October 13, 2026 City Council Meeting

Video

Agenda

• 3.1 Filipino American History Month Proclamation: Reading and presentation of the proclamation for Filipino American History Month. (00:06:23)
• 3.2 United Against Hate Week Proclamation: Reading and presentation of the proclamation for United Against Hate Week. (00:11:47)
• 3.3 Compassion Week Proclamation: Reading and presentation of the proclamation for Compassion Week. (00:15:22)
• 3.4 Caltrain Presentation: Presentation by Caltrain representatives regarding service updates, ridership, and financial outlook. (00:19:47)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: Council consideration and vote on the consent calendar items. Item 4.3 is pulled for separate discussion. (00:27:58)
• 4.3 Pathways to Housing Annual Progress Report: Brief discussion and vote on the pulled consent calendar item. (00:33:34)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: Public comments on topics not listed on the meeting agenda. (00:34:27)
• 6.1 Conceptual Design for a Citywide Fiber Network: Staff presentation, public comments, and council discussion regarding the conceptual design for a citywide fiber network. (00:35:46)
• 7.1 LinkedIn Development Agreement Amendment: Public hearing, staff presentation, and vote on extending the development agreement for the LinkedIn campus. (00:54:19)
• 7.2 Interim Urgency Ordinance for Detention or Custodial Facilities: Public hearing, extensive public comment from advocates, and council vote on an urgency ordinance. (01:06:57)
• Meeting Break: The city council takes a short recess. (01:28:48)
• 7.3 Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1 and Allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area No. 1 Revenues: Public hearing, brief presentation, and vote on the annual report and assessment levy for BIA No. 1. (01:33:53)
• 7.4 Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 2 and Allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area No. 2 Revenues: Public hearing, brief presentation, and vote on the annual report and assessment levy for BIA No. 2. (01:36:28)
• 7.5 Energy Services Contract for Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Battery Energy Storage Project-Various Actions: Public hearing, staff presentation, and vote on an energy services contract for solar and battery systems at city facilities. (01:39:21)
• 8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS: Updates and reports provided by council members on their recent activities and committee meetings. (01:45:03)
• 9. ADJOURNMENT: The mayor adjourns the meeting. (01:51:30)

Transcript

3.1 Filipino American History Month Proclamation

[00:06:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Um, for item 3.1 is Filipino American History Month Proclamation. We are happy to be joined this evening by Charmaine Barreto and Kim Samson, Peninsula Chapter Lead for Filipina on the Rise to accept this proclamation. Charmaine and Kim, will you join me on the lectern.

[00:07:06] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. So the proclamation reads, Whereas, the US Senate adopted SR 120 to proclaim October 2026 as Filipino American History Month. The resolution honors the Filipino Americans' rich history, vibrant culture, and lasting contributions of Filipino Americans in California and across the nation.

[00:07:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: And, whereas the celebration of Filipino American History Month in October commemorates the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States, which occurred on October 18, 1587, when the Luzones Indios came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California.

[00:07:53] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas the official 2026 theme for Filipino American History Month is Beyond the Margins, centering intersectional Filipino American histories.

[00:08:04] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: This theme recognizes the contributions, struggles, and lived experiences of Filipino Americans who have been typically overlooked or excluded from traditional historical narratives.

[00:08:16] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: And whereas this recognition is more than a celebration of history. It honors the generations of Filipinos and Filipino Americans whose leadership, service, culture, entrepreneurship, and resilience continue to make a lasting impact in Mountain View and beyond.

[00:08:32] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now, therefore I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of October as Filipino American History Month in Mountain View. Kim, would you like to say a few words?

[00:08:53] Kim Samson: Honorable Mayor Ramos, esteemed members of the City Council and neighbors. Thank you so much for this incredible honor.

[00:09:00] Kim Samson: On behalf of Filipina on the Rise, we are deeply humbled to receive this proclamation recognizing Filipino American History Month.

[00:09:07] Kim Samson: I am Kim Samson, Peninsula Chapter Lead, and it is an honor to stand here alongside Charmaine, a Mountain View resident and fellow Filipina representing the Filipina on the Rise community.

[00:09:17] Kim Samson: This recognition is meaningful not only to our organization, but to everyone who has supported our mission and helped create a community where Filipino Americans feel seen, valued, and supported.

[00:09:27] Kim Samson: Filipino American history is also Mountain View history. As early as the 1920s, Filipino immigrants were coming to Mountain View and working in the agricultural fields that were such an important part of this community. Many also lived in Mountain View's Chinatown.

[00:09:40] Kim Samson: These early Filipino workers and families became part of the fabric of this city and of California's agricultural history. And today we have the extraordinary honor of seeing another chapter of that history unfold.

[00:09:52] Kim Samson: Earlier this year, Mayor Emily Ramos became the first person of Filipino descent to serve as Mayor of Mountain View. To witness that moment was incredibly meaningful, not only because of what it represents for Filipino Americans today, but because of the generations that came before us and helped make this moment possible.

[00:10:18] Kim Samson: From Filipino immigrants who arrived here a century ago seeking an opportunity, to a Filipina leading the city today, our history is not separate from Mountain View's history. We are a part of it.

[00:10:29] Kim Samson: Our goal at Filipina on the Rise has always been to gather Filipinas locally to support one another, grow in sisterhood, and create spaces where we feel seen, celebrated, and empowered through every chapter of our lives.

[00:10:41] Kim Samson: Seeing that work recognized today by our city leadership inspires us to continue building those connections and honoring the generations who came before us while creating opportunities for those who will come after us.

[00:10:52] Kim Samson: Thank you, Mayor Ramos and Council, for your leadership and for this beautiful proclamation. We are incredibly proud to serve this community and we look forward to many more years of working together. Thank you all so much. Maraming salamat.

[00:11:02] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. So here's the proclamation. We're gonna take a photo right in front of there and I'm gonna ask the other fellow Filipinas on the rise to join us for this photo.

[00:11:44] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right.

3.2 United Against Hate Week Proclamation

[00:11:50] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: So now for item 3.2, United Against Hate Week Proclamation. We are happy to be joined this evening by Jocelyn Chadwell, the chair of the Human Relations Commission, committee, commission? Committee.

[00:12:03] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: You're the chair, so it's all good. Jocelyn will you join me at the lectern.

[00:12:10] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: So the proclamation reads, whereas the City of Mountain View stands for diversity, inclusivity, and respect for all irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any characteristic and, whereas we reject hate, discrimination, and violence, aiming for a prejudice-free community and, whereas we collectively promote acceptance, respect, tolerance, and unity, enabling residents to live, work, and thrive without fear, and, whereas, united, we strengthen and celebrate our city's rich tapestry of cultures and perspectives, and, whereas, the City of Mountain View is fully committed to racial equity and justice as it strives to be a welcoming and inclusive community for all where every resident can live, work, and flourish without fear of hatred.

[00:13:03] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas, we support United Against Hate's movement, movement's mission to combat hate, prejudice, and intolerance such as xenophobia, antisemitism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Muslim hatred, and other bigoted views by emboldened hate groups, individuals, and intolerance in our communities.

[00:13:24] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas, the City of Mountain View seeks to join other communities in the Bay Area, California, and across the country in observing United Against Hate Week and sending a resounding message that we are united in our resolve to combat hate and promote acceptance, whereas, we call upon all residents, businesses, schools, and organizations to unite against hate, join events, and champion inclusivity, tolerance, and unity, and, whereas, we urge community members to report any hate incidents in order to combat hate effectively and promote a safer environment and community for all.

[00:14:02] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now, therefore, I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of October 18 through 24, 2026, and each and every day beyond us as United Against Hate Week in Mountain View. Jocelyn, would you like to say a few words?

[00:14:21] Jocelyn Chadwell: Sure.

[00:14:24] Jocelyn Chadwell: Yes, thank you very much, Mayor Ramos, members of the council, staff, members of the public, it is an honor to join you in accepting this proclamation. And you know, as a lifelong Mountain View resident, I feel that generally we live these values but I also feel that we need to say it out loud.

[00:14:41] Jocelyn Chadwell: We need to keep reaffirming it because it is important that we center these values every day, and I truly appreciate what this... the work the city is doing here. Thank you.

[00:14:55] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now we go take a picture.

[00:15:20] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. One more proclamation, y'all.

3.3 Compassion Week Proclamation

[00:15:24] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, with our final proclamation, 3.3, Compassion Week Proclamation. We are happy to be joined this evening by Jan McDaniel, Compassion Week Founder and Chair, to accept this proclamation. Jan, would you like to join me at the lectern?

[00:15:42] Jan McDaniel: All right. Hi.

[00:15:44] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas, the City of Mountain View is a community that embraces, promotes, and values compassion, and whereas, the City of Mountain View appreciates acts of compassion performed by community-based organizations, non-profit agencies, and individuals every day to foster a kinder and more connected community, and

[00:16:08] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: whereas the vision of Compassion Week is to build a strong, compassionate, and empathetic community that bridges divides by creating service and learning opportunities for individuals to expand their understanding of local and global needs, and

[00:16:24] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: whereas all members of the Mountain View community, regardless of age, background, education, gender, religious beliefs, lifestyle, ability, or skills, were invited to contribute their talents and energy to participate in Compassion Week projects and activities that help make Mountain View a more caring and kind community.

[00:16:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now, therefore I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do recognize and celebrate this past week of October 3rd through October 11th as Compassion Week. The City invited all residents to unite in service to our community through participation in Compassion Week activities.

[00:17:04] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: I acknowledge and appreciate the sponsors of Compassion Week, namely the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation, Fremont Bank Mountain View Branch, Great House Family Foundation, Los Altos United Methodist Church, United Women in Church, St. Nicholas and St. William Catholic Church, and Elderberry Capital for their efforts to bring community members together in service and offer their thanks to other sponsors of Compassion Week and every community-based organization, nonprofit agency, faith community, and individuals whose efforts strengthen our city and improve the lives of our neighbors. Jan, would you like to say a few words?

[00:18:02] Jan McDaniel: Thank you very much. Um, we had a great week. Uh, we had over 4,000 volunteers. We had phenomenal participation from the City of Mountain View, including the police department.

[00:18:16] Jan McDaniel: I really want to say a special thank you to, um, our City Manager and her staff, who were phenomenally responsive and incredibly, uh, generous with their time and energy in promoting and supporting Compassion Week. I want to thank the council members for, um, your support.

[00:18:41] Jan McDaniel: The agencies that we connected with that are located here in Mountain View were incredibly appreciative of the effort and the time. And I just am so proud of the city and our surrounding cities for really being open to expanding their life experiences and understanding the needs in the community, as well as the organizations and the agencies that show up every single day to support, um, our neighbors.

[00:19:10] Jan McDaniel: So, um, thank you very much, Council. Really, and thank you for all of your ongoing support. And, um, hopefully we'll be back next year. Thank you. And thank you, Mayor.

[00:19:24] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yay, thank you. I get a hug too. Absolutely, let's have a photo right here. This is also why Mountain View's the best city.

3.4 Caltrain Presentation

[00:19:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: The next presentation for tonight is a Caltrain presentation. We are happily hap we are happy to be joined this evening by community affairs manager uh Navi Dhaliwal and executive director Michelle Bouchard on behalf of Caltrain for this presentation. You will see five minutes on the clock.

[00:20:12] Executive Director Michelle Bouchard: All right. I uh I will be very brief in my introduction. That is the heaviest lift for me today. Um just wanted to thank you so much Mayor Ramos and council members for really being such great partners to Caltrain. You're such an important hub for us and uh Navi is going to talk to you about what has been a really interesting time in the life of Caltrain. We are two years into electrification and we see ridership growing like gangbusters. We're carrying 200% of what we were pre-COVID on the weekend. Uh and yet we do find ourselves in a very um dire financial position. So it's a little bit of the tale of two cities and we definitely wanted to highlight all of the great things that are going on for Caltrain. Uh but also wanted to share with you some information that we've been sharing with the Caltrain board over the course of the last uh four or five months regarding our our finances. So with that, I will hand it over to Navi.

[00:21:07] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: Thank you so much, Michelle. Um good evening, Mayor and Council, my name is Navi Dhaliwal, Caltrain Government Affairs Manager. I'm going to zoom through this, so... great. Um as many of you know, Caltrain has served this corridor for more than 160 years, 77 miles, 31 stations, and 20 communities. People really value it, 82% favorability among voters and 91% favorability among our riders. We're proud of how this system let's see is performing. Um and the industry really has noticed, noticed both for excellence as well as for safety. We recently um were awarded APTA's award for outstanding public service and this is something that we do not take lightly and want to continue to strive for.

[00:21:59] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: So, at its heart, Caltrain is a community service. It's how people get to work, to school, to a game and home safely at night. And really, you don't have to necessarily ride to get the benefits. Um at peak, we take about three lanes of traffic off of the 101. I want to take a moment just to talk a little bit about the other partnerships partnerships we've been doing with the city um across the corridor. So we've done a lot of development work and safety efforts including smart low-cost improvements we can make right now, and that's something that you can anticipate to see in Mountain View here very soon with some of the baseline safety enhancement work we're going to be employing at the crossings.

[00:22:38] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: As Michelle had mentioned, Caltrain um electrification has transformed the service. It's faster, trains come more often, and the ride is better. Oh, playing catch up with the with this lovely device. Um riders have responded in a big way. Um we're the fastest growing transit system in the country and we also have seen over 95% on-time performance. I'm going to slow down a bit here because I think these numbers matter. So right here in Mountain View, in August 2024, ridership was 47,000 monthly riders. And this August after electrification, we saw that it's nearly doubled to 88,000 riders.

[00:23:28] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: And we'd love to keep building on that with you, whether it's through the Go Pass, destination downtown, or other ideas that the city may have in partnership with Caltrain. Which really brings me why we want to protect and the and the challenge in front of us. Ridership is climbing back and that's the real progress, but growth alone can't carry us. Before the pandemic, fares covered more than 70% of our operating costs, which is remarkable for transit. Today, it's about a third of that. That's still the best in the nation, but it leaves a big gap to fill. And that gap is about $75 million a year. It comes from how people commute now, rising costs, and new infrastructure to maintain, as well as one-time relief funds running out.

[00:24:17] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: And we're taking this incredibly seriously. We've tightened our belts across the board and found out found about $70 million in saving. And we're getting really creative about new revenue from advertising to fiber to property, but the honest answer answer is that this is a gap bigger than what we can solve on our own. We have a state loan loan that helps us throughout this next fiscal year, but what really what we're focused on is what does it mean without new funding? It means new tradeoffs, less frequent trains, fewer hours, no weekends, and some stations closed. And here's the the part hard part, cuts don't necessarily solve the problem, they have a tendency to make it worse. And so any time we cut something, the deficit doesn't necessarily go away, we're pushed to cut cut again. And it becomes a cycle that's incredibly hard to resolve.

[00:25:15] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: I'm going to cut through to the final points here.

[00:25:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: You can continue through, don't worry about it.

[00:25:28] Community Affairs Manager Navi Dhaliwal: I was like, I'm sprinting against time. But I think the biggest picture here is that the Caltrain that we're building together is on the left. It's the one that envisions full platforms, frequent trains, and a system people can really count on to get to work and to see family and to get home. But we're at a key inflection point point where with this um impending operating deficit, we're looking to a see a future where it looks closer to something that's on the right. And so this is what we're working really hard to avoid with our corridor partners. We've made the investment and riders are coming back and so we want to keep that going. And that's why we wanted to come to you all early as partners so that Mountain View is a part of the conversation about what comes next. So with that, I want to thank you all and I'm open to any questions that the council may have.

