Nov. 10, 2026 Joint Meeting of City Council and Shoreline Regional Park Community

Video

Agenda

• 1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL: The meeting begins with the pledge of allegiance and roll call. (00:03:24)
• 3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation: A proclamation is presented for Community Foundation Week. (00:05:35)
• 3.2 National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Proclamation: A proclamation is presented for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. (00:10:28)
• 3.3 Presentation of a commendation to City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Commendation presented to the City Manager for receiving the ICMA Good Governance Award. (00:16:17)
• 3.4 El Niño Update: Staff presentation and update on preparations for the El Niño climate pattern. (00:23:28)
• 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: The City Council reviews, hears public comment, and votes on the consent calendar. (00:42:25)
• 5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS: Time reserved for public comments on items not on the agenda. No speakers present. (00:44:16)
• 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS - 6.2 Rowhouse Gatekeeper Project at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue: The Mayor announces Item 6.1 will not be heard and opens the public hearing for Item 6.2, which includes a staff presentation and discussion. (00:44:25)

Transcript

1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL

[00:03:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okey dokey! Good evening everyone. Welcome to the joint meeting of the Mountain View City Council and Shoreline Regional Park Community of November 10, 2026. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready?

[00:03:42] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:04:00] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. In recent weeks, the city along with a few of our neighboring elected decision-making bodies have been subjected to disruptive, racist verbal attacks by anonymous callers during virtual public comments. The City of Mountain View is fully committed to racial, religious and cultural equity and justice as we strive to create a welcoming, safe and inclusive community for all.

[00:04:23] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: The Council welcomes respectful, non-threatening public comments on matters within our jurisdiction. Comments deemed otherwise pursuant to the Council Code of Conduct and the government code may be grounds for terminating a speaker's comment period.

[00:05:17] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now I would like to take a moment to highlight a new tool the city is piloting to make our public meetings more accessible to our diverse community. The city has launched the pilot of Wordly, an AI-powered translation and captioning service that allows members of the public to follow meeting proceedings in their preferred language using their own device or a headset.

3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation

[00:05:35] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Move on to item 3 presentations. Please note these are presentations only. The council will not take any action. Public comment will occur after all the presentation items. If you would like to speak on these items in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk now. We will go on to item 3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation.

1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL

[00:05:38] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: The service offers translation in more than 60 languages. For those watching from home via Zoom, YouTube, the city website or cable TV, Wordly translation service can be launched by scanning the QR code displayed on the screen or by clicking the direct links provided in the meeting agendas. The City Clerk will take attendance by roll call.

3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation

[00:05:57] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We are happy to be joined this evening by CEO Christa Krames and board member Christine Cunningham on behalf of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation to accept this proclamation.

1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL

[00:06:02] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Hicks?

[00:06:03] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:06:03] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Kamei?

[00:06:04] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Here.

[00:06:05] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember McAlister?

[00:06:06] Councilmember John McAlister: Yep.

[00:06:06] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Ramirez?

[00:06:07] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:06:08] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Councilmember Showalter?

[00:06:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Here.

[00:06:09] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Vice Mayor Clark?

[00:06:10] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Here.

[00:06:10] City Clerk Heather Glaser: Mayor Ramos?

[00:06:11] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Here.

[00:06:11] City Clerk Heather Glaser: We have a quorum.

3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation

[00:06:11] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Ladies, would you join me at the lectern?

1. CALL TO ORDER / 2. ROLL CALL

[00:06:12] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yay! Um, now we will

3.1 Community Foundation Week Proclamation

[00:06:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Yep, there'll be a moment for that. All right. Here, this proclamation.

[00:06:36] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right. Whereas, um, the proclamation reads, whereas Community Foundation Week created in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush recognizes the important work of community foundations throughout the United States and their ability to unite neighbors, donors, and local institutions together to strengthen the places they call home, and

[00:06:59] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation serves as the philanthropic hub for cities of Los Altos, Mountain View, and the Town of Los Altos Hills, providing leadership, resources, and partnerships to address local priorities and foster a vibrant resilient community, and

[00:07:17] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas LAMVCF has been instrumental in mobilizing resources for urgent needs such as supporting wildfire readiness, affordable housing solutions, mental health services, youth programs, the arts, and sponsoring compassion week, while managing charitable funds with a steadfast commitment to transparency and stewardship, and

[00:07:39] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Whereas during times of crisis and recovery, LAMVCF has strengthened the nonprofit ecosystem by providing operational support, capacity building, and sponsorships that help local organizations thrive. Now therefore I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the city of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the city council, do hereby proclaim November 12th through 18th, 2023 as Community Foundation Week in the city of Mountain View. Woo! Yay!

[00:08:13] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now, would you like to say a few words? Oh, you can be right here. There we go.

[00:08:22] Christine Cunningham: Okay. Good evening, Mayor Ramos, Vice Mayor Clark, and honorable members of the city council. I am Christine Cunningham, a very proud resident of of Mountain View, and on the board of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation. On behalf of the entire board, our staff, our CEO Christa Krames, thank you so much for this proclamation and for honoring the community foundation as we celebrate our 35th anniversary. We're old.

[00:08:52] Christine Cunningham: 35 years ago a group of neighbors had a single idea and vision that this community's generosity could be turned into lasting change right here at home, and Mountain View has been a true partner in this work. Together we built Mountain View Affordable Housing Fund where the city's investment has helped them turn generosity into real momentum on housing.

[00:09:16] Christine Cunningham: We helped launch Mountain View Day Worker Center 30 years ago, and the Mountain View Community Land Trust fund three years ago. Every day we work alongside the nonprofits, businesses, and residents who, like you, make this city so special.

[00:09:33] Christine Cunningham: Thank you again for this lovely recognition and for 35 years of partnership.

[00:09:38] Christine Cunningham: We look forward to celebrating with you at the opening of the Montecito affordable housing project this Thursday, and helping you support to work the, I'm sorry, and helping you support the work of grantees like Hope's Corner continues to make a difference. Thank you again.

[00:10:26] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now we

3.2 National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Proclamation

[00:10:28] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We will move on to item 3.2, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Proclamation. We are happy to be joined this evening by the Community Services Agency's Food and Nutrition Director, LaDrea Clark, to accept the proclamation. LaDrea, would you join me at the lectern? Yay, LaDrea.

[00:10:55] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, so the proclamation reads, Whereas for over 25 years, the National Coalition for Homelessness and National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness have sponsored National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Whereas the purpose of the awareness initiative is to educate the public about the many reasons people are hungry and homeless, including the shortage of affordable housing for very low-income residents, and to encourage support for homeless assistance service providers, as well as community service opportunities for students and school service organizations. And whereas the City of Mountain View is committed to supporting the homeless and hungry with emergency sheltering, interim housing, affordable housing, and meals both directly and through support of agencies and service providers such as Community Services Agency of Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills, or as we know, CSA. And whereas the City of Mountain View recognizes that hunger and homelessness continue to be serious needs for many individuals and families in our community, and awareness of these needs is even more important in times of economic stress and uncertain resources. And whereas CSA engages volunteers and provides essential food resources, furthering the intent of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Now, therefore, I, Emily Ann Ramos, Mayor of the City of Mountain View, along with my colleagues on the City Council, do declare the week of November 15th through 21st as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week 2026 in the City of Mountain View. Yay. Now, do you have a few words?

[00:12:45] LaDrea Clark, Food and Nutrition Director: Good evening, everyone. Um, I just want to thank you guys for investing in Community Services Agency's pantry. Um, I wanted to just let you know what we're doing, what we'll be, what we have started doing, what we're doing with the money. Um, so we want to make things more accessible, so by making more, making things more accessible, we're, we've started an evening distribution so that we can reach people who are working, um, people who are working that need the food, people who are, who are working that want to participate in, um, donating or volunteering. Um, we also are, uh, we also have the mobile food pantry where we make ourself accessible to people who have kids so they don't have to make a decision whether they're gonna, um, pick up their kids or try to hurry up and get food. So we're right there when they're picking up their kids so they can get food. We also, um, participate in providing snacks for Los Altos, uh, Alta Vista High School and Castro School so that kids can always have something instead of, you know, uh, going hungry. Sometimes we have the, Castro School is with the McKinney Vento kids, so they, so they might need more, more snacks and, and things like that, so we provide snacks for them.

