor Hicks and the City Council:

Mountain View YIMBY wishes to address item 7.3 on the agenda for January 23.

Request: Mountain View YIMBY urges the City to:

• Resume the Gatekeeper process by June 2024 under the existing rules, and
• Produce a new set of revisions to the Gatekeeper process, for implementation after June 2024, that fully comply with the legal obligations of Program 1.3 of the Housing Element.

**Concerns: **Mountain View YIMBY wishes to express concern with the actions so far undertaken to revise the Gatekeeper process (Program 1.3 of the 2023 Housing Element). As a reminder, Program 1.3 includes the following commitments:

Dear Members of the Mountain View City Council,

I am writing to you on behalf of Mountain View YIMBY, a community of pro-housing activists with a history deeply connected to North Bayshore. Our organization was born out of a shared passion for creating more housing in North Bayshore and, over the years, has grown to advocate for inclusive and abundant housing throughout our city. As one of the original members who was drawn to this cause because of the housing issues in North Bayshore, I personally want to express our deepest gratitude for your unanimous approval of the North Bayshore Master Plan.

I am pleased to write on behalf of Mountain View YIMBY that our organization strongly

**supports the March Draft **of the Housing Element with the additions in Exhibit E of the

resolution. We believe that, with those additions, the Draft fully complies with state law and

merits HCD’s prompt approval.

The March Draft is the product of two years of community outreach, extensive stakeholder engagement, and data-driven analysis. Ellen Yau, Eric Anderson, Aarti Shrivastava and other city staff should be applauded for the herculean effort and conscientious analysis that they’ve invested into this roadmap for the city’s future.

Mountain View YIMBY is thrilled to endorse Emily Ramos for the open seat on the Mountain View City Council. As a dedicated leader of our organization for many years, Emily has a deep understanding of the city’s housing crisis and a proven track record of working towards creating more affordable housing options for Mountain View residents.

As a member of the Rental Housing Commision and the current vice-chair, Emily has been instrumental in implementing a law that protects 15 thousand families from significant rent increases and evictions. She also has experience as Preservation and Protection Associate at SV@Home, where she gained deep knowledge and experience with anti-displacement policies and as a board member of the Community Services Agency, where she helped connect residents to receive assistance to prevent them from losing their homes during the pandemic. Along with her work with YIMBY, she’s also a long-time member of the League of Women Voters housing committee. Furthermore, her engagement with many different groups, including community organizations, and her understanding of the city’s government and current issues, positions her to be able to collaborate and work effectively with her fellow council members from day one.

Recommended site inventory changes:

1. Add two additional city-owned lots downtown to the site inventory.
2. Add all sites from the “back pocket” into the site inventory. 
3. Add R2 sites in high opportunity areas South of El Camino with density assumptions derived based on SB 10’s allowance for 30’ heights and ten-plexes.

Recommended programmatic changes

1.2 Eliminate Parking Minimums Standards for Affordable Housing Developments

1.3 Review and Update Ordinance and Precise Plan Residential Standards

Executive Summary

On July 14th, 2022, Mountain View YIMBY provided the City with a data-driven analysis of site capacity assumptions in Draft 1. The letter in front of you replicates our previous methodology to update our findings for Draft 2, which likewise fails to justify its capacity assumptions. Our main results are presented in Table 1, and the key takeaways are:

1. Despite HCD’s review letter¹ reminding the City that it “must demonstrate [pending] units are expected to be constructed during the planning period,” Draft 2 shares Draft 1’s unjustified assumption that 100% of pipeline projects will be built by 2031, when data shows a third of pending units fail to be built in 8 years.

   [Read More]

Re: Item 6.1 Revised 2023-2031 Draft Housing Element

To City Council:

MV YIMBY appreciates the work of staff and Council in working to create a compliant Housing Element. However, we are concerned that the revised draft still does not meet the bar of being compliant and, more fundamentally, does not sufficiently address the housing crisis.

We believe there is still time available to make changes, even if it may lead to delays with the EIR. It is better to take time and carefully prepare than to submit a less-than-compliant document requiring future revision.

We continue to believe that this housing element draft is a continuation of the existing policies that have resulted in a shortage of housing.

Site Inventory

We maintain that the general points of our earlier Site Capacity Addendum still apply to this revised draft.

Pipeline Projects

**Already-completed projects: **950 West El Camino Real had its public grand opening ceremony on May 6, 2022. In a Planning Commission meeting on Nov 14, staff stated that the project was opening and occupied under a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for months. We are concerned that there could be other projects counted in under the 6th despite having long TCOs pre-June 2022.