[00:26:13] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. And that concludes all our presentations. Um would any member of the council like to say a few words about any of the proclamations? Uh seeing none, I will drop in my uh call to action, call to service, call to community that I do uh each of our council meetings to remind people November 3rd is election day. One of the biggest things you can do as part of our community, uh if you are able to, is to vote.

[00:26:44] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Um ballots should have been mailed out by now, no matter who you vote for, because we don't tell you what to vote for from this dais. But the important thing is to vote. And there is a wonderful ballot box outside of City Hall if you so choose to to pop it in. Uh anyone who's a registered voter in Santa Clara County can use that voter box or any Santa Clara County voter box. Um and there's also early voting opportunities as well in certain locations. And obviously on election day and the weekend before election day. So your vote is your voice. I hope you all take um take advantage of that. Um with that, um that is council comments.

[00:27:23] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We will now take public comment for the presentation items. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on the presentation items listed on the agenda? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. And I am seeing no speakers, so that means we're going to be moving forward. We will now take virtual speakers. I also see no virtual speakers.

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[00:27:58] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: So we will now move on to item four, Consent Calendar. These items will be approved by one motion unless any member of the council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration. If an item is pulled a is pulled from the consent calendar, it will be considered separately following the approval of the balance of the consent calendar. If you would like to speak on these items or the next item, oral communications on non-agendized items, in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk now. Would any member of the council like to pull an item? I see Councilmember Ramirez.

[00:28:34] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I would like to pull item 4.3, which is the pathways to housing annual progress report. And, um, if it if possible, I'd like to ask a question about 4.1 but not pull it. Is that okay?

[00:28:50] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right.

[00:28:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And should I ask that question now?

[00:28:52] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Uh, go ahead and ask the question for 4.1 now.

[00:28:55] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Thank you. Um, uh, thank you, uh, to the staff who responded to the question I submitted about Assembly Bill 2339, uh, which is a state law that requires, uh, cities to identify, uh, essentially a zoning district to allow emergency shelter by right. Uh, we, uh, many years ago determined that El Camino Real Precise Plan would be that zoning district, but we did not fully implement, um, the housing element program. And I wanted to ask staff for, uh, there was a short response, um, to the question, but I wanted to understand how staff was approaching, uh, the implementation of that housing element program, Assembly Bill 2339, um, and what the next steps are anticipated to be.

[00:29:42] Christian Murdock, Community Development Director: Thank you for the question. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council. Christian Murdock, Community Development Director. Um, so there are eight properties in the El Camino Real Precise Plan that are associated with this, uh, question of, uh, emergency shelter authorizations by right or ministerial approval. Uh, the Council has directed already, as part of the historic preservation ordinance and register update process, not to list five of the properties that were Mountain View eligible only. So it clarifies the status for those properties, uh, provided the Council, uh, continues with that direction, uh, in December when we anticipate Council will finally adopt the register.

[00:30:15] Christian Murdock, Community Development Director: Um, there are two properties that have already approved projects, uh, and so we're working through how best to address those since they're authorized to be demolished and redeveloped and likely wouldn't turn into emergency shelters, but also, uh, won't have, uh, historic resources on a long-term basis if the projects move forward. So, uh, it's an unsettled question on those, but a unique approach. Uh, and then the eighth property, uh, there is one that is a State and National Register eligible property, and so, uh, we are not likely to be able to make that, uh, subject to ministerial approval due to the historic resources impacts that would result from, from that.

[00:30:49] Christian Murdock, Community Development Director: So, uh, the conclusion to that is that we need the Council to take final action on the historic register, again tentatively scheduled for December of this year. And then we will follow on probably in the first half of 2027, bringing forward any required city code or precise plan amendments to implement that, uh, emergency shelter, uh, regulations.

[00:31:06] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Fantastic. Thank you. That's all my questions.

[00:31:10] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Um, we will now, um, move to the public comment for the consent calendar items. We have pulled 4.3, but will accept comment, uh, for, for all consent calendar items in this portion. So would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on these items? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Leslie Carmichael.

[00:31:44] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Welcome.

[00:31:46] Leslie Carmichael: Good evening. I'm Leslie Carmichael, uh, president of the board at Hope's Corner. Uh, Hope's Corner, uh, serves meals, showers, laundry, and a few other things, but it's laundry that we run out of capacity for.

[00:32:03] Leslie Carmichael: And, um, well, you're, we, I first I should say we're also very much in support of your pathways to housing programs and appreciate your multifaceted approach to addressing this problem. And as you set your priorities for expenditures, we'd like you to consider a contribution to, um, Hope's Corner's new laundry room that we've planned.

[00:32:26] Leslie Carmichael: We've been working on this for over a year, and just last week received our, uh, cost quote of $303,000, which was quite a bit more than what we had anticipated. Um, so we, we would appreciate any support, uh, you can provide for that. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[00:32:50] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Um, seeing no other public comment in person, we will now take virtual speakers. Seeing no virtual speakers, I will now bring this back for council action and note a motion to approve the consent calendar minus 4.3, should also include reading the title for the ordinances and resolutions attached to consent calendar item 4.1 and 4.2. The assistant city clerk will take a roll call vote as we have a council member participating remotely this evening. Uh, Vice Mayor Clark.

[00:33:22] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: I will move the consent calendar with the exception of 4.3, which will be dealt with separately, and that includes item 4.1 to adopt an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Mountain View...

4.3 Pathways to Housing Annual Progress Report

[00:33:34] City Clerk: Mountain View amending Chapter 36 zoning of the Mountain View City Code to update standards and procedures related to the designation and preservation of historic resources, and finding that the amendments are exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15308, as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:33:56] City Clerk: And adopt an ordinance of the City of Mountain View amending the zoning map to exclude properties designated from the Mountain View Register of Historic Resources prior to January 1st, 2025, from Government Code Section 65912.157, Senate Bill SB 79, Senate Bill 79, and finding that the amendments are exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only, further reading waived. And 4.2.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[00:34:27] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View adopting the revised ambulance billing and user fees to be used by the Mountain View Fire Department for advanced life support emergency ambulance transportation services and authorizing the applicable fees to be reflected in the city's master fee schedule as actual cost as established by Santa Clara County, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:34:54] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Ready for the roll call vote.

[00:34:59] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:35:00] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:35:01] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:35:03] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:35:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[00:35:06] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[00:35:08] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[00:35:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:35:10] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[00:35:11] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:35:12] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[00:35:13] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[00:35:14] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[00:35:15] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[00:35:16] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Item passes unanimously.

[00:35:18] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. All right. Now we have item 4.3, Councilmember Ramirez, take it away.

[00:35:24] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. First, I want to express my gratitude to staff for preparing the progress report. A lot of really good work.

6.1 Conceptual Design for a Citywide Fiber Network

[00:35:46] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: business crisis here in Mountain View. So I'm happy to move to approve the staff recommendations, but I also wanted to include direction with the consent of the council for staff to reach out to, to evaluate the letter that we received and to reach out to Hope's Corner and return to the city council at a later date with options to see if we can help meet that funding gap. It sounds like you've raised a considerable amount of money already, which is wonderful. Several members of the council recently participated in the 15th anniversary, I think it was, of Hope's Corner, and we saw the extraordinary need, the long, long line of people who were waiting for services or a hot meal, and the laundromat was identified as a near-term capital improvement that could help support many unhoused people who right now may struggle to find that service available to them. So it feels like something that is consistent with our existing action items in the pathways to housing plan, and I would hope that we can find a way to help fulfill that requirement or fulfill that request, I should say, and allow Hope's Corner to continue to provide the very, the desperately needed and important services that they currently provide to hundreds of our neighbors. Thank you.

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[00:36:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I think it's also important for us to periodically evaluate our, the implementation of the action items that we approved some time ago now to address the, the, um, the

6.1 Conceptual Design for a Citywide Fiber Network

[00:37:22] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: I move to approve the staff report and also to direct staff to evaluate the letter, reach out to Hope's Corner, and then return to the city council with options.

[00:37:33] Councilmember John McAlister: I will support this 100%. Give you a little background, about 10 years ago, a good friend of mine named Joe Simidian and I were looking for safe parking over at Google. And Google wouldn't do it, you know, okay, we got this spot at North, the gateway. We're saying, hey, this is a great place for safe parking. And they were hemming and hawing and said, oh, we can't do it. We can't do it. 10 years later and they still haven't done anything over there. But what they did do for us is they gave us, they donated $1 million to Hope's Corner. And so in the vein of your deal, it's been 10 years and I haven't been knocking on their doors in a while, I'm going to go reach out to Google again and see if we can get some more money from them. So that's my small part to help get this project going further. Sometimes it's hard to say no, but hopefully we'll get them. Thank you.

[00:38:35] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. We will now go to a roll call vote.

[00:38:39] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:38:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:38:42] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:38:43] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:38:44] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[00:38:45] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[00:38:46] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[00:38:47] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:38:48] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[00:38:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:38:50] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[00:38:51] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[00:38:52] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[00:38:53] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes. The item passes unanimously. Yay! Now we are on to item five, oral communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any subject not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within the city council's subject matter jurisdiction for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the council from acting on non-agendized items. If you would like to speak on this item or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk now. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have... oh, there's quite a number of speakers. Okay. Each speaker will have two minutes. So I'll let... Alright, each speaker will have two minutes. And we will start with, oh, John Cowen. Welcome.

[00:40:08] John Cowen: Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. My name is John Cowen, Executive Director of Government Relations and Community Partnerships at El Camino Health. I'm going to try to go a little bit faster than intended since you have a lot of speakers tonight. I'll shorten the intro of El Camino Health. As you know, we've served the community for more than 65 years. We're a nonprofit, locally governed health system with two acute care hospitals. Here in Mountain View, where our first hospital was built, and Los Gatos, and now we've grown to 28 care locations across the region, including primary care, specialty care, and urgent care. Over the past year, El Camino Health handled nearly 400,000 outpatient visits across all of these care locations. Also wanted to highlight we're making major investments in the community, most recently completing a $170 million renovation of our women's hospital in Mountain View. We're proud that we are one of the most chosen locations to deliver a baby in the entire Bay Area and that we can serve our community's women and families. Our key services include advanced cancer, cardiac and stroke care, maternity care, mental health, and orthopedic treatments, delivered with the warmth of a locally based community health provider. We're committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our neighbors through clinical excellence, innovation, and community partnerships. And recently, we were recognized as high performing ratings in the US News and World Report and also the number one community hospital in the San Jose region. In addition to delivering exceptionally high-quality care, as you know, we also invest in community-based organizations that have a number of local health initiatives. This fiscal year, that's funding for 121 grants, including support for 25 new programs. One I briefly want to mention that's funded that serves a lot of people here in Mountain View is Pink Ribbon Good, which offers healthy meals, rides to treatment, house cleaning essentials, education and peer support for breast and gynecological patients. I'll just skip to the ending and just say thanks for allowing me to share a brief update and look forward to serving the community here in Mountain View and happy to answer any questions or provide more information anytime. Almost made it.

[00:42:12] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Next speaker is Kunal Girotra.

[00:42:23] Kunal Girotra: Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Kunal Girotra. I'm the founder and CEO of Lunar Energy at 755 Ravendale Drive. We lease about 40,000 square foot of office space in the industrial research park, and we have more than 150 employees coming in the office day in and day out. We've been in Mountain View for about five years. What do we do? We are a battery company. We build batteries that power homes and buildings. These products help consumers save money every day on their energy bills and also power the places when the grid goes down. We chose Mountain View because the city historically has been very supportive to startups. The city encourages companies to innovate and build here, and a lot of my employees live in and around Mountain View. These people help the local economy of Mountain View by supporting restaurants, small businesses, alongside the public transportation systems. Since about 18 months ago, things changed when oversized RVs were allowed to park permanently outside of our offices. At first, it was one odd RV here and there, and now the entire street outside of our offices are covered with RVs. So much so that it is now a safety hazard for my employees. Our driveways are blind, my people in the RVs are constantly at risk of car collisions. There are sometimes kids running around in the streets, and what was supposed to be a temporary encampment has now become a permanent one. It isn't whether someone gets hurt, it is when. These roads were not designed for oversized vehicle parking. Parallel fuel parking trucks and my employees don't feel safe, and it's having a huge impact on the morale of my employees. Councilmember Hicks and Ramirez were here at our offices last week, so thank you for coming and taking a look. My sincere appeal is that we're very empathetic to the people living in the RVs, but as you can understand, our job is to make sure that my employees feel safe, and we provide a safe working condition. And we feel we'll have to leave the city if this continues for any longer than what it is right now. So thank you for listening, and I could go on longer, but I appreciate my time is up.

[00:44:35] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Next we have Rod Deal. After that, we'll have Susan Frank and Neil Gorenflo.

[00:44:54] Rod Deal: Thank you, Mayor, Councilmembers, for allowing me this opportunity to speak my grievances. I'm Rod Deal, I'm the Executive Vice President of BXP, formerly known as Boston Properties. We own the 16-building, roughly 600,000 square foot project where Kunal's business is located, and that is at the Mountain View Research Park. We have owned this property since 2007, and we are good corporate citizens and we would like to continue to contribute and cooperate with the city to get through this what we see as a real problem. So specifically, I'd like to just say that we are very empathetic to the real issue and the economic drivers that, macroeconomic drivers that have forced the situation where people are living in these homes. But I would just appeal to you that this is not the solution to allow people to live in an area that was designed to be a business park. The streets are not safe for this, and I have a whole log of items that we have witnessed, from spillages of different types of liquids out of these vehicles, to children running through the area, as Kunal just mentioned, we've witnessed that. We've seen other events where it's just unsafe for people to drive around these vehicles. And we just appeal to the council to take this very seriously, because I do believe that in your own internal document that we were reading through that is dated June 22nd of this year, the economic vitality is very threatened, I think, for the city of Mountain View. The, it's 5.6 million square feet of commercial space, 8,700 jobs, and that's roughly $665,000 of business license tax revenue and 2.7 million of unsecured property tax revenue that's coming to the city in these areas. The concentration, I believe, is, you're having, basically these businesses are affected tremendously by this issue. So I'm out of time, unfortunately. I would be happy to speak with any of you at any time.

[00:47:03] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Susan Frank, followed by Neil Gorenflo, followed by Richard Wynn.