[00:14:05] LaDrea Clark, Food and Nutrition Director: And connection, uh, we want to make, meet people where they are. Um, so we have a no wrong door. Um, if somebody comes in and they're not in our area, we will provide them a bag of food and, um, then give them, connect, connect them with the place that they're supposed to go within their area. We also have, want to make choice, um, give them a choice of what they pick because they might have, they, um, uh, sorry. Uh, family choice, individuals, um, individuals that are, um, you know, want to, they can have a choice of what they want to pick, and... I'm sorry because I just got nervous. Um, so cultural differences and, um, individual, um, differences, so we have food on the shelves so they can pick whatever they want to pick and, um, instead of us just giving them something that they don't want. Um, we want to make sure that they feel respected and they have dignity. So we make sure that they, uh, we smile at them, we, we don't judge them, we just make sure that they're, they're feeling comfortable when they come.

[00:15:17] LaDrea Clark, Food and Nutrition Director: But those are some of the things that we're doing and I just, in closing, I just want to thank everybody for, um, considering, giving us this money for that and just wanted to let you know that some of the things that we're doing. We really appreciate it. Um, it's very important, uh, for us to get this money, especially with the holidays coming. We really will be able to use this money. Thank you.

[00:15:39] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: All right, so now we'll have a picture with the council. And your colleagues can join us too.

3.3 Presentation of a commendation to City Manager Kimbra McCarthy

[00:16:19] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We will now move on to item 3.3, um, the commendation to the city manager Kimbra McCarthy recognizing her as the first recipient of the International City/County Management Association also known as ICMA Good Governance Award. We are happy to be joined this evening by Santa Clara County District 5 Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga to present this commendation. Yay!

[00:16:50] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and honorable Councilmembers. Thank you so much for giving me a few minutes of your time on your agenda this evening to present uh or to join in the congratulations of your City Manager in receiving the ICMA Local Government Excellence Award and being the first recipient of this uh very prestigious award. Uh when I saw the announcement, I I wanted to do something to be able to um share my um joy and being able to honor your City Manager. Um as I think some of you know, um well, she has a very special place in my heart.

[00:17:29] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh she I was a part of the City Council that got to hire her, and then um in 2020, uh when she joined the the city in March of 2020, um just a few days after that, I think it was within 10 days, we went into sheltering in place for COVID um COVID, and um I was the Mayor at that time. Um so it was quite a, a, um once in a lifetime situation, and um having uh Kimbra there, um working together with her, you know trying to figure out what to do, how to navigate the situation. I was just so grateful to have um City Manager McCarthy uh at the helm of the city.

[00:18:14] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: And um I think that as a city and a community we were able to come out of that COVID situation um pretty well, pretty smoothly. And it was really because of her leadership, her willingness to um try new things, to innovate, there was a lot of we just didn't know what to do. And um she was willing to to do whatever it took to make sure that our residents um and our our community was safe.

[00:18:42] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: And um since then I had four years of the opportunity to work with her side by side on the City Council and just continued to watch her blossom um as a a an incredible leader for our community. And um I know that she's taken on other roles with ICMA at the state level, ICMA ICMA, um as well as the City Managers Association, being President of that association, as well as the Next Gen uh committee um countywide to foster uh the next generation of leaders in government.

[00:19:17] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: And um now although I've moved on to the county, I've really been grateful to be able to continue to work with the city City Manager McCarthy on a number of um joint efforts, whether it's in affordable housing, really proud of what the city of Mountain View has been doing and really leading the way on affordable housing, as well as safe parking, um and then most recently on uh EMS, emergency medical response, and looking at how to um reimagine our EMS system.

[00:19:49] Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga: So um I just wanted to, on behalf of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, present this commendation to City Manager McCarthy uh to congratulate you on your your um award and really just your excellence in leadership, collaboration, and um transparency and everything that makes a city manager a great city manager and we're just so fortunate to have City Manager McCarthy at at the helm here. So congratulations to you.

[00:20:38] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: I mean officially it says Kimbra would you like to say a few words.

[00:20:40] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I need to. When they um gave me this at ICMA, in prior years uh folks got to say thanks and I didn't get to this year. So this will be my opportunity. Um well first of all thank you Supervisor, I really appreciate you um saying such kind words about about me. But really, I really feel like my role, this award is for all of us. This award is in recognition of the partnership that myself and our staff have with the City Council.

[00:21:11] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So you all deserve a huge round of applause and thanks for contributing to good governance and civility in Mountain View because that's really what this recognition is about, it's about a partnership um between staff and an elected body. So I think all of us can be very proud that this is what we embody in Mountain View and that you are part of a community that has been recognized internationally for how we do business and how we do things.

[00:21:42] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And so that starts with the Council. So I feel very, very blessed, very grateful, very thankful um to have that sort of partnership. Um also want to acknowledge the exec team, there's a lot of exec team members here tonight. Um certainly could not do any of the things that we do without the leadership of the executive team and all of their employees and their staff that really help this city run and operate.

[00:22:08] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: So um I just want to thank everyone here. I feel honored and humbled to receive this and am just super proud of the work that we do here and I'm super proud also of being a resident here and and knowing how important this work is for all of us. So thank you Supervisor, thank you Councilmembers, thank you to all the staff. I I really appreciate this. Thank you.

[00:23:26] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright. With that uh special guest appearance...

3.4 El Niño Update

[00:23:28] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We will now move on to item 3.4 El Niño Update. Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour will now provide us with an update on the anticipated effects of El Niño.

[00:23:44] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Thank you very much Mayor, members of the City Council. I'd like to also recognize the members of our Emergency Operations Center activated team with tremendous leadership from our Fire Department, our Public Works Department, Police Department and Community Services Department. And I am tasked by that group to make a very brief update to the Council and to the community watching online or at home or in the audience around what is happening with El Niño and what the city is doing to prepare and some of the resources that are available.

[00:24:21] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: There's also a consent calendar item which is seeking approval for an emergency proclamation and appropriation of funding. That's not going to be in the presentation today as you have that as an action item before you.

[00:24:39] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: So El Niño is a global cyclical weather pattern. It has a very irregular schedule, roughly every two to seven years and it can last anywhere from 9 to 12 months. It's not necessarily the case that El Niño cycle is showing up more frequently than traditionally or historically, but the El Niño events are becoming more intense.

[00:25:11] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: This year, that will be especially the case. You've probably been seeing the headlines that the National Weather Service is saying that there's an 83% chance that El Niño between October and December of this year will be the strongest on record since records began to be collected in 1950.

[00:25:36] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: What happens with an El Niño? It's characterized by warm surface water temperatures in the eastern and southern, or rather central tropical Pacific Ocean. And that warmer water results in changes to the weather patterns and increases to sea level.

[00:25:56] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Last week, there were new satellite images from the National Weather Service showing in a very visible way a surge of warm water moving up the coast of California. Temperatures are now estimated to be between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much warmer than usual. Typically at this time they would be in the mid-50s to lower 60s.

[00:26:26] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: So what this means for weather, I tended to think that El Niño just meant a lot of rain. It's not necessarily the case that there will be more rain, it's not a guarantee, but it is more likely. There was a model that was estimated in recent media reports that said there's 165% or there's it's estimated that the rainfall in Northern California will be 165% of normal.

[00:26:56] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: It has already raised sea levels by 6 inches and could raise sea levels another foot before the El Niño season has concluded. This, by the way, is double the increase that has been caused by climate change over the past century. It's not permanent, but it is significant.