[00:47:09] Susan Frank: Mayor Ramos, Councilmembers, thank you. I know giving your time as a public servant is often a thankless task, but I do thank you all for what you do here. Before I knew it was Compassion Week, I had planned to address you about the issue of compassion, and I've heard a suggestion that advocating for safety in the Willowgate neighborhood and other neighborhoods around the city suggests a lack of compassion for the people who are living in oversized vehicles. It couldn't be further from the truth. I would offer that those of us who are speaking to you have, or have reached out to you directly, have compassion for all residents and workers in the city, and those that are being directly impacted by the rising number of oversized vehicles on our streets. Central Avenue, which is my neighborhood, has been designated as a so-called safe route to school. There is nothing safe about the street. Every day there are near misses between cars and kids and adults on bikes due to the expanding number of oversized vehicles parked there. We've sent you photos and videos, you know that it's a literal accident waiting to happen. I'm aware of the Navarro settlement and its expiration next year. I'm here to urge you not to wait until that expiration to start taking action to look at what is going to happen when this settlement expires. I want to thank the staff that have come out to meet with us in the police department, they've seen the issues in real time. I want to thank Councilmember Ramirez for meeting, Councilmember Kamei for offering to meet. We've also met with at least one candidate for council and others are being scheduled. Four of you are staying on the council next year. We've invited you, I haven't gotten a response, I know you're busy. It'll take 30 minutes for you to come out and visit us during a weekday. Come out at 8 AM, Neil, who's speaking after me, will join us. I hope you'll visit neighborhoods like ours and others that are at risk of a dangerous result. This will help inform your decision-making and ensure a compassionate response. Thank you.

[00:49:05] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Neil Gorenflo, followed by Richard Wynn.

[00:49:18] Neil Gorenflo: Hello, Mayor and Council. I'm Neil Gorenflo, a Mountain View resident. Some say that allowing people to live in RVs on the street is compassionate. I disagree. I believe the opposite. Giving people no option but to live on the street is inhumane. It lacks dignity, it's unsafe, and it's unsanitary, and it makes supporting RV dwellers more difficult and expensive. I live on Central Avenue where RVs are allowed to park. I've witnessed these challenges firsthand. I live like 25 feet from the street. Some days I can see five RVs from my front window. I've seen near misses involving RVs, bicyclists, and cars. I've seen belongings and trash stored on sidewalks and on our property. I've seen RVs unable to move repeatedly violating the 72-hour parking limit. I've seen RVs parked in red zones because legal spaces are scarce. And I've witnessed sewage leaks. These are not isolated incidents. I've seen violations day after day for months. Does this mean RV residents are bad? No. Absolutely not. The problem is that we're asking people to live in conditions that make it extraordinarily difficult to do the right thing. And what I've come to see is that streets are a woefully inadequate place to house people. But we shouldn't need months of firsthand evidence to recognize a simple truth. Streets are not housing. Until we build more affordable housing, this solution should be pretty simple. Provide housing. Provide...

[00:51:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Richard Wynn.

[00:51:29] Richard Wynn: Thank you, Council. So, I know you're going to be voting in about three, four weeks on the RV revisions, and it's been a bitter pill for the residents on Star Way. So, one of the issues that I wanted to speak about tonight is that Star Way is different from the other pockets that are being proposed south of El Camino for the upzoning. Star Way, when you first see it, you'll notice there's no sidewalks. It's got a rural atmosphere to it. It's not a street that goes through to any other neighborhood. So kids are still safe to play in the street there. So the other pockets are definitely on busy streets. You've got Hans, you've got Marish, Phyllis. You've got a couple of streets like Hans and Marish where they're already adjoining high-density areas. Star Way doesn't have any of that. It's pocket of R2 now is surrounded by R1 neighborhoods. So part of what the homeowners are afraid of is not only having basically three stories of living space, but also that it's going to have more of a financial impact on their home values. These other streets that I've referenced, their homeowners are already impacted because they are on a busy street or near high density. Star Way doesn't have that problem yet. So that's why the residents there are so concerned about it. And as I say, it's a bitter pill to swallow. But I do think there is a compromise in having a transition with R2 between the R3 that will definitely take place on Miramonte and the R1 that is 90% of Star Way now. Single family I should say, it's not all R1. But there's three R2 properties that would make a good transition. Thank you.

[00:53:35] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. We will now move on to... oh, there's still virtual public...

[00:53:41] Councilmember John McAlister: No, but I wanted this moment.

[00:53:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okay, have your moment.

[00:53:47] Councilmember John McAlister: With the people that were here in the audience, I was, on the RVs, I understand that the city manager has an update on some of the progress we're doing on RVs.

[00:54:01] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. City Manager.

[00:54:04] Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager: So, we have had numerous discussions with a lot of the businesses that you've heard from, not just tonight, but other nights. I know that staff is meeting, I believe tomorrow, with Lunar Energy and they are meeting...

7.1 LinkedIn Development Agreement Amendment

[00:54:20] Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager: and next week uh with the residents along Central Avenue which I believe is perhaps the second or third time um they've met with the residents there. um also we did bring online extra safe parking spaces at our uh lot c in august um there's uh been over 30 spaces I think uh along with the commuter spaces available around 50 spaces extra that came online at that time and then

[00:54:49] Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager: um more to come in the first quarter of 27. So we have around uh 200 spaces counting both spaces for RVs and their commuter vehicles there uh which does put us as the second largest safe parking provider in the county which at one point we were the largest safe parking provider in not just the county but the entire Bay Area. um so we are certainly trying to do our part in Mountain View.

[00:55:18] Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager: um you did note that there is going to be an agenda item coming forward in November to tackle um some of the challenges that we've been facing and also offer up some solutions um to help people that are um in the situation where they may be living in in their vehicles. um I'd also like to ask our Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymore to come forward she has been leading efforts for the city with a team of people from several different departments that have been working on this um to add uh if she could add any more context to this any more information.

[00:55:53] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymore: Thank you City Manager McCarthy and thank you for the question Councilmember McAlister. um the items that are coming to you in November were briefly raised during um council and staff comments in June uh regarding um things that uh other cities have been implementing that um may be of interest in Mountain View including um prohibiting the predatory lending or rather uh renting out of oversized vehicles for living within the city right-of-way and we know that that is a large source of the oversized vehicles that are lived in in Mountain View.

[00:56:32] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymore: um and also prohibiting um unhitched trailers um in the public right-of-way both of those have um safety concerns not only for um people who are using them for living purposes but also for the ability to have those vehicles be moved um in order to enforce um uh leakage issues 72-hour um or other emergency situations. and so that's coming to council um um at your November 17th meeting.

[00:57:03] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymore: um we do continue to look at what other cities are doing. We're seeing just even this week news of of different kinds of regulations being um about to uh be considered by um our neighbor to the to the north. um and we um are continuing to monitor the impact continuing to make sure that we are um to the best of our capacity really enforcing the 72-hour regulations. and um looking at red curb sightline issues looking at um white curbing for loading zones that's a new a new area of um a potential relief for um the business impacts for constant parking and and large scale parking right in front of a of a property's um main entrance.

[00:57:55] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymore: um and then um we are also working with two different uh property owner owners and businesses who are interested in voluntary improvement projects which are bike lanes that are called for in our precise plans um and the the um partnership with uh those entities to um be able to support the implementation of those bike lanes and action on um uh one such project in the North Bay Shore is expected to come to council um in December. and um in the beginning quarter of 2027 would be another uh project for your consideration in the East Wisman Precise Plan area.

[00:58:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, we're going to continue on with public comment. Now with virtual speakers, Bruce England.

[00:58:54] Public Speaker Bruce England: Thanks mayor. um Bruce England Whisman Station Drive on a very different topic here. um it's about public facing restrooms which I have uh raised here at council meetings and elsewhere many times. um there's a strong need for more public facing restrooms in the city. That's my main message, but there's another uh area of concern which is how well the public restrooms are kept up.

[00:59:19] Public Speaker Bruce England: As you know some are highly used get a lot of traffic and can get uh pretty disgusting to be frank. um and yet as I understand it there's no um program or process for doing spot cleaning when a facility becomes particularly disgusting and people have to wait until the next cleaning cycle happens. I don't know if that's correct or not I'd like to find out and I'm going to file a a Ask Mountain View ticket on it so this is more informational for you than anything.

[00:59:49] Public Speaker Bruce England: But I really do think that we need not only to provide those facilities but also to keep them adequately clean when they happen to become bad I don't know how it would fly if I told somebody in my household well I'm not going to be able to clean it the bathroom until Saturday because that's when I have it scheduled I think I would get push back. Thank you.

[01:00:10] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. All right. That ends our oral communications for public comment. We will now move on to item 6 unfinished business. The conceptual design for a citywide fiber network. Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews and the Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk now.

[01:00:40] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: Good evening Mayor and Council. Christina Gilmore Intergovernmental Relations Manager. um I'm joined here today by Arn Andrews our Assistant City Manager and Matthew Studman our consultant from Entryust. um the item we have before you today is to receive a report on the conceptual design for a citywide fiber network.

[01:01:01] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: As part of the fiscal years 2023-2025 council work plan under the Community for All strategic priority, the council prioritized explore uh prioritized exploring expanding access to broadband within the city of Mountain View. In May 2023, the council approved um performing a broadband needs assessment and gap analysis which was conducted in 2024. And in February of 2025, we brought forward to you that broadband needs assessment and gap analysis to present to the city. The key finding from that report and the council direction that the staff received at the conclusion of that report was to develop a city fiber network conceptual design.

[01:01:48] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: um as part of the fiscal year 25-27 council work plan again under the Community for All strategic priority uh council prioritized developing a conceptual design for the city fiber network. The city conceptual design uh was conducted by Entrust um as they had assisted us with our broadband assessment and and gap analysis. and the study that you have before you today um presents a conceptual fiber network design, a phased implementation approach, construction cost estimates, and a theoretical internet service provider business model and financial analysis for city council consideration.

[01:02:32] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: The conceptual design was drafted using the following factors to determine route mapping and the phasing sequences um identifying existing city infrastructure, identifying city prioritized sites facilities and locations, um identifying network resilience and redundancy, and then developing um models for fiscal responsibility and strategic investment.

[01:02:57] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Thank you Christina, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council. So as Christina was laying out the factors that were utilized one of the first things we did as staff was we worked with the consultant to just start creating a list of sites that were deemed to be important to the community whether they were a site actually owned by the city and managed by the city or other community assets of importance in a more general nature.

[01:03:22] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: The first list we put together had 291 sites and so we continued to work with the consultant to whittle the list down. Once we had the list we assigned priorities between one and three. I will note for the record that while some sites were very easy to recognize as perhaps a priority one there was a subjective component to creating a prioritization and I'll go into a little more depth on why that didn't necessarily uh preclude or inhibit the process we were using it just had a slightly subjective nature in some of the areas.

[01:03:59] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Higher priority sites once again they were identified early in the process and then as we moved through the process we ended up with 82 sites and this started to really help conceptualize what a logical network routing mapping could look like and so that moved us on to the next phase.

[01:04:20] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Which was here you can see the total list of the 82 sites. You can see that it's a mix of administrative buildings, community facilities, police and fire, city works like the MOC, we have medical facilities, we have schools, we have mobile home parks. It's important to note that why these sites were added as community assets their inclusion in any future phasing if and when that occurs would be predicated on them wanting to be included and would be predicated on successful negotiations with those entities.

[01:04:56] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So at the end of the day working with the consultant this is an illustration of all the phases and what starts to look like a logical route for different phasing. uh one of the conversations we've had over the years is whenever there's CIP work being done or any type of work where there's uh ground work going on in our roadways, you know is this an area that would be a good place to think about putting conduit. So now for the first time with this fiber network design we actually have a roadmap that starts to illustrate where we could take advantage through CIP projects where we could take advantage through phasing there could be private partners that might want to partner on certain aspects of the phasing and so it's a very flexible plan in the sense that other than the blue area that's being recommended tonight Phase 1A.

[01:05:49] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Phase 1B has multitudes of several loops and so for instance if at one point it would be considered a priority of this council or a future council to maybe look at the eastern phase of the green loop to pull in the MOC. And so it's it's flexible and provides opportunities through looking at CIP construction that's happening, looking at budgetary availability because that is going to be a big component of this. And so this is pretty much how we can start to view what a fiber network might look like.

[01:06:26] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: And so as I mentioned there's a cost component to all of this. You can see that the consultant utilizing uh comparables that they're aware of basically a unit cost is about $120 per foot. Phase 1A which is really the Civic Center loop which would help us replace what's referred to as our INET. And in the staff report we talk about why we think that's going to be an important prospect for the city moving forward. INET is a legacy issue from Comcast and even though they

7.2 Interim Urgency Ordinance for Detention or Custodial Facilities

[01:06:57] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: still operated and maintain it it is not necessarily a priority for them and the city having ownership over one of our critical loops that connects ourselves with our public safety building, we would suggest that that's probably appropriate for us to consider budgeting. So that first phase is approximately a million dollars, you can see Phase 1B which starts to pull in either to the east, to the MOC or to the north getting up into shoreline, fire station 5, and then parts of the southern part of the city down past El Camino.

[01:07:29] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Phase 2 really starts to identify a lot of other community facilities, and then finally Phase 3, which would be kind of little laterals that connect other little pieces that would probably be of importance to those communities. But the entire project in current dollars would be roughly 16.7 million dollars. As I mentioned, staff is not recommending this this evening, if we move to the next slide.

[01:07:59] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: staff is only recommending that we come back during the CIP budgeting process conversation to see if council would be inclined to put Phase 1A as a CIP project for the future. We also have recommended establishing a technology upgrade reserve. We're bringing that forward in the context of this conversation, but we don't envision that only being utilized for any potential future phasing if and when that happens.

[01:08:29] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: You'll recall that the City Manager in the transmittal memo for the last two budgets has talked about how aggressive we're starting to be and trying to update a lot of legacy IT infrastructure in the city. And so similar to an equipment replacement fund, this would be the ability to establish another type of reserve for that type of investment in IT infrastructure.

[01:08:59] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: And funding like any other budget conversation would happen during a budget discussion and would be at the discretion of the council at that time. And that concludes our presentation, we're available for any questions.

[01:09:05] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? Vice Mayor Clark.

[01:09:09] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: I just have one, this is very helpful by the way. I think without getting too far into comments, the various phases will address certain aspects of expanding broadband access, but it will take time and money. And one of the nearer term ways to address some of the gaps might be to create or facilitate additional competition within the private sector to expand access.

[01:09:39] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: And so I know at one point we'd previously talked about looking at barriers that might exist for that to occur. And I don't need to get too far into the weeds of specific carriers or agreements or anything, but I'm just curious if there's been, one of the issues I think that came up was temporary poles and access, and I just didn't know if there's been any movement or progress on just things that we've been trying to do to facilitate additional competition in the marketplace.

[01:10:16] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So I'll probably rely on our public works director at some point, but I do know that we're nearing the final phases of permitting for Sonic. Sonic would be a new entrant into our community as an ISP provider. And as I mentioned, I don't know all the particulars, but I do know that they're in permitting currently and are near the final phases of that permitting.

[01:10:56] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Another aspect of your question was if the council at some point created a fully functional backbone throughout the entire city, all three phases, is that something that might bring in additional existing providers or new providers to want to kind of leverage that backbone and decide that they want to add more competition or add more existing service. It could happen, there's no guarantees. It depends on the scale of what they would want to do and what if anything would be negotiated on the city side, would they be providing staff.

[01:11:11] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: If you look at the actual report itself, there are elements there where they start talking about how there is potential, but that would, that's yet to be determined, and it would be predicated on probably having most of the backbone in place for them to be interested in having conversations with us.

[01:11:30] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: That makes sense. I assume conceivably if this was built out in a significant form, we could lease access to some of those facilities if we wanted to.

[01:11:42] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So it's an appendix to the report, but we did ask them to run an analysis on if we could ever be an ISP provider. It's been discussed in the past. They ran three scenarios, none of the scenarios were financially viable. The analysis they did also talked about where they thought we were in terms of revenue and expenditures in year 10. What the report didn't say is that means we've had losses in years 1 through 9 as well. So us as an ISP provider is not financially viable.

[01:12:08] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Us as somebody that could lease to an existing ISP or a future ISP, that's something that might be more manageable. It might have more financial viability to it, but that would have to be determined at the time if an ISP provider wanted to engage us.

[01:12:30] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: That makes sense. Thank you.

[01:12:32] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Vice Mayor Clark. Councilmember McAlister.

[01:12:34] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, great to see this come forward. So years ago when fiber was relatively new, businesses were having to put in satellites to get the information to the internet going forward. So when you were looking at these areas to decide on priority, was there any business districts or area in the city that the businesses were saying this would be great for us because no one else is providing this service?

[01:13:05] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Thank you for the question. So the comments we typically hear from businesses is not that they don't have service, they usually don't appreciate the speeds of the service. And so is this something that could help accommodate higher speeds, to a certain extent yes. If you look at the different phases, it does run through a lot of our business corridors.

[01:13:21] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: We do have some existing conduit already, that conduit would have to be analyzed and inspected. I don't think anybody's looked at it in a while, and so any future phasing going forward would require the typical engineering that would go on with any CIP project. And if any of the phases, which Phase 1A would use a little bit of existing conduit, would also require inspecting that.

[01:13:46] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: We do know, you mentioned satellites, part of what Christina and I have done is any provider that wants to speak with us, we will listen to them. There is a company that we spoke with that actually does provision of internet service through unused radio waves. They've created an algorithm that is capable of capturing those radio signals and transmitting over it.

[01:14:10] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: One of their claims to fame is they don't necessarily need to have a direct site line, they're able to bounce through buildings and other things. It's really not something that we considered heavily only because we do have some existing conduit and we knew this conversation was happening, but there are a multitude of alternatives out there to either hanging fiber on poles or putting fiber in the ground.

[01:14:42] Councilmember John McAlister: So you tweaked my, okay, my further question is, if we put in a good solid fiber system, would that be a financial or an advantage for businesses to come to Mountain View where other cities might not have that capability?

[01:15:06] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I would say there's potential, I wouldn't say there's a guarantee. But I would say that if at some point we put all three phases in, it would accommodate quite a bit of our commercial districts and if they wanted to tap into it, those are conversations that could happen.

[01:15:26] Councilmember John McAlister: And would our speed be better than what's provided to them now? I mean they could be upgrading years from now, but would we be able to be more comp, offer a better product hypothetically down the road?

[01:15:39] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I can't actually answer that because my guess is a lot of our businesses are already paying for T1 lines and things of that nature that are the fastest speeds you can get because that's what they require for the work they do. This probably would not meet those objectives for the folks that need very high speed internet, but it would be a newer system that would have the latest and greatest fiber optics and would provide a pretty good product.

[01:16:10] Councilmember John McAlister: Good bang for the buck. Okay. The other thing is I know the US government is doing a lot of stuff for broadband, more of it's for rural, but is someone like Christina looking at what the US government's coming out, because I'm on a notification of broadband throughout the United States and so I keep getting these things about we're doing this and so is there opportunity out there or we're just too well developed to do that?

[01:16:36] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So to your point, the federal grants are primarily directed at rural areas. The firm that I mentioned earlier, they do considerable work in rural areas in Middle America and elsewhere. At the state level, Christina has worked with our state lobbyists to make sure that we are apprised of any opportunities that come forward, and we would pursue opportunities that come forward, especially given that as staff we are recommending the first phase, Phase 1A. If there's a grant opportunity to help facilitate that, we would definitely look into it.

[01:17:08] Councilmember John McAlister: Are you also, you said state, are you also looking at federal realistically?

[01:17:11] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: We look at federal but if you go back to the broadband gap analysis report under the federal guidelines, we're not necessarily a community that's deemed at need. And so there were areas, small pockets of our community that were identified as needing additional broadband capability, but in total as a city, we would not meet like a federal threshold of being at need.

[01:17:42] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you. Glad to see this getting going forward.

[01:17:46] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Kamei.

[01:17:50] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Thank you so much Mayor. Thanks to Vice Mayor Clark and Councilmember McAlister, I think my thoughts are similar and now that I don't work at an ISP and internet service provider I can ask questions and I don't have to recuse myself. So some of the questions, I just kind of wanted to pull the thread here on the opportunities for what I would call like grants.

[01:18:16] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So my understanding is there's three different kind of buckets, and so as I was trying to look through the attachment on the broadband report, so we don't think that we would qualify for any of the three, so the CASF, the federal BEAD, or the California FFA funding. So I guess that's the first question.

[01:18:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And then the other is has an internet service provider come to us and asked us if we wanted to partner on sometimes these applications, they ask for a government partner. So I'm just curious if the determination is that we wouldn't qualify for any of those three buckets, and if an ISP has reached out to partner on any type of potential project.

[01:19:05] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Thank you for the question and thank you for being here. I think it's like noon where you are, appreciate the question. Christina, in terms of CPPG, have they ever opined on...

[01:19:20] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: Yeah, so we, we have evaluated a variety of state and federal grant funding opportunities. I think some of them that have come forward we've determined that we didn't meet some of the strict qualifications, but this is something that we will continue to evaluate as these grant opportunities come up.

[01:19:40] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: To determine now that we have done our needs assessment and gap analysis, and now that we have this conceptual fiber network design plan, if any of our plans align with the funding opportunities. So we will continue to do that and when appropriate and if we meet the criteria, then consider applying for those opportunities.

[01:20:06] Intergovernmental Relations Manager Christina Gilmore: And then to answer your second question, I do not believe we've had an ISP approach us to partner in applying for grants. So that is not something that has happened at this point.

[01:20:21] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I would agree, yeah, I'm not aware of anybody who's asked us to partner, I'm currently only aware of Sonic and their permitting process. But now that we do have a roadmap, folks might see that we've got areas that we would be interested in and that might bring forward some interest.

[01:20:39] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. And then kind of a last question, so you know, the previous answer where you're distinguishing that it's not that the city is looking to become our own internet service provider, so in that way there's a nuanced difference between what we would be doing and approving tonight versus like for example what the town of Los Altos Hills is is doing, right?

[01:21:00] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: So maybe if staff could maybe explain the differences because I think municipalities are trying to find creative solutions for this issue, right, of what the gap needs analysis showed and I think it would be helpful to be able to share that with the public because knowing that they're not the same.

[01:21:22] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Great, thank you. And you're right, they are two very different things. And so tonight's conversation is really about do we want to create a better network for ourselves, the city, and by doing so would that create opportunities for other agencies and community assets to tap into what we did versus would we create this to try to establish a business model to make money off our backbone by selling actual internet capabilities to households.

[01:21:55] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: The analysis that was done showed that there were no scenarios where that was viable. And so unfortunately that's not tonight's conversation for folks that were wondering if we were going to consider something like Los Altos Hills or Palo Alto. Tonight's conversation is about do we want to build and own a better fiber network for the city operations and in doing such create opportunities for others.

[01:22:27] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Right. And so um, sorry, just one last, sorry, this is my last one. So sometimes for example, the Phase 1A would be looking at kind of like that downtown core and so we have our MV Wi-Fi for those who may be visiting our downtown, so they would see an improvement on that network, is that correct? Sorry, I was just...

[01:22:52] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I'm afraid I'm going to have to defer that to our IT Director if he's capable to respond to it.

[01:23:12] IT Director: So it would definitely improve the stability of the network and possibly improve speeds as well.

[01:23:26] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay. Thank you. Thanks, thank you Mayor.

[01:23:29] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. Councilmember Showalter.

[01:23:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I was gonna go over a couple questions that I put in. One was really what does a conduit look like and I think many people probably know that and some people don't. And I got a good answer. The city's existing conduit infrastructure consists of two to three inch diameter conduits, which I understand are basically just small pipelines, right? Very small pipelines. Okay like probably PVC pipe.

[01:24:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, small PVC pipe like we might have in our irrigation systems at our houses. And you put lots of little lines in for various purposes. And so you do normally have to dig a hole to put them in. And so I'm interested in how this would be combined or should it be combined with our road construction when we do that because as a city of course one of the things we do is keep our roads. So that's something I would just like to hear a little bit about.

[01:24:45] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Well our public works director comes forward. I will remind everyone that trenching is one way of doing it. If there is the ability to also put them on poles, that's another consideration and a cheaper consideration. But our public works director can speak to how it would pertain to doing road work.

[01:25:04] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: Good evening everybody, I'm Jennifer Ng, I'm the Public Works Director. So on a typical roadway paving project, we actually wouldn't be installing trench work. If we're doing something related to the traffic signals where we're doing a traffic signal upgrade or something like that, there may be some conduit work that's installed. But typically, you know, as we're repaving say a mile of roadway, we wouldn't be running a mile of conduit down unless we had a specific scope element of the project that necessitated that.

[01:25:35] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: In terms of how conduit gets installed, you're right Councilmember Showalter, there's traditional open trench in which you dig a trench that's a mile long and you lay the pipe and then you backfill on top. But more often what we're seeing now and which is actually a more cost effective way of installation is a directional bore. So there'll be a starting pit in which a machine will dig a starter pit and then they'll guide and feed conduit, directionally sort of drive it under the ground.

[01:26:05] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: And then they'll receive it at sort of a receiving pit on the back end. And typically that's done as fiber is installed in a loop or in a segment or in a run, there's certain amount of access vaults that need to be installed along the way as well. And so typically the directional bore will go from vault to vault or from every couple vaults, something like that.

[01:26:37] Councilmember Pat Showalter: How much ground can you cover between vaults?

[01:26:42] Public Works Director Jennifer Ng: I'm not a fiber expert, but it's usually at least a few hundred feet.

[01:26:49] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, alright. And then you mentioned putting them on poles.

[01:26:58] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: So putting them on poles makes them susceptible to weather and things of that nature, but it is a cheaper alternative, whereas if we do have opportunities for conduit, that's a more stable environment for fiber and so it's a more secure system. But there could be opportunities for poles where it might be a safe environment and also much more cost effective.

[01:27:24] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So we haven't really decided which way with this?

[01:27:27] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: No, so tonight's conversation is really just laying out an illustration and a roadmap of what would make conceptual sense if the time comes and we want to move forward with any of these projects. Staff is recommending to bring back Phase 1A as a CIP project and like any CIP project, the public works director and her team would have to bring on and get engineering done and do site analysis and make sure that conduit or whatever the alternative is would be viable in that project area.

[01:27:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But that decision would be made at that time.

[01:28:01] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: At that time, correct.

[01:28:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you so much.

[01:28:07] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, with no other Council questions, we're gonna go to public comment. Would any members of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star 9 on your phone, or turn in a blue speaker card. A timer will be displayed on the screen. Each speaker will have three minutes.

[01:28:27] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: I am seeing no in-person speakers, we will now take virtual speakers. Alex Brown.

[01:28:43] Public Speaker Alex Brown: Oh yeah, I'm taking all three minutes. Hey friends. Sorry I'm not there. Arn...

Meeting Break

[01:28:51] Public Speaker Alex Brown: ISP provider. ISP provider. Uh, no, I I I'm very excited to see this go forward. I've been asking for fiber for a long time.

[01:28:59] Public Speaker Alex Brown: Uh, John, thank you for championing this. I I'm sad that we're in phase three, and that it still might take so long to get good internet up here and have really competitive options.

[01:29:12] Public Speaker Alex Brown: I I also do wish that it were true municipal fiber. Uh, the cities that have municipal fiber across the country tend to be very pleased with it and I think that the like city laying the fiber and then partnering it's it'll be fine, but I do wish that we could just take charge of it uh, and control it through a democratic process and reap the benefits of the system that we put in.

[01:29:35] Public Speaker Alex Brown: But barring that, uh, it'll be just nice to have. And I I also think that as a city this is the kind of thing that I love to see us doing, something that benefits so many people, and like it is a base infrastructure value that helps in so many ways. But I I I want it.

[01:29:53] Public Speaker Alex Brown: Please. San Antonio Villa, North Bayshore, the little spur at the top of the map. Thanks.

[01:30:02] Public Speaker Alex Brown: Oh, also, wait, Pat, uh, I missed the joke. Uh, the conduit is it's a series of tubes. What? What is conduit? It's a series of tubes! Anyway, uh, thanks.

[01:30:16] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Alex Brown. Um, that is it for uh, public comment. I will bring the item back for council deliberation and action.

[01:30:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have council members participating remotely this evening. Councilmember Hicks.

[01:30:37] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I want to thank staff for a very thorough report. I now know much more about this topic than I did than I did before I read the report.

[01:30:46] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, I'm fine with phase one A to the tune of a million dollars, well, excepting that and seeing I will no longer be on council, but seeing whether the future council wants to give it a million dollars, you know, if I'm fine with that as long as staff feels we really need it.

[01:31:04] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I have to say, uh, for those who've read the staff report, there's another $15 million for the next three phases and I have to say I'm concerned about uh, the the the cost of 15 million for what we would be getting.

[01:31:24] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, to me we need to look over our city priorities and this this would not be a priority for my money and for the city's money. Uh, there are so many other things that community members have requested from us.

[01:31:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, I think we so uh, you can see even tonight, there was a lot of demand for and even in terms of what businesses want. What I hear from businesses is the main thing that they want is the people who live in RVs on our street to be housed in some way.

[01:32:00] Councilmember Alison Hicks: That $16 million, $15 million could go a long way in a housing trust fund that could be matched with tax credit money to house people. To me that's a bigger, I again I will not be on council when we consider this, but to me that's a bigger priority for our money.

[01:32:18] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Other needs we've heard about, not tonight, but in other council meetings are, as we densify, it's been hard to um, grow our park system. So those those are examples of two of the things that I would find to be um, higher needs than than what we're talking about.

[01:32:38] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, I'd also like to say that as far as I know, just a little AI search before I came here, um, there's no other Bay Area city that's doing this except for those with uh, municipal power or municipal telecom in the Bay Area at this point.

[01:32:56] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, so so I don't know what the motion is going to be, but if it's just accepting the report and accepting phase one A, I will be supporting it. If it's um, prioritizing other aspects of this, I would I would not be I would not be in favor of that.

[01:33:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And I do see a number of council candidates who I hope will not be in favor of that as well.

[01:33:20] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. Do we have any other council members? I see a motion from Councilmember McAlister, but I don't see an ask to speak about it.

[01:33:33] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okay, go ahead, Councilmember McAlister.

[01:33:39] Councilmember John McAlister: Thank you for getting this done. Yeah, there's many ramifications that can be explored as we go forward, so let's go with, I uh, motion to receive and review a report on the conceptual design for the citywide fiber

7.3 Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 1 and Allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area No. 1 Revenues

[01:33:53] Councilmember John McAlister: network. And two, adopt phase 1A of the report and direct staff to return to Council during the Capital Improvement Program, CIP, budget process for project funding and direct staff to establish a technical upgrade reserve for future implementation of phase 1B and other strategic technical, technology investments as budgets permit.

[01:34:18] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Do you want to speak to the second, Councilmember Showalter?

[01:34:23] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Nope. Okay, so it's a motion moved by Councilmember McAlister, seconded by Councilmember Showalter. I see a hand up from Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:34:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. As other members of the council have said, I really appreciate staff's work on this item so far and Councilmember McAlister's advocacy to have the city explore this.