[00:27:18] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: And as the likelihood of big storms increases, so does the likelihood of big winds. And so it's really those the rainfall which can create flooding in low-lying areas and creek overtopping and the rain with the wind surges combined with high tides including king tides can result in coastal flooding.

[00:27:45] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: And obviously flood waters make impacts on roads and the passability of roads and can result in property damage. And then when with successive rains the grounds get soaked and there are big winds that can result in downed limbs or downed trees which can further damage infrastructure and property and block roads and impact power lines.

[00:28:10] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: So those are some of the impacts that we might anticipate and the season has already started. It is now we are now officially in El Niño and is anticipated to go through the worst parts of it through January.

[00:28:27] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Every year, the city prepares for the annual stormy winter season with planning for the city infrastructure and city response efforts. And this year we saw the need to go above and beyond our normal level of preparation.

[00:28:50] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: The Emergency Operations Center, referred to as the EOC, was activated in September and we've been meeting monthly as a as a an EOC group, but meeting much more frequently on individual functional levels in order to assess the needs and the gaps and to plan and implement for the things that the resources that need to be in place.

[00:29:16] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: We also, as part of the structure of Emergency Operations, have great access for regional coordination and sharing of information about what's happening with the weather and what to expect and sharing of resources as as needed. So that that's led by our Fire Department and the Emergency Services staff collaborating with the County Office of Emergency Services and other bodies.

[00:29:47] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: I would also like to note that the Council Sustainability Committee had a special regional convening on sea level rise which included not only the county and Valley Water but all the cities that are along the bay. And in a larger setting we've we've worked on our sea level rise study as well as the regional shoreline adaptation plan with our neighboring partners.

[00:30:15] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: We've been inspecting and maintaining infrastructure, whether that's clearing storm drains and catch basins or working on bank erosion. We've been training and planning as staff. One of the things you see up on the screen is a picture of of our swift water evacuation equipment and there was training for those emergency personnel.

[00:30:44] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: We're staging equipment, anticipating where it's going to be needed and making sure everything is charged and fueled. And of course, keeping an eye on the weather. I mean, generally, you have maybe seven days out to know when it's going to be potentially a high weather a high rain event. The tides are more predictable, but but the rain not so much.

[00:31:08] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: In addition, the preparations have included outreach to the community and information with a dedicated webpage and links to the websites of Valley Water and the County and all the many good resources that they provide, including a lot of tips for how to do home preparation.

[00:31:32] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: We've have already operational a sandbag site at the Municipal Operations Center and will be have identified locations where we can add additional sandbag sites if that becomes necessary. One of the pictures you may recall from the prior slide was an inflatable emergency hub that has generator power and Wi-Fi so that it can be located either at fire stations or the library or other places people might find convenient to gather in order to get warm, to have the ability to charge their devices and use the internet.

[00:32:12] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: And then, you know, we have a tremendous connection to the community-based organizations and are reaching out to them to identify the needs of vulnerable populations who might find it more difficult to be prepared and respond in the event of an emergency.

[00:32:30] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: So with that, there are some things in the staff report as well as on the website that community members can do to be prepared. I won't go over those now. And as I mentioned, there is a consent item with two items for your action tonight. And that concludes my presentation.

[00:32:53] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Would any members of the Council like to say a few words? Seeing someone mess with the computer right now. Ah, Councilmember Hicks.

[00:33:07] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, I was gonna start by thanking Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga but I think she has left us this evening. Anyway, I'll thank her, maybe she's listening virtually, I'll thank her for giving us this opportunity to celebrate our City Manager's win of the ICMA award. I'll just say that when I first heard you had won, I was not surprised, even though it was the first City Manager who had ever won.

[00:33:38] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I first met Kimbra when I was an activist working on raising the minimum wage, along with Supervisor Abe-Koga who was a lowly council member at the time. And was impressed with her work then, had the opportunity to hire her as City Manager, and I guess I'll just say in this context that I think that we are not the easiest city to manage. People have told me that we punch above our weight. This would be in terms of trying to solve things like homelessness, apparently we're trying to solve it in the whole Bay Area, climate change all by ourselves, etc., etc.

[00:34:24] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And so I think you manage a number of difficult city council members who are you know not in terms of the way we interact with each other but in terms of the problems that we tackle and try to solve. And also difficult residents who also have high aspirations in terms of some of those same they are also very polite to us but they're you know I think people are trying to solve a lot of problems while making this a great city to live in at the same time.

[00:34:58] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I want to again I'll say I was not at all surprised to hear that you won the award and thank you for the work that you've been doing.

[00:35:08] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Just call us all out like that Councilmember Hicks. I know I look at myself in the mirror all the time. Councilmember McAlister.

[00:35:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Well speaking on behalf and I'd say we are a great City Council and together we do great things. But we couldn't have done it we can't do it without a young vivacious beautiful woman that I met in 2016. And we were working together opposing on the minimum wage we weren't opposing but we were discussing it. And so I worked closely with her way back when that who would have known who would have thought as they say that she would evolve.

[00:35:52] Councilmember John McAlister: And then the opportunity came. Dan Rich said hey you know you guys are great but there's greener pastures outside. And so this young lady came down from Redwood City where her mentor went up there to become the not mentor but a City Manager up there. So she said I'm following him because that's a good place to go. But then when she heard the opportunity was down here to work with the group of us that had ascended to the position of City Council, she said I cannot pass this up. And she came and she was overwhelming the best candidate that we had.

[00:36:35] Councilmember John McAlister: I knew from the start when we looked at the candidates I was advocating for her from the get-go. And I am so glad that she accepted our invitation to become it and she has just excelled at the position it is. I saw the job before with her predecessor and what has evolved over the years with all the projects all the increased community comments and the advocacy that this community has done. And yes you're right we have a very vocal constituents which in a sense makes our job so much easier when we can hear what they have to say and we try to accommodate them with again balancing the budget balancing all of our seven personal projects and she's done a fantastic job. And she could not have done it without a fantastic staff.

[00:37:22] Councilmember John McAlister: Her administrative assistant is always there hey John have you RSVP'd and I go yeah I'll get there. But she has done a great job and all of her assistant city managers they're sitting in the background and their directors I mean it's just evolved that the staff has really excelled under your leadership. And I've seen a lot of them that I know from before and now I see them taking over so thank you for your continual improvement as they say in the job. Thank you for your dedication, thank you for the passion, thank you for moving to Mountain View. Now you've got a little skin in the game more than ever and just I'm thankful that we have you.

[00:38:06] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter.

[00:38:10] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well I'd just like to say ditto to what my colleagues have said. I really wasn't going to talk about that part of the I was going to talk about the El Niño presentation but I would really like to say that we are blessed to have you as the City Manager. You are a joy to work with and I think that the honest truth is at least for the last 30 years the City of Mountain View has been has had wonderful City Managers and it's really paid off on our financial our strong financial basis and our strong policy basis and also our spirit of cooperativeness and so I wasn't surprised to hear that you got that award and it's great thank you.

[00:39:00] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But I did also want to say a big thank you to the staff who organized the meeting of the shoreline cities elected officials on sea level rise in mid-October. And that meeting focused on El Niño and it was really just a great morning and a tremendous amount of information was shared with us.

[00:39:34] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I don't think I will ever forget just how important the swelling of the oceans is as they get hotter. You know we don't think of water as expanding because it doesn't expand very much. But when you have a huge volume like the oceans it does. And the graphs that were shown to us by Valley Water and also by the National Weather Service were really unforgettable. So I just want to thank the staff very much for putting on that meeting it was very helpful.

[00:40:22] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. As I like to say Mountain View is the best city I will tell any city that and I will tell any city manager from any other city that we have the best city manager. For example yeah I won't name any names but I could tell them they could eat their heart out we have the best one. So as we go on to in our presentations our my tradition of doing our call to action call to service call to community with a volunteer opportunity I'm going to highlight the group that accepted our hunger and homelessness month proclamation CSA as we get closer to the holidays there is always a need for volunteers so you can join they have a variety of volunteer opportunities from very diverse programs aimed at preserving and promoting stability self-reliance and dignity among those who seek their services. From 14 year olds and beyond volunteers of all ages can get involved. Their volunteer options range from tackling food insecurity to bringing joy to seniors to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness and more. Volunteers play a crucial role in achieving their mission and you could really really help the community in that way so if you are interested in volunteering for community services agency or like we call them CSA they go to csacares.org/volunteer.

[00:41:48] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Now we will go to 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 city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. I am seeing no in-person speakers. We will now take virtual speakers. And I am not seeing any virtual speakers. So this item is now closed.

4. CONSENT CALENDAR

[00:42:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: We'll 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.

[00:42:36] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: If an item is pulled from the consent calendar, it will be considered separately following the approval of the balance of the consent calendar.

[00:42:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: If you would like to speak on these items or the next item, oral communications on non-agenda items, in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk now. Councilmember McAlister, do you have an announcement to make?

[00:42:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes. I do. Um, I am recusing myself from participating in any discussion and determination about item 4.5 Grant Road and Sleeper Avenue improvement projects due to the proximity of my personal residence to part of the project.

[00:43:17] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Would any member of the council like to pull an item? Seeing none, would any member of the public joining us virtually... Oh wait, Councilmember Showalter. It's not to pull an item, it's just to talk about it. Okay, we can go after they do the public comment.

[00:43:34] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Um, would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on any item on the consent calendar? If so, please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes.

[00:43:51] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Seeing... oh, one. Okay, let's go, Celia.

[00:43:58] Public Speaker Celia: Hello, thank you. Um, I meant to put in an Ask Mountain View help ticket for this, but I've been a little busy recently, so didn't happen.

[00:44:07] Public Speaker Celia: Um, so I'm really excited the Sleep Grant intersection is completed. I love that it was constructed there. I think it really helps. It feels a lot safer. I feel

5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NONAGENDIZED ITEMS

[00:44:16] Public Speaker: so confident letting my kids bike to Mountain View High School and over to Cooper Park. Um I would say um this isn't the construction but for the timing of the lights

6. PUBLIC HEARINGS - 6.2 Rowhouse Gatekeeper Project at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue

[00:44:25] Public Speaker Celia: still needs to be addressed. Um, when I was, um, driving over to help with the Cooper native pollinator planting last or two Sundays ago, um, a person, uh, with a blind walking stick came up to the crosswalk and so I know you need to stop for that. They'd press the button but the signal doesn't turn for like a good 15 seconds. And so they were standing there, all of us had stopped because it's a non-signalized crosswalk so everyone was just waiting for it to turn. Um, I don't know why there's a delay for the pedestrian crossing. I don't know if it's just to punish moms with screaming children trying to get home or what that's about, um, but it definitely isn't, um, helping the throughput on Grant. There's been times where I've just ended up crossing before it turned for me because no cars were coming the old fashioned way going to the island and then crossing. And then by the time I crossed and it turned that's when the cars had approached. So it actually stopped both me and the cars. Um, so it doesn't seem like the cameras are working. It's not aligned with the lights along Grant. Um, so hopefully someone can look into that. But I'm really excited it's there. So, thank you.

[00:45:39] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Celia. Um, I'm seeing no other in-person speakers. We will now take virtual speakers. Seeing no virtual speakers. I will now bring this back for council action and note that a motion to approve the consent calendar should also include the reading of the title of the resolutions attached to consent calendar items 4.1 and 4.2. Uh, Councilmember Showalter.

[00:46:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, um, as I often do, I'm not going to pull any items, but I would like to comment on some because I think that these are important things that are happening in our city that people should know about. Um, Item 4.1, we're authorizing the staff to go over a statewide parks grant, um, to help with the cost of the Thompson Mini Park. Um, we really appreciate the staff going to the effort to apply for this grant. This is a substantial one. It can be in excess of two million dollars, so that's, um, that's definitely worth some effort. Thanks for doing that.

[00:46:46] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Um, our emergency declaration of El Nino. We've heard about that. And, um, with the increase of the Pacific Ocean, uh, the impacts of El Nino are expected to be severe. Um, and this emergency declaration is really just a very smart move. And the reason it's smart is because it makes sure that we are, we can take steps to be as ready as possible. It puts us in a better position to request mutual aid if we need it. Um, and it also puts us in a better position to request disaster relief if there is a, you know, some flooding or damage that needs to be dealt with. And so it's just a very good governance, um, thing for us to do.

[00:47:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The greenhouse gas inventory. We're going to be talking about that later on with, um, item 7.1. But I wanted to bring that up because, um, I think it's important for us to know where our emissions are coming from, and, um, it helps us plan a lot. And things that get monitored get taken care of. And I think that it's just really important to measure things. And, um, so I really applaud the fact that the city has taken this on and continues to do it.

[00:48:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Then I wanted to bring up three, um, projects that are really related to taking good care of our own facilities. One is the Adobe repair. That's a historical building, and as many historical buildings it needs some TLC at the moment. And, um, it's fun to remember that this was built as a, during the Great Depression, as part of the New Deal era project funded by the Civil Works Administration. This was, these were projects, um, under the New Deal that were designed to get people back to work. And so it's a lovely building, and it's also historically very interesting. And we should treasure it.

[00:49:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: The Rengstorff House is another, um, building I think in our community that we treasure. It also needs some TLC. So this particular project is to hire a consultant to help us with that. Then the Shoreline Boathouse expansion. Um, the boathouse has, I think was built 30 or 40 years ago and it needs upgrading and that's what we're doing. And, um, so I just want to, I wanted to bring those to everyone's attention and say these are, you know, really valuable things for us to be working on. So with that, should I read the, okay. Alright.

[00:49:53] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So, I need to read the titles of Item 4.1 and 4.2. Item 4.1: Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View authorizing the City Manager or designee to apply for and accept grant funds from the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program Grant in an amount up to 2.3 million dollars and negotiate and execute any related documents necessary to accept these grant funds, to be read in title only, further reading waived. And Item 4.2: Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View proclaiming a local emergency, to be read in title only, further reading waived.

[00:50:35] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember McAlister.

[00:50:39] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes, I uh, on 4.5 I'd like to make a comment as a public.

[00:50:47] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Wait, sorry what? Need to go to the lectern.

[00:50:52] Councilmember John McAlister: I know. Well I was just letting you know I'm making a comment.

[00:50:54] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Oh, okay.

[00:51:04] Councilmember John McAlister: Fellow council members, I'll make a comment on 4.5. The project is the Grant sleeper project and it is also the Franklin sleeper project. Part of the project was close to my home. The other part of the project was outside of the, uh, I was not uh, needing to recuse myself. But I'm talking about 4.5 because it's an intersection that has been in the works for over 10 years. And the initial design of the idea or the thought was to put in a crosswalk, a dedicated crosswalk, some signals. Over the years, it has been kicked around and discussed many different times, and it has evolved to a point where it's over, the intent was to make this intersection very safe, but I think it was over-designed and overzealous.

[00:51:52] Councilmember John McAlister: This project is an example of something that hasn't been done in Mountain View before, and you should take a look at it. I all believe in safety, uh, a lot of kids take that, actually more kids come down Martins now than they do through Grant Road. But take a look at the design of it, and it has been expanded to actually been counterproductive in many different ways. It has caused traffic congestion, it has delayed traffic on Sleeper and Grant Road, and the simple deal about the whole thing is it's been pretty been expensive.

[00:52:24] Councilmember John McAlister: And I'm sort of a fiscal conservative, and when I look at something that could have been done cheaper and more efficient, but still give the same level of safety, that we should evaluate and take a look at that. So in the future, as these projects come along, I will be looking at them to make sure that you have an opportunity that the city and the residents understand that priority of safety is number one, but we need to talk about the fiscal concerns about it.