[01:34:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I do support and echo the remarks from Councilmember Hicks. I feel like in an era of constrained resources, we have to be careful about how we prioritize the limited resources that we do have.

[01:35:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I think this is an important, it's critical infrastructure, it's an important amenity, but I agree with Councilmember Hicks that personally I think there are higher priority items that we're hearing members of our community and the business community speak to us about with some degree of regularity.

[01:35:26] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I just wanted to clarify the second portion of the motion which is the staff recommendation. The establishing a reserve which isn't funded yet is more than just for the implementation of phase 1B.

[01:35:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: There are other strategic technology and infrastructure elements that are included in that reserve that staff is proposing. And maybe just for my benefit, since this is not an area of expertise for me, I too would probably say ISP provider just like I say ATM machine and PIN number.

[01:36:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: It would be helpful for me to understand what staff believes would be the value of that reserve.

[01:36:18] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Thank you for the question. And just for clarity, item two of the recommendation, it talks about the implementation...

7.4 Downtown Business Improvement Area No. 2 and Allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area No. 2 Revenues

[01:36:28] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: of phase 1B predicated on the future, it's not necessarily staff advocating currently that we should also include phase 1B, but that would be a logical next step if this council or a future council wants to go there.

[01:36:42] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: That phase is almost $7 million, and so if council were to entertain that, the reserve would be a way during the budget process to start to put seed money.

[01:36:52] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: But in addition to this report this evening, as I mentioned, the city manager and her transmittal letters, we are currently about to go live on the utility billing system in January. We have the executive steering committee established for the land management project, which is going to be a two-year project that's going to require significant effort from multiple departments.

[01:37:16] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Once we move through those, we need a contract system, we need a new cashiering system. I mean, the list goes on and on. The city has an opportunity now to really move the organization into the future from a technology standpoint, and with the help of our new IT director, who has done multiple implementations including ERPs, which is also on the calendar, we have an opportunity now to really move forward with a lot of these, but they all cost money.

[01:37:48] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: And so similar to any other reserve, it's a way to start seeding money for future projects as opposed to a staff recommendation that asks for it to be funded all at once.

[01:37:58] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, that's very helpful. And would that also include, um, the, I think we're working on an update to the Ask Mountain View platform and then...

[01:38:08] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: Comcate, yep.

[01:38:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: That's so that's on the list as well?

[01:38:12] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: The list goes on and on, but yes, Comcate is on the list.

[01:38:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, and then also Laserfiche, which is the bane of my existence, we're getting rid of that too?

[01:38:20] Assistant City Manager Arn Andrews: I wouldn't say we're getting rid of that, but we've been doing updates to it that hadn't previously been done.

[01:38:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Thank you.

[01:38:28] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Like you, I also have choice words for Laserfiche. Um, Councilmember Kamei.

[01:38:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh, thank you so much, Mayor. So thank you to my colleagues for clarifying and adding their input and reservations. I think with the clarifications and everything, I'll be supporting the motion, but just wanted to echo the concerns of Councilmember Hicks and Councilmember Ramirez, I think.

[01:38:58] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: But hearing from staff and knowing that there's many things on our list that we need to accomplish feels like, you know, we can take the start and the future council can take it from there. Thanks, Mayor.

[01:39:08] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. Thank you again to staff for your work on this. We are ready for a vote.

[01:39:15] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[01:39:17] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[01:39:18] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[01:39:19] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

7.5 Energy Services Contract for Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Battery Energy Storage Project-Various Actions

[01:39:22] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[01:39:23] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[01:39:24] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[01:39:25] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[01:39:26] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[01:39:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[01:39:28] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[01:39:29] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[01:39:29] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[01:39:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Yay, unanimous. So now we will move on to item 7, public hearings. 7.1, LinkedIn Development Agreement Amendment at 700 to 810 East Middlefield Road and 1100 to 1200 Maude Avenue. Planning Manager George Schroeder will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[01:40:27] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Okay, good evening honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is George Schroeder, I'm the Planning Manager. I'm also joined here by Community Development Director Christian Murdock. And I'll be presenting a proposed amendment to a development agreement for the LinkedIn Middlefield campus along East Middlefield Road and Maude Avenue.

[01:40:49] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The 28-acre project site is in the LinkedIn Middlefield campus, located at the northeast corner of East Middlefield Road and the State Route 237 service road, on the eastern edge of the city limits adjacent to the City of Sunnyvale.

[01:41:03] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The site is currently developed with several office buildings of varying heights and a parking structure. The general plan land use designation is high-intensity office and the zoning is the East Whisman Precise Plan. The surrounding uses consist primarily of office and multi-family residential buildings.

[01:41:24] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The City Council originally approved the development permits in 2018 for LinkedIn's office campus redevelopment project to demolish two existing office buildings, construct three six-story office buildings, construct two six-level parking structures, and retain three existing office buildings, resulting in 1.08 million gross square feet of total office area. The project was also approved to be completed in two phases.

[01:41:53] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The project included a zoning map amendment to rezone the site, a development agreement or a DA, a heritage tree removal permit, and a vesting tentative parcel map.

[01:42:03] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The original terms of the DA included a $350,000 public benefit fee to be used for improvements anywhere in the city, and a seven-year entitlement period with a one-time three-year extension.

[01:42:19] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Phase one was completed in 2021, which included one of the six-story office buildings and one of the six-level parking structures near the intersection of Bernardo and Middlefield, as well as numerous on- and off-site improvements, including publicly accessible open spaces, bike and pedestrian paths.

[01:42:35] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The applicant made payments for certain community benefits and fees, the amount of which exceeds the amount that was due on a pro rata basis for the phase one portion, and will be adjusted when the phase two permits are issued.

[01:42:48] Planning Manager George Schroeder: In 2022, the applicant exercised the option to extend the DA term by three years and also paid the additional $150,000 in the public benefit fee. The following year, the applicant submitted a formal application requesting an amendment to the approved DA to allow more time to build out phase two.

[01:43:07] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The applicant notes that the additional time needed is due to delays related to the pandemic, supply chain shortages, labor issues, evolving market conditions, cost increases, and other factors beyond their control.

[01:43:22] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The proposed DA amendment would extend the term to 2034, for a total term of 15 years. In exchange for the extension, the applicant has offered to provide additional public benefits of $1.6 million to be paid within 60 days of the DA amendment execution.

[01:43:40] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The DA amendment does not include any modifications to the entitled project design or its components. It would allow completion of phase two, which would be to demolish the remaining existing office building and then construct two of the office buildings and the remaining six-level parking structure.

[01:44:00] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The DA amendment also states that if phase two building permits are issued before the expiration date and construction progress is ongoing, the vesting rights will continue, but they will not continue longer than 10 years from the issuance of the first phase two building permit. And this is to ensure the construction process does not go on indefinitely.

[01:44:22] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The public benefit fee may be used for any lawful public purpose that creates a public benefit. And this can be determined by the council now or at a later date.

[01:44:32] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Based on the currently identified parkland acquisition opportunities in the vicinity of the project site, and the ongoing need to identify funding in support of affordable housing development, staff recommends an allocation of $1.1 million for parkland acquisition and $500,000 to the Mountain View Affordable Housing Fund.

[01:44:54] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Upon the original project's approval in 2018, the city approved an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, which concluded that environmental impacts could be reduced

8. COUNCIL, STAFF/COMMITTEE REPORTS

[01:45:03] Planning Manager George Schroeder: for significant and unavoidable traffic impacts. The proposed DA amendment does not alter the environmental conditions in the certified EIR and would not result in any new or increased environmental impacts beyond those previously evaluated. Additionally, the DA amendment does not change the project and does not require any revisions to the EIR, and therefore no further environmental analysis is required. The zoning administrator reviewed the DA amendment on June 24th of this year and recommended its approval to the City Council.

[01:45:34] Planning Manager George Schroeder: In conclusion, the proposed DA amendment is consistent with the general plan, the East Whisman precise plan, zoning code, and would help support the completion of the approved campus redevelopment project. Therefore staff recommends that the City Council introduce an ordinance approving the first amendment to the DA. And this concludes staff's presentation and we're available for any questions.

[01:45:59] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okey-dokey. Uh we will now have a presentation from the applicant, Victor Sanchez, Vice President of Workplace LinkedIn. You will see seven minutes on the clock.

[01:46:17] Victor Sanchez: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the public, and obviously the council members. I appreciate the time. I'm Victor Sanchez. I have the pleasure to lead the global real estate and security organizations for LinkedIn. I've been at LinkedIn now for almost a little over 12 years. Actually, last month was my 12th year at LinkedIn.

[01:46:41] Victor Sanchez: And uh you know I often get asked like, why have you been at LinkedIn for so long? And my answer is being consistent. There's two reasons why I've been at LinkedIn for over 12 years now. One is that LinkedIn's mission of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce truly aligns with my own mission in life. Uh and that's where I spend my time when I'm not at work.

[01:47:06] Victor Sanchez: And then second is because of one of our operating principles is that we can do well in business while doing good for the world. And that's true in our community of Mountain View as well. We've been operating in Mountain View for over 24 years, and I appreciate the partnership that we've built with the city.

[01:47:27] Victor Sanchez: And I want to take this opportunity to thank you. To thank you guys for considering our request. And thank you to staff for all of the partnership and the collaboration over the many, many years. Uh from uh I feel like it's like eight years ago since we first submitted the first DA, and then we delivered Phase 1 and now working together for this extension.

[01:47:49] Victor Sanchez: Uh you know I think about when we delivered Phase 1 was 2021, that was during the pandemic. And really the pandemic changed the relationship between the employee and work, or people and work, right. The hybrid work is no longer optional. It's an expectation. And it's an expectation for LinkedIn employees.

[01:48:12] Victor Sanchez: And so um where before the pandemic we used to have people showing up to the office five days a week, now we don't see that. Um we get some folks coming in three days a week, some folks coming in two days a week. And that really forced us to think about and rethink how much space do we really need. And by when do we need that space.

[01:48:33] Victor Sanchez: And then so because it's a fine balance between kind of having just the right amount of space to make people feel uh to feel that kind of energy, right. When you have too much space then it feels empty. And we don't want to do that now. I don't need the additional space now, and I don't expect that I would need that space by 2029.

[01:48:55] Victor Sanchez: Um so so this extension is really going to help us. Um you know it would be a bit irresponsible on my side to go build it now that I don't need it. And it's also uh would not be sustainable, right. It's not sustainable to build space when it's not needed.

[01:49:12] Victor Sanchez: And then um really LinkedIn is a uh we care deeply about our sustainability commitments to be carbon negative, to be actually carbon neutral, to be water positive, and zero waste by 2030, and we're making strong commitments on that.

[01:49:30] Victor Sanchez: Um also a testament of that is the project that we have ongoing now with the reclaimed water, recycled water project that we have, which um is on schedule to be delivered finally in the next couple of months, December, and that's going to save 6.7 million of potable water for LinkedIn.

[01:49:54] Victor Sanchez: Uh and for the community, you know I asked the team like what does that how much is that and they say it's the equivalent of 90 to 100 households of annual water consumption.

[01:50:05] Victor Sanchez: Um you know we remain committed to delivering Phase 2. It's just we just don't need it now. Right and a testament to our commitment is the scope of work that we delivered in Phase 1 in support of Phase 2, the a bit over 10 million dollars that we contributed already in Phase 1 in support of Phase 2, and the unconstrained or unrestricted additional funding that we're willing to commit of 1.6 million dollars.

[01:50:38] Victor Sanchez: Um so with that I'll take any questions.

[01:50:48] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, we'll bring it back to council for any questions. Councilmember McAlister.

[01:50:55] Councilmember John McAlister: Thank you for being here. I always appreciate when we have a senior member come and speak to us. It gives us a little more credence, so I appreciate that. So you got me thinking here a little bit when you keep saying well we don't need this, we're reevaluating it. And I go down is that Maude that there's a lot of office buildings that say LinkedIn on it. So is it is it cheaper to keep leases than to rebuild and consolidate your properties?

9. ADJOURNMENT

[01:51:30] Victor Sanchez: cheaper than building the new space.

[01:51:34] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, I know it's going to be more expensive to build, but you mean you have a lot of properties there. And so when you're saying we're not sure, I mean the whole first part of your presentation was we're not sure what we're doing, I think we're evaluating it, do we need people now, people aren't coming in.

[01:51:51] Victor Sanchez: Yep.

[01:51:52] Councilmember John McAlister: I sort of got a little skin in this game, so that's why I'm a little trying to figure out where you're going to, where you're trying to get to.

[01:52:00] Victor Sanchez: Yeah, so right now with all the buildings that you see on our campus, we have enough capacity to support the attendance profiles of our people, like how often are people coming into the office. And we have enough capacity to support based on our

Additional Content 1

[01:52:16] Kunal Girotra: attendance projections and headcount growth, um, 2029 and past 2029. Um, but doesn't mean that we'll have enough capacity to 2034, right? With these five years, I am confident that we'll, we'll need the space and we'll have to build it in time to, um, for when we need it.

[01:52:35] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, 'cause I hear every now and then there's some layoffs going around big tech firms and things like this.

[01:52:41] Kunal Girotra: Yeah, and and certainly that should be a, that should be a consideration, right? So, um, because again going back to the point I made earlier, uh, it, it doesn't make sense to build too much space, um, for the amount of people that we have. Right? So, so because then the experience starts to suffer. And by the way, and again it's not the, the most sustainable thing to do.

[01:53:03] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. I mean, so in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, there's a big banner headline that says, 'LinkedIn pausing development in Mountain View.' And yet, we sort of—and so I'm reading that and I go, 'Well, after meeting with some of your staff that there say, well, we're gonna we are pausing everything, but we're committed.' And so there's a little, uh, contradiction in there, and so I was just trying to get more clarity on when you say we're pausing, but we're committed.

[01:53:35] Kunal Girotra: Yeah, I think the—I don't know that it's a contradiction, but I think it's certainly, um, it's a matter of timing. Right? I think it's the, um, we're not, uh, prepared to go and build it now, uh, by 2029. In fact, I don't think it's possible for me to actually build it in 2029, right? So this extension would give us, would actually make it possible for us to go build it when by the time we need it.

[01:54:00] Councilmember John McAlister: So if you wanted to start building, I was under the, uh, that there's some you have to build a parking garage first is probably one of the first things to build, and then you go forward with other buildings?

[01:54:11] Kunal Girotra: That is true. Yeah, so the parking garage will sit on top of an existing building, uh, Building 7. We have to demo that building, build the parking garage, and then build the other two buildings. Yeah.

[01:54:23] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Well, I'm waiting for this to go. I'm just hoping that it gets done sooner than later. Thank you.

[01:54:30] Kunal Girotra: Absolutely. Thank you.

[01:54:32] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei.

[01:54:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. Um, hello. One of the, uh, really exciting things about when the project first came forward was the, uh, publicly accessible open space. And at that time LinkedIn had mentioned, you know, different ideas and ways that they were gonna program it. So aside from just having the property I think, you know, being publicly accessible so people can walk and bike through, can you share a little bit about what you've done with that public open space? And I'm not talking about the meeting room, I'm talking about like the, the outside open space. Um, or maybe, uh, you know, should this go forward tonight if you have any future ideas of what you might do and just knowing that this is adjacent to our East Whisman Precise Plan where we have been approving hundreds and almost I think a thousand units just this year, so would love to hear a little bit about, um, LinkedIn's ideas. Thank you.