[00:52:51] Councilmember John McAlister: Right now, if you haven't done it, you can't make a right turn on the intersection because if somebody's on the south side, there's two sidewalks on the south and the north. The south sidewalk is excellent. It does everything that it needs to do. But there's a sidewalk on the north side that could potentially been reviewed and eliminate the no right turn, because it doesn't affect anybody, and also the traffic going south making the left turn doesn't affect anybody. So it's just an interesting, uh, example of new design, and we need to always be looking at what's good and current, but we also need to make things that make sense. So those are my comments on that. Thank you.

[00:53:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you public commenter John McAlister. Um, so with that, um, before we vote, I would love to just like highlight from the public comment, um, about the signal timing. If you could just take a look at that, that's I don't have to make it part of the motion, but like if you could just take a quick look at that, um, see if there's any improvements that could be done, that would be great. But other than that, we are ready to vote.

[00:54:14] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, motion passes unanimous. Yes. Um, we will now move on to Item 5, Oral Communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter 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-agenda items. If you would like to speak on this item or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the 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 City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Um, first speaker will be, uh, I'm so sorry if I'm mispronouncing this. Uh, Jeongeun Son? I'm so sorry if I mispronounced it. And I believe you have a presentation, correct?

[00:55:13] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: Yes. Thank you. Um, so I prepared a slide deck today for my presentation. Um, so good evening Mayor and City Council members. My name is Jeongeun Son and I live on Gemini Avenue. Um, so when the city decided that Gemini Avenue is, um, wide enough for RV parking, I'm not sure anyone ever imagined both sides of RVs are filled, you know, with RVs. Unfortunately this is a reality, um, it's happening right now.

[00:55:46] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: So, um, these all, you know, photos are taken by my footage camera, and it just happened, you know, the right past week. So, um, the moment you are turning into the Gemini Avenue, you see this, you know, the scene, and, um, you feel it, you know, I feel it, you know, it's quite suffocating. Not only that, and it has, you know, the safety issue as well. Uh, so your sight is literally limited, you know, by their RVs, so as you walk and as you drive, your sight is very limited. So this is very dangerous.

[00:56:18] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: And, so, first picture was taken in November 2nd on Monday, and, uh, you see the right next to my homes. So you see, you know, the right side, you know, the, you know, there is a little, you know, the red clay roof, that is, that is my home. So as you can see, you know, the RV is right, you know, they're parked right next to my windows. And this is the other side, you know, when you're turning onto the Gemini Avenue, uh, the scene you can see. And, again, um, this is, you know, what what happened actually, you know, the last week.

[00:56:47] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: Um, so I want, I wanted to talk about this specific, you know, trailer. Um, this trailer was dropped off, you know, by a pickup truck on November 2nd, around 3 p.m. And it has been there almost for a week, not, until, you know, the Sunday morning and it left. So in the meantime, of course, it's violating 72-hour parking violation, and in the meantime, not, like it usually does, you know, the not chalked once, even one time, and never towed.

[00:57:18] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: So this is the scene, you know, the literally my kitchen window, and yeah, as I first woke up in the morning, I step into the kitchen, this is the scene I am watching every day while you know, the trailer was there. And, and I just, you know, tried to take a picture as much as I can, so, and there is a guy, you know, the in and out, you know, constantly during day and night, and putting the stuff in and out, and, you know, the making the sound and generator on, so of course it was reported, but nothing was taken an action. Because we are a family of young children, with young children, so there's no privacy, there's no rest time for the last week.

[00:58:03] Public Speaker Jeongeun Son: In the meantime, our residents, you know, they have to still pass by that, you know, the narrow sidewalk while the doors steps are open and the windows are open, you know, one stroller have to, you know, detour, you know, around that narrow sidewalk while the RV was there. So, yeah.

[00:58:36] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, thank you. Next up, we have Alex Amoroso.

[00:58:45] Public Speaker Alex Amoroso: Evening, council. So, what I have to say is in theme with the recognitions and proclamations you guys gave today to the groups like CSA and Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation. So, a lot of my work outside of, like, what I do up the road for the Army is employment support and support for the homelessness. So a lot of what the council has put forth with the homelessness initiatives and solving that problem, and also, like, a lot of work with the economic vitality plan, I think there needs to be it said that there is a population within the homeless community and just population in general that needs to address veterans.

[00:59:33] Public Speaker Alex Amoroso: So some of the things I've done with the United Effort Organization over at Hope's Corner, has been addressing the employment support efforts through the county and through that agency itself. And a lot of the folks that I've met, fellow soldiers, marines, sailors, etc. are living in their cars, living on the street. And these folks have mental illness issues, and, uh, they commit suicide at rates greater than any other population in the United States of America. So, I would implore the council to consider that specific population when you go forth with policy when it comes to addressing homelessness and looking at the economic vitality when it comes to employing these individuals, because something I've seen as a workforce specialist is how a job provides purpose. Not just to non-veterans, but veterans especially.

[01:00:26] Public Speaker Alex Amoroso: And since tomorrow is Veterans Day, and I'll be proudly in uniform during the ceremony at Eagle Park tomorrow morning, just think about that, that this population of individuals don't deserve to be on the street, and they deserve to be supported to all kinds of capacities, and I will continue to do my work with these groups, and I would ask the council to really consider all of those efforts towards that specific population as you're making these decisions. Thank you.

[01:00:57] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Councilmember McAlister?

[01:01:00] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes, I have another public, no I'm just kidding about a public comment. But I know that we passed item 4.7, and I just wanted to make a brief comment that we have put out our council meetings, and we have put a date in there for our retreat. And I think we may want to keep that open as we don't know what our new council people coming in, if they're available on that date. And so I was just asking that the council sort of re-put that as an open item for the staff so that they can confirm with our new council members coming in.

[01:01:34] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thanks Mayor, Councilmember McAlister. So, yes, appreciate you raising that. I was going to bring it up under item 8 that, um, if council is okay to leave that a little more open-ended so that we can confirm availability and make sure the schedules align.

[01:01:53] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. And as soon as we find out who will be joining us. Um, so that concludes item 5, public comment. No other public comment, we're good. I see no one online, so. We are good. We will now move on to item 6, public hearings. Um, I believe item 6.1 will not be heard this evening, and that will be on the consent calendar on the November 17th, 2026 agenda. Um, then now we have item 6.2, Rowhouse Gatekeeper Project, 924-940 San Rafael Avenue. And I have an announcement, I am recusing myself from participating in any discussion or determination about item 6.2, Rowhouse Gatekeeper Project at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue due to a conflict of interest based on a source of income, financial interest, at SV At Home. Um, so, here is, here you go, Vice Mayor. Have fun.

[01:03:08] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Thank you Mayor. Um, so we will, um, before we begin, um, just for my colleagues, um, we'd like to disclose meetings with the applicant or visits to the site. Um, if you met with the applicant, raise your hand, I guess.

[01:03:24] City Clerk Heather Glaser: I have them in my script.

[01:03:25] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Um, I have in my script disclosures, uh, either meeting with the applicant or visiting the site. So we'll just do a show of hands. If you met with the applicant, you can raise your hand. And then if you visited the site? Um, got it. Okay, yeah, I don't think this is quasi-judicial, so I think we're okay. But, um, in any case, um, we'll start with, uh, a presentation by Planning Manager, uh, George Schroeder, um, and then, um, if you'd like to speak on this item, if you're a member of the public and would like to speak on this item in person, please go ahead and submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk during the presentation. And, um, and then after that we'll have an applicant presentation, and then we'll take council questions and deliberate after that. So, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Schroeder.

[01:04:12] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Okay. Good evening Honorable Vice Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is George Schroeder, and I'll be presenting the 924 to 940 San Rafael Avenue Rowhouse Gatekeeper Project. Joined here on the dais by Vincent Kwan, the project planner.

Additional Content 1

[01:04:36] Planning Manager George Schroeder: ...an 1.80-acre site comprised of two existing parcels on the west side of San Rafael Avenue between San Pablo Drive and Terra Bella Avenue. The property is currently in the MM zoning district and has a general plan land use designation of general industrial. The site is surrounded by industrial uses to the north, west, and east, and single-family homes to the east and south. A future city park is planned directly across the street from the project site.

[01:05:08] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The existing general plan and zoning designations for the project site do not allow for residential uses. As such, the applicant is requesting amendments to allow medium-density residential uses to be built on site. A planned unit development permit and development review permit are also requested to construct 36 rowhomes, including 9 below-market-rate or BMR units.

[01:05:30] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The project qualifies for a state density bonus, and the request includes six density bonus waivers from development standards. The application also includes a vesting tentative map and heritage tree removal permit for the removal of two heritage trees. This is a gatekeeper project. Due to the proposed general plan and zoning amendments, the project is eligible for the prior gatekeeper exempt process because the application was deemed complete prior to the current process going into effect in late 2025. The project meets the criteria of the former gatekeeper exempt process, which did not require a city council authorization hearing.

[01:06:09] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The 36 units would be constructed in five, three-story tall rowhouse buildings. There is a building positioned along the street and four interior buildings oriented towards internal paseos. Pedestrian and vehicle access are provided via walkways and a driveway from San Rafael Avenue. The project also proposes a mid-block crossing from the common open space area along the northerly property line, which will align with the future city park across the street.

[01:06:37] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The project exceeds minimum parking requirements through two covered parking spaces per unit, nine guest parking spaces, and two temporary parking spaces, for a total of 83 spaces when 79 are required. The buildings share a simple craftsman and bungalow-inspired design with a mix of three primary exterior materials, including stucco, board and batten siding, and fiber cement lap siding.

[01:07:02] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The project design includes front and side-facing gable ends, gable roofs with decorative gable ends. The rowhouse units vary between three and four bedrooms with private balconies and covered front porches. Each unit has a small front yard area. The project meets the city's BMR housing requirements by providing nine BMR units, which is equivalent to 25% of the total project units.

[01:07:28] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Two of these units would be for low-income households, five would be for moderate-income households, and two would be at above moderate-income households. Three of the BMR units would be in three-bedroom units, and six would be in four-bedroom units. Pursuant to State Density Bonus Law, the project qualifies for an 8% density bonus because of the five moderate-income units.

[01:07:53] Planning Manager George Schroeder: It also allows up to one concession or incentive and unlimited waivers of development standards. The applicant is not requesting bonus density or a concession, but is requesting six waivers from certain development standards as they would physically preclude the construction of the project at the permitted density. And the waivers are for site coverage, floor area ratio, landscaped open area, and setbacks.

[01:08:21] Planning Manager George Schroeder: 18 on-site trees are proposed for removal, and two of these are heritage trees, as shown in green on the site plan. The project will plant 48 new trees and will also provide nearly four times the existing site canopy at full maturity. Overall landscape plan complies with the city's water conservation and landscaping regulations and focuses on California native trees.

[01:08:47] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The vesting tentative map would create five lots for condominium purposes and one common lot, allowing for the sale of 36 units and shared ownership of the common areas. Staff finds the subdivision is consistent with the requirements of the Subdivision Map Act, the general plan, and the city's subdivision standards. A draft initial study and mitigated negative declaration was prepared for the project, which found that it would not result in any potentially significant environmental impacts.

[01:09:15] Planning Manager George Schroeder: A mitigation measure would require reduction of diesel particulate matter during construction. The city did not receive any public comments on the IS/MND during the public comment period. The applicant attended a design review consultation meeting last year and also hosted a community outreach meeting this August.

[01:09:32] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The project was presented to the Santa Clara County Airport Land Use Commission in September and was determined to be consistent with the Moffett Airfield Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The project was presented to the Environmental Planning Commission on October 21st, where they voted 7-to-0 to recommend to the city council to adopt the staff recommendation. We are now at the first city council meeting, and if the project is approved, a second reading of the ordinance is scheduled for December 8th.

[01:10:07] Planning Manager George Schroeder: The council is considering this project ahead of the R3 zoning update project, which is scheduled for November 17th. If the R3 zoning update amendments are approved, they would change the general plan land use designation of the project site to medium-density residential 25, and zoning designation to R3-B. If this project is not approved tonight, then the existing industrial designations would remain, even if the council approves the R3 zoning update amendments.

[01:10:38] Planning Manager George Schroeder: In conclusion, staff recommends that the city council adopt the recommended resolutions and ordinance as detailed on the screen. This concludes staff's presentation, and we, the city's environmental consultant, and the applicant team are available for questions, and please note the applicant also has a presentation tonight. Thank you.

[01:10:56] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Thank you. So now we'll have a 7-minute presentation by the applicant. When you're ready, just go ahead and introduce yourselves whoever speaks for the record.

[01:11:06] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Good evening, Vice Mayor Clark and members of the city council. My name is Mike DeCotiis with Prometheus Real Estate Group. I'm joined this evening by Dom Peterson, our Vice President of Development, Justin Dahl, project architect, Marco Lay, landscape architect, and virtually Scott Short, our civil engineer. We are excited to present our application for 924 through 940 San Rafael Avenue tonight.

[01:11:35] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: On October 21st, the project was unanimously recommended by EPC for city council approval. I would like to thank staff for the preparation of the comprehensive report and for working closely with our team to get us here tonight. As you review our proposal, it's worth noting the City Ventures project located on San Leandro approximately half a block away was recently approved by EPC and city council.

[01:12:01] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Our team tracked that project closely and worked to include similar design standards, which were well received by both neighbors and staff. We are confident with the approval of our project it will be a step towards cleaning up the immediate area in addition to complementing the adjacent neighborhood and future park directly across the street. To take you through the design details and overall project vision, I would like to introduce our project architect, Justin Dahl with Dahl in Architecture. Thank you, and I will turn it over to Justin and will be available to answer any questions you have.

[01:12:34] Project Architect Justin Dahl: Good evening, council and staff. Thank you for the time for to present our project. I'll try to be brief to not be too repetitive to anything staff has presented. Thanks for the great presentation by staff as well. Next slide. Just briefly wanted to note that this sits in the Terra Bella vision plan area, and although not adopted, it foresaw this site outlined in red here as a transitional density zone between industrial uses to the north and residential uses to the south, so we've proceeded in that direction realizing that that's a pretty appropriate use for this area here and that we align with that plan's overall vision. Next slide, please.

[01:13:13] Project Architect Justin Dahl: This map here shows our project on the left of the future city park, in context to the City Ventures project that was previously approved, mentioned by Mike. Wanted to point out that it just creates a really nice kind of civic urban space around this park on the street from both sides and a nice architectural presence framing the city park. Next slide.

[01:13:38] Project Architect Justin Dahl: In detail, the site plan was well described by staff. This highlights a little bit the enhanced crossing along the northern edge which aligns about in the mid-block of that stretch of San Rafael, so it creates a traffic calming presence. It'll be an elevated crosswalk for the speed table and will help to calm traffic as it's passing by this neighborhood park. Three-story townhomes, all with two-car garages, 25% of which are affordable. Next.

[01:14:13] Project Architect Justin Dahl: A little more detail of that amenity area. It includes some seating areas, some small interactive playground section, designed to be used by primarily sort of families with young children who don't want to have to necessarily go across the street to the park, which although it's a great asset, sometimes you just want to be able to go right downstairs and outside to get out of the house a little bit. So there's some picnic tables and a trellis kind of seating area, as well as this small children's play area.

[01:14:49] Project Architect Justin Dahl: This is a kind of a bird's eye view that. I highlight one thing about the way we laid out the site, with the circulation oriented to the south of the site, we felt that was the best way to buffer a three-story development from the single-family, single-story neighbors to the south. It provides approximately 40 feet of separation between those units, and complies with the 1-to-1 daylight plane from the property boundary. Next.

[01:15:20] Project Architect Justin Dahl: This is a view as seen from across the street from the park, as it would be seen. We worked quite a bit with staff at design review level, several rounds to get to what we thought was a really nice attractive project. Following the intent of the rowhouse design guidelines to create individualized units, and sought to really not present this as a larger multi-family apartment style project.