[01:55:27] Kunal Girotra: Yeah, thank you for the question. So, so yes, the—the whole campus is, uh, accessible by the public. And, uh, I appreciate you clarifying the question between like the community space that we built in Building 1 and then the outer space. Um, so I have to get back to you specifically on, on, on the programming that we've done historically in the outer space, but what I, what I learned, uh, is that, um, between the two, the community space and the outer space, we have, uh, hosted a ton of community, uh, events, uh, through, uh, different ERGs, uh, and organizations at LinkedIn, uh, employee resource groups, like for example, the, uh, Latino group had the, uh, Latino executives, some Latino executive team for the in the Bay Area. Boys and Girls Clubs have, uh, used our space as well. I'm not—I'm not exactly sure, um, like how often and and, um, all of that, but I'm happy to get back to you with that.

[01:56:24] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks.

[01:56:24] Kunal Girotra: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the question.

[01:56:28] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. All right. Um, any other questions from Council? Seeing none, um, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 3 minutes. I am seeing no in-person speakers. I will now take virtual speakers. I see no virtual speakers. We will now bring the item back to Council, uh, for questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the ordinance attached to the report. As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have a Councilmember participating remotely this evening. Councilmember Showalter.

[01:57:19] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, um, I—I wasn't able to meet with you and I'm sorry for that, but I—I want to say that, um, I've been very impressed by LinkedIn's behavior as a, a corporate, um, a member of our corporate community and a, and a corporate neighbor. And, um, your sustainability efforts are, um, really world class. Um, for instance, you, um, you piloted the use of some low carbon concrete in your buildings. And, um, and you really pushed the, um, the innovation in that field. Um, and that's very important because there's a lot of concrete that's used and it, and it's quite a big emitter. Um, and then as you mentioned the recycled water, that's a very significant system that you've incorporated into your, your, um, community and the, um, and the public space. So I just want to say, um, I really appreciate, I really appreciate all of the things that those things that you said you would do that in fact you have done. Um, that's definitely to be commended and appreciated.

[01:58:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then the other thing I, I know that you, um, LinkedIn, um, uh, started the idea of paying, um, fees early so that, um, the affordable housing fees could be used, um, really three or four, maybe even 10 years more than they would have been if they had been paid, um, at the end of the project. It was very generous. So, um, I, I just want to say thank you for that and, um, I appreciate you coming forward with this request and working with staff and, um, I will be, uh, supporting it.

[01:59:18] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:59:21] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. Uh, echoing exactly what Councilmember Showalter just said, I had an opportunity to meet with the applicant, uh, and I'm very grateful for the work that you've done, um, for the City of Mountain View or in collaboration with the City of Mountain View. I'm very grateful to city staff for, uh, negotiating this, uh, development agreement amendment. And I'll be happy to support the motion that I know Councilmember McAlister will, uh, read into the record, uh, momentarily. But I did want to let you know, Mayor, um, that after Councilmember McAlister has, uh, made the motion and we voted on it, I would like to make a subsequent motion unrelated to the actual development agreement, but related to another recommendation in the staff report.

[02:00:07] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Let's see if I can make that happen. Councilmember McAlister.

[02:00:14] Councilmember John McAlister: Would you like to mention it now?

[02:00:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: It has to be two separate motions.

[02:00:18] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Then, uh, oh, okay. So I will do introduce an ordinance amending—so, uh, the reason I'm sort of excited about getting this, this first, uh, this whole project started in 2015 when there was a land allocation for North Bayshore. And there was quite a bit of interest in how to best allocate property. And through various trades and negotiations we ended up here today and because of those actions hopefully someone said that that's what kept LinkedIn in Mountain View. So I'm excited to see that you're still here. So, introduce an ordinance of the City of Mountain View approving the first amended amendment to the development agreement by and between the City of Mountain View and LinkedIn Corporation for the LinkedIn Middlefield campus on a 28.7 acre site located at 700 to 810 East Middlefield Road and 1100 to 1200 Maude Avenue, APNs 165-38-001 and 165-38-009, to extend the term by five years, to be read in title only, further reading waived, and set a second reading for October 27th, 2026, attachment 1 to the council report.

[02:01:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Uh, we are ready for our roll call vote.

[02:01:51] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[02:01:52] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:01:53] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:01:56] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:01:57] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:01:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh yes.

[02:02:00] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:02:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:02:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:02:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:02:03] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[02:02:04] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[02:02:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[02:02:06] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[02:02:07] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Motion passes unanimously.

[02:02:08] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yay, another unanimous vote. We're so wonderful with each other. Um, Councilmember Ramirez, your subsequent motion.

[02:02:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes, thank you, Mayor. Uh, so, uh, I had an opportunity to speak with the City Manager this morning and, uh, I think the recommendation was consider as a separate action. But the staff report does, um, provide a recommended allocation for the public benefit fee. Uh, and I think it's not a bad recommendation at all. Uh, but the reason I would like to recommend a different allocation is because, um, I mean following some of the public comment we had earlier in the evening and anticipating, uh, that the Council will have to make some very challenging decisions later this year related to homelessness, right? Later this year and then into next year with the new Council. Um, I want to suggest, uh, that my colleagues consider allocating, uh, all of the public benefit fee, uh, for, uh, the—or to the Mountain View Affordable Housing Fund.

[02:03:23] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And part of the reason why is we have a number of affordable housing projects that are, uh, entitled, ready to go, but lacking the funding that is necessary to help unlock those affordable units. Um, they're not necessarily going to be constructed in time to, uh, support folks who may be impacted by, uh, impending actions of the council, uh, this year and next, but, uh, I think in the long run it's, it's the urgent need of the community that we have to address, uh, and this is a, a very valuable source of funding that could potentially unlock a project, um, within, within the next, uh, year or so.

[02:04:03] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: The other reason is, um, we're, uh, every time we have a major property transaction, the first person I contact is my friend Arn, uh, because he was a great thought partner, uh, during the development of Measure G. And it's looking like this might be a gangbusters year for, for Measure G revenue. Um, and, uh, that means, you know, a third of the revenue that we generate is going specifically for parks and open space, which is tremendous. Uh, and I'm hoping that we'll sustain that, you know, revenue growth over the next few years. But, um, it's, it's very exciting. Uh, affordable housing is not as strong a beneficiary. Uh, and I that's why I feel like, uh, given the priorities of the community and the the city, uh, given some of the actions that we'll, we'll be taking over the next, uh, several months, I feel that affordable housing is a, is the highest priority and therefore, uh, merits our continued support and investment. So I'm going to move, uh, to—I'll need your help City Manager. I think it's to direct the city staff to, uh, return during the second reading, uh, with a revised allocation, uh, for 1.6 million dollars from the public benefit fee to, um, uh, go to the Mountain View Affordable Housing Fund.

[02:05:05] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: You phrased that perfectly, Councilmember Ramirez. Flattery will get you nowhere. All right. Uh, Councilmember Kamei.

[02:05:19] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Thanks. Uh, thanks Mayor. Um, so I just had a question about this and I'm sorry it's always hard to participate virtually because I think one of the, the things that I wanted to do was just comment on on this the the vote, but, um, now Councilmember Ramirez's motion has, um, inspired a question for me. So, um, and apologies, um, this is a staff question. So, my understanding about when this project went forward is that we were also looking at some capital improvements, um, so that LinkedIn was gonna provide and create those improvements in, um, you know, one area particularly like the Frontage Road and that the city would be looking at Frontage and Middlefield, um, and that we were going to be doing improvements there. I think that's as part of our CIP and I apologies I can't recall off the top of my head where we are in that process and where those improvements are, um, just if if staff can answer that.

[02:06:31] Staff: Hi, good evening again. Um, actually that is very good timing because next council agenda on October 27th, um, my team will be bringing an item for Council consideration which is a design concept, uh, for the project at that particular location. It is, um, a project that is sort of co, co, done between the city and and the VTA, um, and it's at the 237, um, Middlefield Frontage Road area. So that's your sneak peek of what's going to happen in two weeks.

[02:07:15] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Right. So, so tangentially related to that though is with the funding on that, so you know I think of course have interest in Councilmember Ramirez's amendment but just want to make sure that we're fully funding that commitment with which we had discussed for quite some time and wanted to just clarify that before taking this um this substitute motion vote.

[02:07:40] Staff: Sure. Yeah, let me refer to my notes here. Um, the project's anticipated to um oops, I'm on the wrong page here. To cost about $24.8 million. 22 and a half of that is coming from 2016 VTA Measure B. Um and then the balance is coming from um community benefit funds.

[02:08:08] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Okay, so it sounds like we already have that funding allocated for this project. We have sufficient funding for the design concept that is going to be recommended in two weeks.

[02:08:23] Staff: Yes.

[02:08:23] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Wonderful. Okay great. Thank you so much. In that case I can support the motion. I just want to make sure that we are—that project was going to get complete. Thanks so much Mayor.

[02:08:34] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. Vice Mayor Clark.

[02:08:37] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Well, not to rain on the parade, but um, we we took an action which was to um approve the ordinance with the extension. Um, anyways per the staff report we can either um discuss preliminary allocations this evening or we can leave the funds unallocated and um consider them in a broader context perhaps of when we do know what Measure G funds will be versus what we think they'll be.

[02:09:06] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: So my preference—and I have no issue putting some or whatever portion that makes the most sense toward affordable housing. I just don't think that tonight is the right night to make the decision to allocate $1.6 million in public benefit fees when it sounds like there might be additional information incoming. So my preference would be to just leave the funds unallocated this evening. We've already taken the action that we've taken. Um, I don't—unless the unless staff says otherwise I don't see a need to to allocate the 1.6 this evening. I think we should. My preference would be to leave it flexible so that we can put it toward park land acquisition if it makes sense, um some portion of it, or affordable housing for some portion of it, or something else. But um, I'm just not comfortable making a change to this suggested allocation this evening. Um, I'd rather do it with additional context for all of the needs, especially in that particular uh area of Mountain View uh which is most impacted.

[02:10:14] Assistant City Attorney Mitesh Bhakta: Um, just to clarify for the City Clerk's minutes and uh to clarify one element for Vice Mayor Clark. The motion on the floor right now does not modify the existing action. It's just uh for a future direction for what returns.

[02:10:31] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yeah, so my understanding is what's passed so far is just the extension. We haven't dealt with the allocation of funding and that's what this motion would do. And so my preference would be not to make any allocations tonight.

[02:10:46] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember McAlister.

[02:10:48] Councilmember John McAlister: So what okay, so there is a recommendation for allocations. We're not committed to that. You're making a motion to allocate it and Vice Mayor is saying let's leave it unallocated and determine best use down the road.

[02:11:11] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: My understanding, Mr. or Councilmember Ramirez can jump in, if I misunderstood what he's saying but he is he is suggesting that we not do what the staff recommended which is an allocation of park land acquisition and affordable housing, he would like to put it all on affordable housing, which is a very fine suggestion, it's just not something I'm prepared to do tonight.

[02:11:33] Councilmember John McAlister: So are we committed to, so if we adopt uh Councilmember Ramirez's motion, that it is committed to that particular area or is it just recommended to go to that area?

[02:11:48] Assistant City Attorney Mitesh Bhakta: The direction based on Councilmember Ramirez's motion would be for the second reading to include the allocation component as you direct tonight, if you approve the motion. So you would vote on it again.

[02:12:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Would subsequent councils be able to also then reallocate it if needed or wanted to?

[02:12:09] Assistant City Attorney Mitesh Bhakta: Depending on how long it takes for the funds to be expended potentially, yes. Uh the appropriations could be modified with a future budget action.

[02:12:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Then the allocation of this money, when would it be put into a CIP or how—what's the mechanism for once we make this mo- the motion is made that the money is transferred? Well we haven't received the money yet, have we?

[02:12:34] Christian Murdock: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Christian Murdock, Community Development Director. Uh, the development agreement uh if ultimately passed by Council on the second reading would require uh payment of the the public benefit fee the $1.6 million within 60 days of execution of the development agreement which would follow some short time after uh adoption in the second reading and the ordinance taking effect 30 days later. So, uh call it uh perhaps early 2027 we would receive the funds. If there's Council direction prior to that as to how to allocate, we would work with uh the Financial Finance Administrative Services Department to deposit it into the uh relevant account based on that direction. Without a funding allocation it would go into the general fund uh to be appropriated at a future time uh based on council action at a later date.

[02:13:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Thank you.

[02:13:23] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Seeing no other comment, we're ready for a roll call vote.

[02:13:30] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[02:13:31] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:13:32] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:13:33] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:13:34] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:13:37] Councilmember John McAlister: No.

[02:13:40] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:13:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:13:42] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:13:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:13:44] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[02:13:45] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: No.

[02:13:46] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[02:13:46] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes. Item passes five to two.

[02:13:51] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Um, we will now move on to item 7.2. Um, interim urgency ordinance for detention or custodial facilities. Senior City Attorney Bhakta will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now. I totally just butchered your name again, didn't I?

[02:14:16] Assistant City Attorney Mitesh Bhakta: That's okay. Thank you, Mayor. Item 7.2. In September, the City Council directed the City Attorney's office to work with the Community Development Department and research whether an interim urgency ordinance would be required to handle certain federal activities in the region. Based on that Council direction, the City Attorney's office worked with the CDD department, as well as discussed with some of some of our neighboring jurisdictions on what they have seen, the ordinances they have drafted. We also examined our own zoning code to determine if there were in fact some potential issues. We did identify that we do have certain language in our zoning code in—I'm going to read the exact citation for you so I don't mess it up, 36.60.35 that does include a definition of interim incarceration facilities that we felt could be addressed by this ordinance. Based on that and based on what our neighboring cities have done, we prepared the interim urgency ordinance that is before you tonight and if you have any questions, please let me know.

[02:15:29] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Does any member of the council have questions? Seeing none, we will now move on to public comment. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 3 minutes. Um, we will begin with Cara Silver, followed by Maria, followed by Eric Poycon. If you could make your way to the thing so we don't have to wait for you to mosey on down. Go ahead.

[02:16:07] Public Speaker Cara Silver: Thank you, Mayor and Council. My name is Cara Silver. I am the leader of the immigration action team for Indivisible Palo Alto Plus and a municipal land use attorney. I would like to thank your wonderful City Attorney team for drafting a comprehensive and legally defensible moratorium ordinance. I would also like to thank Representative Liccardo and his team for proposing concrete actions California cities and counties can take to address the federal government's cruel and unconstitutional attacks on immigrants and brown people in our local communities.

[02:16:40] Public Speaker Cara Silver: The primary reason why the Bay Area has not been the target of mass immigration raids that have occurred in other cities, including Los Angeles, is simple. The Bay Area does not have a large scale detention facility. However, the federal government has appropriated billions of dollars for new facilities and is actively looking to site a larger facility in the Bay Area. Further, now that the court has enjoined the construction of the Gilroy facility, we can expect ICE and Border Patrol to step up their acquisition and development of other detention facilities in the Bay Area.