[01:15:51] Project Architect Justin Dahl: We really wanted it to feel consistent with the city's rowhouse guidelines, and we feel like we had a lot of great work back and forth with staff to get to something that we're proud of. This is a viewpoint as if taken from that raised crosswalk. It shows some of the articulated entries, front porch and front patio areas for the units along the street. Additional layered landscape buffers from the street itself. And some roof and trellis elements that we think creates a richly detailed project.

[01:16:19] Project Architect Justin Dahl: Next slide is a view of an internal paseo. Again, slightly different color scheme, but similar architectural styles. Kind of a muted palette, but again really trying to break down the mass of a three-story building with two-story elements, and individualized identity for those units. Do you want to speak Marco to any of the planting?

[01:16:45] Landscape Architect Marco Lay: Hi, good evening. My name is Marco Lay, I'm with the Guzzardo Partnership, Landscape Architects for the project. Just briefly, I think Justin did a good job describing the exterior amenities for the community. So I'll just speak a little bit about the planting. On this site we are planting 56 new trees. So we are basically increasing the site canopy coverage from the current 9.6% to 40% at maturity.

[01:17:16] Landscape Architect Marco Lay: So I think that's a very good thing for the site. And as well as that, we're also having a main focus on planting trees and shrubs that's appropriate for the Mountain View region with an emphasis on drought-tolerant, native California planting. And you can see from the materials we're also providing accent paving for the driveway, for the site walk, block, colorful paver, paving there, and also the kinds of picnic tables and site treatments, play structures that we're proposing for the site. And I'll be here to answer any landscape questions if you have any. Thank you.

[01:17:53] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Thank you. Um, so we'll start with council questions for either staff or the applicant. I see Councilmember McAlister in the queue.

[01:18:04] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, which one of you is the vice president? Oh, okay. Well, I have a question for whoever wants to take it, this is a question, um, you had many options... Could someone come up to the dais? Mike, you could come up. Yeah. Sir, don't mean to catch you guys off guard.

[01:18:22] Councilmember John McAlister: But um, you had many options of what to build on this particular site, and for years myself and Councilmember Showalter have been always asking why aren't condominiums made? And uh, you were, gave a discussion on the you know the challenges of putting in condominiums and I was just wondering if you could give us the challenges, the consequences, and why they're not being built?

[01:18:45] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Sure. I think first of all on this site, as a transition to the single-family neighborhood, I don't think a stacked flat condominium project would necessarily be a good choice for that with the density. But just historically speaking and from our experience, most condo projects are highly litigious um due to construction defect litigation.

[01:19:08] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: And so it's something that, you know, you're not seeing a lot of that going on because of that type of issue. And specifically for us, that's not a product that we would want to develop on that site, or pretty much any site, because of that. But going back to it, I think it's really looking at the transition to the single-family neighborhood and what would be appropriate at that area. And we have City Ventures, which we're tracking behind, and was approved by both EPC and city council, and future park, we just felt it was the best fit for that particular site.

[01:19:37] Councilmember John McAlister: So you're saying that this litigation, that after 10 years they can come back and challenge you?

[01:19:44] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Well, up it it's complicated. But up until 10 years there's a statute of limitations that varies on different components of the construction. But yes, the HOA can file a suit against the developer and for certain construction defects which are substantial.

[01:20:01] Councilmember John McAlister: And you also made a comment about affordable housing also has an effect on condominiums, or could you...

[01:20:08] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Well, I think it was, we were talking about the condo mapping of a, say it was just a traditional multi-family rental project. The current city ordinance, if you were to put a condo map on it, it triggers the affordability for the for-sale product versus the rental product. And that's why we typically would condo map our projects as a, just an exit strategy or just to have, you know, more options, but because of that nuance in the ordinance, we will bypass condo mapping our projects in general.

[01:20:36] Councilmember John McAlister: What does that nuance actually trigger? A financial, costs more money?

[01:20:40] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: Well, it would be, it's a higher, it's a higher level of affordability for the for-sale versus the multi-family. And it triggers that regardless if we rent the units. It currently the way it's read, and what our attorneys are telling us, is that that would trigger the higher affordability level even though you're providing a rental product.

[01:20:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you.

[01:21:00] Applicant Mike DeCotiis: You're welcome.

[01:21:02] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Councilmember Hicks.

[01:21:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So this is a more general question probably for the Community Development Director, um, about about why we're getting these kind of outcomes. So what we see here is a proposal which I'll probably support. But, um, I think Prometheus does very good work, but I'm I'm not a huge fan of these rowhomes that are, there's a row of them, and then behind them another row, and another row. Um, you know, I support rowhomes in many situations. I've lived in them in San Francisco, but they're usually on the on the street.

[01:21:41] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And these, it seems to me, and I've seen other configurations, for example, if you're familiar with the Meridian project, I think it's called, in Sunnyvale, they put a row of townhomes on the street, and then they put something a little denser in the back, and they get from that, they get better ingress and egress, they get more green common open space, uh, a lower percentage of the site is um concrete, and the windows look out more often on open space.

[01:22:10] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And and they do a good job at that particular development of of ramping down when they get closer to single-family homes on the edges. So I'm wondering what we're doing here to get this configuration repeatedly, and what we might do differently to encourage what I would what I personally see as a better outcome. Um, and oh and they get a few more units, I think, out of it, out of that configuration as well. Maybe my um question is overlapping with Councilmember McAlister's about maybe the inability to do condos might at times be a part of that. But um, if you have any other suggestions, I'd like to not always get this configuration.

[01:22:54] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: Thank you for the questions. Good evening, Honorable Vice Mayor, Councilmembers, Christian Murdock, Community Development Director. Uh, so there's a, I think, a number of of issues in the the set of questions you ask there. I think first first and foremost, um currently, uh rowhouse or townhouse type developments are highly profitable for the development community. And so those market conditions are driving the consideration design of those types of projects.

[01:23:20] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: I think more generally, um, you are seeing developers trying to maximize the efficiency of sites so that they get the most uh dollars per square foot return on the development of sites, and so factors like landscaping or um you know other amenities that might be valuable aren't necessarily always uh the most profitable or able to convert into uh economic return. And so there's a balance between complete hardscape, uh you know, and an uninviting site that maybe people don't want to pay uh a top dollar for and sites that have extensive amenities that maybe aren't maximizing the return on investment.

[01:23:58] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: Um, I think secondarily, uh the conditions have changed in recent years where um the state has driven um local agencies to only consider objective standards in their review of housing development projects. And so in the past where there may have been more discretion about subjective factors like livability or views or um other considerations about separations from adjoining uses that collectively may have contributed to better-designed projects, depending on one's perspective, uh we are now limited to objective standards only uh in most cases in our review of housing development projects.

[01:24:35] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: And so, um, we don't have standards in all cases that might uh address some of those uh good design quote-unquote uh aspects that you described uh that are also objective standards that the city can apply. And then lastly, you know, even where the city may have objective standards in some cases that address those issues, uh state density bonus law, which is a state law that provides significant incentives for developers that provide certain amounts of affordable housing, uh allows those developers to deviate from um those objective standards if they would uh inhibit a developer's ability to achieve the intended density of the project.

[01:25:15] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: And so I think collectively you're seeing carte blanche to some extent for developers to design projects that are most economically desirable for them, which doesn't always necessarily align with uh the livability or good design that um some members of our community might appreciate.

[01:25:32] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Thank you for that comprehensive answer. I'm going to push back on just one little thing, which is that I think because of the, they were allowed to have more green and open space or able to configure it with more green and open space at the Meridian project, I think because the rear unit was a little taller in the center, it had stepped back some but was taller in the center, and also had a uh lower percentage of the site was covered by driveways.