[02:17:16] Public Speaker Cara Silver: Thus it is necessary for Mountain View and all cities in the Bay Area to update their zoning codes to prohibit the construction of detention facilities. There is no local need for these types of facilities. Based on numerous reports regarding conditions at other federal detention centers, these facilities are poorly operated and regulated. Detainees are kept in rancid, subhuman, and overcrowded conditions and numerous deaths and suicides have been reported as a result. This ordinance is badly needed to preserve the health and safety of our community. Please continue your leadership in standing up for our immigrant residents and pass this ordinance unanimously. Thank you.

[02:18:02] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Maria. Followed by Eric Poycon.

[02:18:24] Public Speaker Maria: Good evening. Um, my name is Maria. Um, I have moved to Mountain View with my family and then infant son 21 years ago and I lead Blue Turn Indivisible with hundreds of Mountain View residents. I'm here to ask you to support the temporary moratorium on detention facilities. I think we need to be clear about what's happening here. The federal government is looking to expand its immigration detention capacity. They're not doing this for our safety. They're not doing it for the benefit of our city. They're doing it because they believe in an America in which people like me, like my friend Eric, like many of you, don't belong. We have heard them say it. We know that plans for a large facility near Gilroy have been blocked temporarily by a federal judge. We know that it does not mean that they've given up. They're looking for new locations and new ways to punish and terrorize our neighbors. Mountain View should not wait until there's a specific proposal on the table before deciding how to respond. It should be a model to others.

[02:19:32] Public Speaker Maria: My family came to this country as Jewish refugees. We came here to be safe. Safe from persecution, safe from arbitrary arrests and secret detentions. We already know that ICE and DHS are creating fear in communities across the country right now, increasingly in Central and Southern California. This fear does not just affect the small portion of our community that might be undocumented. It affects their families. It affects their friends, their co-workers, their neighbors. It affects all of us. Can people go to work, send their children to school, participate in community activities, feel that they live in a free city? A local detention facility will exponentially increase these fears. And not just fears, our moral culpability in lives ruined by an administration that does not care about laws or justice or humanity. Heck, it does not even care about the economic output of one of the most innovative counties in the country.

[02:20:29] Public Speaker Maria: Obviously, a city like Mountain View has limited authority over the federal immigration policy. But you do have a responsibility to use the powers you do have to protect the health, safety, and welfare of your residents. And I believe that you have a responsibility to exercise that authority. I am asking you to vote unanimously in favor of the moratorium and join other nearby cities that have already taken this action. If you support this in this room, please stand up. Thank you.

[02:20:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Maria. Eric Poycon.

[02:20:56] Public Speaker Eric Poycon: Okay. Uh, good evening, Mayor Ramos, Councilmembers. My name is Eric Poycon. I am a member of the HRC and part of the Rapid Response Network here as myself alongside iPin and many community leaders. I'm here to strongly support this moratorium and thank Council and the staff for moving quickly on this matter. For me, this is personal. Years ago as a community organizer I stood outside an immigration detention facility in San Diego. I could hear parents yelling inside. Yelling for help and begging to see their children. I've never forgotten those voices. That experience taught me that a detention facility is never just about a building or the land use decision. It's about people, parents, children, and families trying to stay together.

[02:21:41] Public Speaker Eric Poycon: Today I help residents connect with housing, food, health care, legal and other basic needs. And I see what fear does to a community. People stop asking for help. They worry about going to work or having any contact with any of our services. Families start making everyday decisions based on whether they feel safe. And when that happens, trust breaks down between residents and the city that's supposed to serve them. We can't control what the federal government does, but we are not powerless. We have tools within our land use authority and we should use them. This moratorium gives our city time to act before a proposal is already in front of us. And our options are more limited. It gives us time to put real protections in place instead of acting after the fact.

[02:22:29] Public Speaker Eric Poycon: It also matters what we say to our immigrant families who live, work, and raise their children here. They should know that what we as a city see what they're going through and that their safety matters to us here in Mountain View. I know what I heard outside those facilities and I don't want any of us, the residents, to hear those same voices here in our city. Please approve this moratorium unanimously and give the city the time it needs to put permanent protections in place. Thank you.

[02:22:56] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. We will now move on to virtual public comment. Um, Melissa Dinwiddie.

[02:23:08] Public Speaker Melissa Dinwiddie: Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Melissa Dinwiddie. I have lived in Mountain View for 23 years. I am a Leadership Mountain View alumni, and I founded a civic group, Indivisible Palo Alto Plus, that helped launch Safety Over Surveillance, and I am here to urge you to vote yes on Item 7.2. I grew up on family stories of pogroms in the old country. My great-grandparents watched their own grandparents massacred. They hid under the bed. And then they fled with their family to America for safety. Then they watched this country lock law-abiding Japanese Americans in camps. Now, America has never been perfect, but I grew up really proud of what it reached for. And now, I am horrified.

[02:24:00] Public Speaker Melissa Dinwiddie: I don't want my country to become the old country in our grandchildren's stories. The court stopping the Gilroy facility bought us time, not safety. DHS will look for new sites in our region. Limited detention capacity is one reason that we haven't seen raids here like there have been in LA and Chicago. More capacity means more arrests. You have the authority to protect our health, our safety, and welfare, and you've used it before when you canceled the flock contract. Our neighbors are afraid. They need to know that their city has their back. Please vote unanimously to join San Jose and Gilroy. Keep Mountain View a community for all. Thank you.

[02:25:00] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Devon Conley.

[02:25:07] Public Speaker Devon Conley: Good evening, Mayor Ramos, uh Vice Mayor Clark, and honorable City Council members. Um, I'm speaking to you tonight as a 20-year resident of Mountain View who lives in a diverse neighborhood. And first I want to thank you for the work that you did signing on to the amicus brief opposing the ICE facility in Gilroy earlier this year. But I also want to urge you to adopt the interim urgency ordinance for detention or custodial facilities presented tonight. As a parent in our local schools, I see how the fear of ICE impacts students and families across our city. We have friends and neighbors who worry every day about parents being separated from their children due to their mixed immigration status. When my son started kindergarten eight years ago, I never thought families in our community would be afraid to take their children to school because they could be detained and possibly deported on the way to drop off or pick up. No child should have to live with this fear.

[02:26:06] Public Speaker Devon Conley: We know that expanding ICE capacity in our region would have direct consequences for Mountain View residents, including those families and children. We also know that collective action matters. If one jurisdiction stands up alone, it becomes a target. When multiple cities and counties take a stand, they protect each other and protect our community together. While the city is limited in its purview over federal actions, land use and zoning falls squarely within your mandate. Adopting tonight's ordinance allows the city to further study this issue and bring forward land use regulations to prohibit an ICE facility in the future. Please join Los Altos, San Jose, Gilroy, and San Mateo and Monterey counties in taking this action to ensure, as others have noted, that Mountain View continues to remain a community for all.

[02:27:00] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. And our last virtual speaker is Morgan.

[02:27:07] Public Speaker Morgan: Hi, good evening Mayor and Councilmembers. Uh, my name is Morgan and I've been a Mountain View resident for over 15 years, uh as well as a small business owner. And I'm here tonight asking you to please adopt a temporary moratorium on all detention facilities within Mountain View. It's actually great timing that earlier tonight you passed a week of diversity and inclusivity, free of fear for all Mountain View's residents, and here's your chance to immediately put it into practice. We need this, and we need you to pass it unanimously to prove to all your residents that you care about protecting not only our physical safety but also our well-being. We are all living in fear, and everybody suffers when that's true. People need to be able to use city services and get out in the world without fear, and buy from local businesses like mine.

[02:27:57] Public Speaker Morgan: [clears throat] This matters to me because I love this community. I've chosen to live here for 15 years after all, and I don't want my neighbors, my customers, or my business harmed by policies that spread fear and destabilize local life. We need you to protect us. We were relieved when a judge blocked the planned ICE facility near Gilroy, but DHS will absolutely look for other sites in our region. Please vote unanimously to approve this moratorium, join the other jurisdictions already acting, and help keep Mountain View the community I love. Thank you.

[02:28:38] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. We will now bring this item back for Council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the ordinance to the report. As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have a council member participating remotely this evening. Councilmember Kamei.

[02:28:58] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Thanks, uh thanks so much, uh Mayor. Yes, over 5,000 um miles away and a different time zone would not keep me from um making this motion. I'm sure colleagues have already done that, but hoping that um someone will be my second. Um, so that we can adopt an urgency ordinance of the City of Mountain View establishing a temporary moratorium on the filing, acceptance, processing, or approval of applications for and the establishment or operation of detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities pending study of appropriate zoning and land use regulations.

[02:29:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh, I just really briefly want to to thank staff for bringing this item back so so quickly to Council. Want to thank our community for sharing their support and uplifting their stories and their bravery about speaking in a time where it may feel uncomfortable. But I would say to colleagues this is such a testament to the community that we're building, right? The community for all that we have been reaffirming since the current administration took office. I am so proud uh to be your colleague, to be in Mountain View, and to be able to vote on something like this. I would say what's really critical too is um while the administration has shown that there's um no credence to law um or any kind of rules or regulations, items like this can reaffirm and show our residents that we're with them and that they can um come to us. So, just wanted to to share that in addition to my motion. Thank you Mayor.

[02:30:45] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Kamei. Um, so we have a motion by Councilmember Kamei. Uh, will have a— Councilmember Ramirez.

[02:30:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you Mayor. I'm happy to second the motion. Uh and I wanted to uh first uh appreciate Councilmember Kamei for her leadership in uh introducing uh this item uh in a recent council meeting. Oh you did? I'm sorry. Um, I know we we've had multiple Councilmembers who have been leaders in many different respects. Um, and I I appreciate um members of the council who who supported the introduction of this item uh and also to city staff for uh bringing it to the council so expeditiously. Uh, and I'm happy to vote yes.

[02:31:39] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, I was just gonna say that um uh Councilmember Kamei and I attended a webinar um that uh Sam Liccardo held uh talking about the importance of this. And I was really proud to bring it back in item 8 and ask that our um attorney uh develop an urgency ordinance. And I'm really pleased um, as so many people have said, at the speed um at which that you've done this. Thank you so much. It's really important to have our staff be responsive to community needs that are brought up um kind of on the fly. Um, and uh uh so we uh, you know we had a model ordinance and there was—but you needed to to do a lot of research about how this fit in with our zoning ordinance and our rules. And and so I really appreciate you going ahead and doing that very quickly. Um, that's uh uh we we strive for excellence and I think that this is a—is a good example of it. So—so thank you.

[02:32:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And then the other thing I just want to follow up on is something that was said by a number of people in the um the public comments, and that's that um this is—this is a zoning change, this is within our powers. And I think it's both um symbolically important that we act within our powers and also actually important that we act within our powers. Um, the beauty of American government is that um different types of, different levels of government have different powers. And when everybody um uses their powers wisely, it produces a society that's safe and productive. And so that's really what we're trying to do with this is to make our contribution to that by using our appropriate government zoning power. And um so I'm really uh appreciative that this is coming forward. Thank you.

[02:33:51] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember McAlister.

[02:33:56] Councilmember John McAlister: Um, you know I I made the motion uh Councilmember Kamei, but I will gladly withdraw my motion so that you have the honor of following through on one of your initiatives for the city. So if uh you would like to do that, the move has been done.

[02:34:14] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Um, thank you to Assistant City Clerk for getting that to to work on our technical side. Uh, so we have the motion uh made by Councilmember Kamei, seconded by Councilmember Showalter. Uh, thank you to uh the members of our community for showing up uh for our neighbors. Um, thank you to uh Congressman Liccardo's office. I see a representative from him here. Um, hearing if we had any questions, I I think I think we we we got it. Um, and I believe we are ready for a—are we good? Are we good? Okay, we are ready for a vote.

[02:34:55] City Clerk Heather Glaser: I need the title of the ordinance read into the record, please.

[02:34:58] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Uh, Councilmember Kamei, um...

[02:35:02] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Sorry, I thought that I read it. I read it in.

[02:35:06] Staff: She—uh Councilmember Kamei did. I'll I'll reiterate it just for um, so Councilmember um, just for the record, Councilmember Kamei made the motion to adopt an urgency ordinance of the City of Mountain View establishing a temporary moratorium on the filing, acceptance, processing, or approval of applications for and the establishment or operation of detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities pending study of appropriate zoning and land use regulations.

[02:35:37] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Councilmember Hicks?

[02:35:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:35:41] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:35:42] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:35:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:35:44] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[02:35:46] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:35:46] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:35:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:35:48] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:35:49] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Vice Mayor Clark?

[02:35:50] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[02:35:51] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Mayor Ramos?

[02:35:52] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes. Item passes unanimously.

[02:35:56] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Congratulations everyone. All right, we're we're going to take a a break. Um, about— so it's uh 9:04. So yes, and then we're going to come back at 9:15. Have fun, y'all.

Additional Content 2

[02:37:57] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, are we ready you guys? All right, we're calling this meeting back to order. We will now move on to item 7.3, Downtown Business Improvement Area 1 and allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area Number 1 revenues. Vice Mayor Clark, do you have an announcement to make?

[02:38:15] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes. I am recusing myself from participating in any discussion or determination about the Downtown Business Improvement Area Number 1 due to the proximity of my personal residence to the improvement area.

[02:38:26] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Councilmember Hicks, do you have an announcement to make?

[02:38:29] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes I do. I'm recusing myself from participating in any discussion or determination about the Downtown Business Improvement Area number 1 due to the proximity of my personal residence to the improvement area.

[02:38:44] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: No. All right, thank you. Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[02:39:00] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Thank you Mayor, Council. Tonight we're holding the second public hearing in the annual renewal process for the Downtown Business Improvement Areas or BIAs. The first meeting on September 8th was to review and preliminarily approve the business improvement areas. Tonight you have two recommendations for consideration. First to confirm the annual report and levy an assessment in BIA Number 1. Second, to authorize the City Manager to allocate the revenues to the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce. This concludes staff's presentation. Thank you.

[02:39:32] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? Seeing none. Would any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or press star nine on your phone. A timer will be displayed on screen, each speaker will have 3 minutes. I see no in person public comment. We will now take virtual speakers. I see no virtual speakers. So thank you. I will now bring the item back for council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have council member participating remotely this evening. Do we have a motion? Or deliberation? Or anything? We have a motion by Councilmember Showalter, go ahead and read the...

[02:40:28] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. I move that we adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View confirming the annual report of the Downtown Mountain View Business Improvement Area Number 1 and levying the annual benefit assessments for calendar year 2027 to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[02:40:48] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. And we have a second by Councilmember McAlister. We are ready for a roll call vote.

[02:40:55] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:40:59] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:41:01] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:41:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Yep.

[02:41:03] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:41:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:41:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:41:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:41:07] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[02:41:08] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[02:41:09] City Clerk Heather Glaser: The vote passes with 5 ayes and 2 recusals.

[02:41:11] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, come back Vice Mayor Clark and Councilmember Hicks! So we are moving on to Item 7.4. As they mosey on their way here. Okay, we're moving on to item 7.4, Downtown Business Improvement Area Number 2 and allocation of 2027 Business Improvement Area Number 2 revenues. Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[02:41:47] Economic Vitality Manager Amanda Rotella: Thank you Mayor. Um, once again, we're holding the second public hearing in the annual renewal process for the Downtown Business Improvement Areas. The first meeting on September 8th was to review and preliminarily approve those areas. Tonight we are, there are two recommendations for your consideration. First, confirm the annual report and levy an assessment in BIA Number 2. Second, to authorize the City Manager to allocate the revenues to the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce. That concludes my presentation. Thank you.

[02:42:16] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? Seeing none. Uh, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button on Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in person speakers first. Each speaker will have 3 minutes. Seeing no speakers in person, we will now take virtual speakers. Seeing no virtual speakers, thank you. I will bring the item back to, for council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have a council member participating remotely this evening. We have, um, so do we have a motion? We have a motion by Councilmember Hicks.

[02:43:06] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So it's a motion to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View confirming the annual report of the Downtown Mountain View Business Improvement Area Number 2 and levying the annual benefit assessments for calendar year 2027 to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[02:43:27] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Thank you. Councilmember Hicks?

[02:43:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:43:29] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:43:30] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:43:31] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:43:33] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah.

[02:43:34] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:43:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:43:37] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:43:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:43:39] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[02:43:40] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[02:43:41] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[02:43:42] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[02:43:44] City Clerk Heather Glaser: The item passes unanimously.

[02:43:46] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Great, we will now move on to item 7.5, Energy Services Contract for Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Battery Storage Project Various Actions. Uh, Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee will present the item. If you would like to speak on this item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[02:44:40] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Good evening Mayor and Council. Um, I'm pleased to be here this evening to present an energy services contract for Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage. Uh, just a brief overview for you, this project entails uh four solar array installations, two roof replacements and uh the addition of battery energy storage um at these various locations. The figure before you shows the proposed location of the solar installations and the figure on the right shows also the battery potential battery storage uh sites. All of these will be confirmed through the design process of the project. Uh at the big picture, um this project uh contemplates over a 30 year period uh $10.4 million in savings after our investment um is recovered. It entails a $5 million CIP appropriation request. You can see the funding sources identified below, um including the CIP Reserve Fund, the Sustainability Project CIP, and the General Non-Operating Fund. Uh this project, I'm pleased to tell you also, uh anticipates being able to draw down inflation reduction act funds through the direct pay provision. Um there were, the original direct pay provision was set to expire um in 2032 but legislation last year adopted by Congress accelerated that expiration. So now the current deadline for solar PV is December 31st 2027 and the deadline for battery storage which is a component on one of our sites is December 31st 2032. I'd like to especially thank our colleagues in Public Works and Community Services all of the recipient sites because this project had to be accelerated once Congress accelerated the expiration of these funds. Uh the direct pay incentive that we anticipate receiving is $920,000 um and that is not uh budgeted in the $5 million. So that will be um acknowledged once we actually receive those funds. And then finally I have the recommendation for you which is um lengthy, my apologies. I'm happy to answer any questions um and I will, I will note that um my colleagues um uh Jennifer Ing from Public Works as well as um Lauren Anderson are available for questions. Uh David Printee from Public Works as well. And then we also have in the audience um John Burdette um from Excite Energy um who would be the um installer of the solar.

[02:48:07] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the council have questions? I see Councilmember Hicks.

[02:48:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well this is excellent, you know lowering our carbon emissions while lowering our our costs. Um, but I guess that's a comment. My question is why the each, uh, if for people who have never read our staff reports before, at the end of them they usually include a fiscal impact. And I'm curious why this didn't show that our costs were going down. It had a, it just um, reflected the startup costs. And I'm wondering why it was written that. Why, is that just by somewhat the way it has to be written or what, do you know the reason for that?

[02:48:50] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Well, because we budget in one year increments, um, the only thing that would be included in this budget fiscally is the um upfront cost. We do include within the body of the staff report the anticipated savings of the project over the life of the project.

[02:49:07] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, so my only additional question is why can't we do more of this?

[02:49:12] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: I think that the acceleration of the ex, the expiration, um, via the big beautiful bill last year um made it difficult to, you know, to secure additional sites. We were really excited that all four of our preliminary sites were have come to fruition. We already have solar at 9, I think additional sites. So, um, we're we're pleased to be adding to our portfolio.

[02:49:40] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well given that overall it, it reduces what we spend, I hope we can find ways to do more. Yeah. Thank you.

[02:49:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Um, seeing no other questions from my colleagues, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the Assistant City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have 3 minutes. I see a John Burdette.

[02:50:12] John Burdette: Hello. Thank you. Good evening Madam Mayor, members of the City Council, and city staff. My name is John Burdette, the Vice President of Development with Excite Energy. First, I'd like to commend the City Council, city staff, and your energy consultant Optony for your leadership, due diligence, and commitment to fiscal responsibility and environmental stewardship. This project is much more than an investment in solar. It's a long-term investment in the city's financial and environmental future. By generating renewable electricity on-site, the City of Mountain View will reduce operating expenses, minimize exposure to rising utility rates, and significantly reduce its carbon footprint. The addition of battery storage at the Aquatics Center and the ability to integrate energy storage at other sites in the future lays the groundwork for an enhanced energy resiliency uh system for the city. Beyond this project, Excite Energy has offered additional services at no cost to the city, including an ASHRAE Level 1 energy audit to identify further energy conservation opportunities. We've also identified significant potential uh with LED lighting retrofits and to support that, we've offered a more detailed ASHRAE Level 2 style lighting assessment and savings program. Again, at no cost, or additional cost to the city. These efforts could unlock further reductions in energy use, operating costs, and greenhouse gas emissions for years to come. And there is also a Power Purchase Agreement strategy that we can talk about, uh Councilmember Hicks, on how to still retain some of these um investment tax credits that are are paid um even past these deadlines. Uh there's a loophole for that. Um finally, I want to recognize the tremendous effort and collaboration of the city staff and Optony throughout this process. This type of thoughtful, long-term planning reflects responsible stewardship of public resources and a genuine commitment to lasting community value. On behalf of Excite Energy, thank you for the opportunity to partner with the City of Mountain View. We look forward to delivering a successful project and many more. Thank you.

[02:52:34] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, thank you. I don't see anyone else in the queue. I will now take virtual speakers and I see no virtual speakers. We will now bring the item back for council questions and deliberation. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolution attached to the report. As a reminder, the Assistant City Clerk will take a roll call vote as we have a council member participating remotely this evening.

[02:53:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well I'm happy to move this. I think this is a great program um, and uh we really appreciate the staff uh taking advantage of these programs and um particularly the direct pay. That's something we learned about at the National League of Cities and and kind of reminded, brought that back, and uh you looked into it and followed through on it and that's, that's much appreciated. So should I go ahead and read that now? All right, um okay this is, this is a, I gotta take a breath to do this one, it's long. Okay. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View awarding an Energy Services Contract to Solar NorCal LLC doing business as Excite Energy for the design, installation, and commissioning of solar photovoltaic PV systems at 4 city facilities, the Mountain View City Public Library, City Hall, the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, and Rengstorff Park Aquatics Center, Project Sites, including roof replacement work at the Mountain View Public Library and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and a battery in, energy storage system at the Rengstorff Aquatics Center for a total amount not to exceed $3,945,750. Two, finding that the, the project satisfies the cost effectiveness requirements of the California Government Code Section 4217-12 for energy service contracts. Three, approving a mid-year capital improvement program project, City Facilities Solar PV and Battery Storage for the design and installation of solar PV systems at the project sites including roof replacement work at the Mountain View Public Library and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and battery storage at Rengstorff Park Aquatics Center, collectively Project. Four, transferring and appropriating $2.6 million from the General Non-Operating Fund, $1.4 million from the CIP reserve, and $1 million from the Sustainability Project CIP Project 20-29 to fund the new CIP Project. And funding that five, um, finding that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, to be read in title only, further reading waived. And, um, at this point, I'd also kind of like to, um, just circle back and ask you a question because I want this people to be able to hear this, and that's, will you tell us sort of the story of how the roofs are getting replaced as part of this deal? And why that's a big, that's why that's a big savings?

[02:55:54] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Certainly. Um thank you for the question. Uh the roofs at the Center for Performing Arts and the Library um are fairly advanced and were in need of replacement in the not distant future. So rather than putting the solar on top of a roof that we knew would need to be replaced shortly, we've decided to go ahead and replace both roofs. The cost of bringing our solar systems offline to do a roof replacement post-construction didn't make any sense. So we're pleased that the savings projected include the cost of these roof replacements. So not only are we enhancing our, you know reducing our environmental footprint, but we're improving the quality of our general, you know, our overall facilities' conditions.

[02:56:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And do we get some sort of a tax credit on the cost of the roof replacement as well?

[02:56:45] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um I believe that the Inflation Reduction Act does... Mr. Burdette, do you know if the IRA applies to the full cost of the roof or only the allowable section?

[02:56:57] John Burdette: In certain areas, um, but our scope also has a consultant that does this type of uh, tax consulting and will help the city file a tax return. That's how you claim this elective pay. Uh, so we'll go through and we'll optimize and try to claim as much of the roof as possible.

[02:57:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So thank you. So that's one of the advantages of doing these things together is that there are possibilities to claim part or all of the roof um, costs and that's, that's a big deal. So um, so anyway, thank you for your work and um this will be a big benefit to our community. Thank you.

[02:57:41] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks.

[02:57:43] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I just wanted to underline, because this is going to go by fast I assume, we're going to have a unanimous vote, maybe I'll be wrong, maybe I'll be wrong, but that this is a just really a fabulous step, uh, when you're doing sustainability work, trying to address climate change. Uh, and when we're doing that in the city, the two big things we're trying to work on are transportation and and building energy. Um, and so we're taking a big step for for cutting carbon emissions in our buildings. It's, this will be setting a great example for hopefully everyone in the city and other cities as well. Um, it's great that we're cutting the carbon emissions and saving money uh at the same time. I mean that's just a win win how how can you argue against that? Um, and this is what actually everyone I think should be doing in the city, our residents and our businesses as well. Um, and we've had two companies here tonight that that work in that area, so clearly it's very possible and I think our city if we can, we should continue to do to excite and see whether we can do more. So, um, I have seconded the motion for that reason.

[02:58:59] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. I see no other speakers in the queue. We have a motion by Councilmember Showalter, seconded by Councilmember Hicks. We are ready for a roll call vote.

[02:59:10] City Clerk Heather Glaser: You don't want to read it again? Just kidding. Councilmember Hicks?

[02:59:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:59:15] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[02:59:16] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:59:17] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[02:59:18] Councilmember John McAlister: Yep.

[02:59:19] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[02:59:20] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:59:21] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[02:59:22] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:59:23] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[02:59:24] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes.

[02:59:25] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[02:59:26] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[02:59:27] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Motion passes unanimously.

[02:59:28] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yay, another unanimous. All right, we are now on to item 8, Council, Staff, and Committee Reports. Do we have any colleagues with Council, Staff, and Committee Reports? Councilmember Showalter.

[02:59:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I just have two announcements. Um, one, I want to announce that uh, we're having a special meeting of the um, Council Sustainability To- um Committee tomorrow at Michael's at Shoreline to, um, we're bringing together the um, uh elected officials from the Shoreline cities from Santa Clara County, um, to get an update on sea level rise issues and also to learn about El Niño conditions. So I just wanted to let everybody know that that was taking part, place. And then the other thing I wanted to bring to your attention tomorrow, later in the day, is um, from 5:00 to 6:30 we are having the ribbon cutting for the new Silicon um, Valley Clean Energy building. We bought a building about, yeah, about a year ago and we've had to uh, uh, kind of remodel some of the insides and um, actually the inside was sort of empty, so we needed to fill it with things so that it's use- usable. Anyway, it is at 298 South Sunnyvale um, Avenue, which is very close to Murphy Street. So um, I just wanted to let people know about that, and I just um, shot the uh, Clerk an um, the invitation, so that will be in your boxes to get all the details about, about this if you could come to the ribbon cutting tomorrow and see our new building. Thank you.

[03:01:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Councilmember McAlister.

[03:01:32] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, I'm going to up you, I'm going to invite everybody to the Council Neighborhood Committee meeting Thursday at 6:30. So come and hear all exciting things that are happening with concerning the Mobile Home community.

[03:01:50] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: I mean technically I won't be there so... Um. All right, uh, any other Council uh report outs? Uh Councilmember Kamei.

[03:02:01] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks so much Mayor. I think I have to report this, which is I was just checking my dates, um, so um, in between our Council meetings I did attend our League of California Cities annual conference down in Anaheim and also attended our city's annual Celebration of Service. Thank you.

[03:02:21] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okay, I'll I'll report you out too. Um, I am not... I am no snitch! Okay. All right, so from September 23rd to 25th, I also joined Councilmember Kamei and Councilmember um McAlister at the Cal Cities Conference, also known as League of California Cities. It was really cool. Um, there are a couple really interesting workshops. One of them was about um, dealing with Public Records Requests in the age of AI. And how everyone is getting so many more. And how cities are dealing with it, it was very fascinating workshops. They didn't have many answers. It was more of like 'this is what's happening and we need to figure out how to do it.' So, um... fun. Um, but there was one about um, community engagement, and it was about... I forgot what the name of the city it was, it was a fairly uh, recently very expanding city. Like they they came, they went from like 50,000 residents to like over 100,000 residents um because they just went through some major development in that city. And one of the programs that they had was very similar to our Language Leadership Academies, although it wasn't based on Language Leadership Academies because I was watching this. Um, so we were, I I figured that we were farther ahead of them on that. But one of the programs they had was a Realtor Workshop, because realtors these days are also kind of social media influencers as well. And they found that having like a similar workshop, like kind of like how we have our Language Leadership Academies except it was like only one day, but like an overview of say, like do an overview of Mountain View, um sharing, uh preventing any kind of misinformation, and also letting realtors know like 'hey, what kind of developments are coming up' so like if they sell like a home next to like an empty plot of land that has a plan for like a redevelopment, like whoever they sell it to, they're not going to be surprised and then angry. So I thought it was a really good program to kind of share back, um, it's something that we could probably work together with like the local realtors like Silvar or our Chamber, but it sounded pretty good. Um. Also on September 25th, we had the Celebration of Service. Thank you Vice Mayor Clark for covering for me until I managed to make it there. Um, but it was really a great um, ceremony. Thank you to our City Clerk's office for the significant work they did on, on that, and all the shenanigans that I put them through. Um, October 4th um was the Compassion Week kick off. I did the opening speech for that. It was right here on the City Hall Plaza. Um, and we had a lot of wonderful people volunteering their time for, for small volunteer projects which was really nice. October 7th, we had our CPPC meeting with Councilmember uh, Ramirez, and Vice Mayor Clark... Nope, uh, Councilmember Showalter. Yes. It's the Finance Committee that I mix it up. Was she? I don't recall. Um, but uh, yes, it was Councilmember Ramirez and Councilmember Showalter, where we went over um, the volunteer framework which is now renamed to our Community Led Projects. So it's, it's gonna, it's gonna come to us soon, so I'm quite excited for that. Um, October 8th, we had the La Bella Affordable Housing Groundbreaking, um, where we uh broke ground for the essentially, Terra Bella, it was the Terra Bella project. And that was really exciting to finally get that off the ground, because that was a really kind of cool with the land swap and the, the land donation, so, we were all pretty excited about that. And then also on that day was City's Association where we had a um, we had a presentation about cybersecurity. Um, which was quite fun. And with that, that is all my reports out. Um, and I see no one, no one else. So we will adjourn this meeting at 21:44. October uh, and then our next Council meeting will be held on October 27th, 2026. Goodnight everyone! Bye Ellen!

• ← Previous