[01:25:59] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So I think those two things combined was the reason that it they had more units and more green open space. I mean those units definitely have less outdoor space per individual unit because they're stacked flats in the back at the same time. So I'm only saying that because in the future I would like us to enable that in some way through objective standards or changes in ordinance. But I do recognize the rest of the things you said are certainly completely valid and I won't argue with them. Um and then I'm going to also say I was a little disingenuous because the Meridian project actually the project in the rear was an affordable housing project, which is a whole different animal. Okay. Thank you very much.

[01:26:40] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:26:42] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, my apologies uh to staff for not thinking to send this this question earlier, but I was um looking at uh the site plan and and sort of ground truthing it with uh Google Maps, and I'm I'm curious if there's if staff had um discussed with the applicant or considered using this as an opportunity to start breaking up this super block, right?

[01:27:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So creating potentially a pedestrian um or bicycle pathway connecting Linda Vista to San Rafael to help uh improve connectivity to the new city park. Is that something that um staff um had explored or proposed to the applicant at all during the review process?

[01:27:31] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Yeah, thank you council member. Um, and and you're referring to potentially having like a like a breakthrough...

[01:27:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: From San Rafael to Linda Vista, is that correct?

[01:27:41] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Um, uh what yes, so so it would be it would be maybe one half of uh that uh bicycle or pedestrian connectivity if it were to be incorporated in the context of this development. Yeah, that um that was not uh discussed with the applicant um during the review process.

[01:28:03] Planning Manager George Schroeder: Um, but we did encourage them to um have a community benefit such as that mid-block crossing to provide some sort of connectivity between um the the uh other project over at City Ventures and to provide some sort of connectivity between um all three sites, but not specifically to your question of um providing like a bicycle connection for um through the project site.

[01:28:31] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, if in other contexts where we've been able to create uh, you know paseos or or have that type of uh bicycle or pedestrian connectivity, we do this a lot in El Camino for instance, typically how much um right-of-way would be required?

[01:28:50] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: Typically for a shared use path you need at least 14 feet I believe. Um if any of our... yeah, that's that's typically what's needed to accommodate both peds and bikes.

[01:29:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Thank you.

[01:29:06] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Councilmember McAlister.

[01:29:09] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I'm sorry, one last question for the Community Development Director. So we're gonna have some BMR units there. Is there any uh ability of the city to reserve those for Mountain View residents?

[01:29:28] Community Development Director Christian Murdock: Uh perhaps I would defer that question to the Housing Director who uh is available online.

[01:29:46] Housing Director: Ready. This is all I can do.

[01:29:49] Housing Director: Good evening. Can you hear me? Okay. Um, thank you very much for the question. Uh the city does have a live-work preference, but it's not a a hard requirement. There is an application and a selection process, and there is a preference that's applied, and so that does increase the chances and opportunities for existing residents or folks who work in Mountain View to have a higher probability of being selected for those units.

[01:30:23] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. So it's not guaranteed, but we have a high probability of doing. So there are eight BMR units?

[01:30:33] Housing Director: There is nine.

[01:30:35] Councilmember John McAlister: Nine. Okay. I don't want to short those guys. Okay. Thank you.

[01:30:41] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Okay. Seeing no further council questions, we'll open this item for public comment. Um, if you would like to speak on this item either in person or on Zoom, if you're here in person uh if you haven't already please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk over here, and if you're online um please raise your hand in Zoom, and each um each speaker will have three minutes.

[01:31:06] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: So I don't have any in-person speakers, and it looks like I don't have any uh virtual comment either. So we'll close public comment and bring it back to council for discussion and um and a motion is in order when we're ready.

[01:31:26] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Oh, John, are you still in the queue from before? Oh, okay. Councilmember Ramirez.

[01:31:31] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, according to Councilmember Ramirez, do I have to read anything anymore or is it been...

[01:31:39] Councilmember John McAlister: Is it the introduce an ordinance? City Attorney? Okay. Introduce an ordinance of the city of Mountain View amending chapter 38 of the Mountain View city code to revise terminology, modernizing rules for park use, update and clarifying prohibitions on vehicles...

[01:32:04] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Hey, Councilmember McAlister, you're on the wrong page.

[01:32:07] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, I'm the wrong one? So do you want me to read it? I can I can read it.

[01:32:11] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yeah, I'll go ahead and read it on behalf of the of the council generally.

[01:32:15] Councilmember John McAlister: I was so excited it just...

[01:32:17] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: I know, one of these very soon we will not have to do this anymore, thanks to the efforts of the councilmember sitting next to me. Um, so the um, the uh, yes, the uh... so the motion um as I understand it Councilmember McAlister can confirm includes...

[01:32:35] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: 1. Adopting a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View adopting an initial study/mitigated negative declaration for the 924-940 San Rafael Avenue Residential Rowhouse Project pursuant to sections 15064(f)(3) and 15070 et seq., of the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 1 to the EPC staff report.

[01:33:00] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: 2. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View adopting a general plan amendment to modify the general plan land use map to change the land use designation of the properties at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue, APNs 153-17-044 and 153-17-045, from general industrial to medium-density residential as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 2 to the EPC staff report.

[01:33:30] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: And 3. Adopt an ordinance of the City of Mountain View approving a zoning map amendment for the properties located at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue, APNs 153-17-044 and 153-17-045, from the MM general industrial zoning district to the R3-2 multiple-family residential zoning district as recommended by the Environmental Planning Commission, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 3 to the EPC staff report.

[01:33:57] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: 4. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View conditionally approving a planned unit development permit and development review permit to construct a 36-unit residential rowhouse development and related site improvements utilizing state density bonus replacing two industrial buildings and a heritage tree removal permit to remove two heritage trees on a 1.80-acre site located at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue, I believe I've repeated the APNs enough, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 4 to the EPC staff report.

[01:34:31] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: And 5. Adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View conditionally approving a vesting tentative map for condominium purposes with one common lot on a 1.80-acre site located at 924-940 San Rafael Avenue, the same APNs as mentioned previously, to be read in title only, further reading waived, Attachment 5 to the EPC staff report.

[01:34:53] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: And that uh was moved, which is the staff recommendation that was moved by Councilmember McAlister, seconded by Councilmember Showalter. Is there further comment or are you still in the queue Councilmember Ramirez? Okay. Go ahead.

[01:35:06] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh for reading all of that language. Uh and I think this is a good opportunity to thank the voters for approving measure E, which um upon certification in December will mean that we never have to read those lengthy resolutions ever again. Um I just a couple of quick thoughts. Um I appreciate staff's work and the applicants' work to advance the project.

[01:35:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um I I think one of the challenges with this type of development review is we don't see the project until the very end, um and part of that was an artifact of an older version of our gatekeeper authorization process which allowed for um an exemption uh for projects uh that convert industrial land to residential and are less than two acres in size. Um so they didn't have to go to a public hearing for authorization, uh they were just able to get processed immediately, and that means we didn't really have an opportunity to talk about potential community benefits.

[01:36:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: And I think the the thing I'm I'm lamenting right now is, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the City Ventures project did include sort of like a public um easement, right? A paseo element connecting San Leandro to the public park, and I I wish we had had um maybe the the foresight to say, boy it'd be really nice to have um uh continued that connection um uh through uh this project, and uh if there's future redevelopment on the Linda Vista side, um allow for uh pedestrian connectivity through that super block.

[01:36:45] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um so I'm I'm a little sad that we didn't have the opportunity to uh investigate that further. Um but um I did want to uh appreciate my uh colleagues' Councilmember Hicks's remarks on um design standards and and uh opportunities to make uh projects a little bit better, um hopefully uh next week, November 17th, we'll have an opportunity to discuss that um uh in a more robust way with the update to the R3 zoning district development standards.

[01:37:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um I've I've never been a fan of this type of development, as you all know, the rowhouse or townhouse development, I just feel like it's it's you know, generally um doesn't yield the uh the density I personally would like, and it also doesn't really allow for um better utilization of the land to include some of the community benefits that we've discussed over my time on the city council. Um so this this will probably be one of the last projects kind of like this that we will see. Um but um I think, you know, you followed our regulations. You did basically what we told you to do and um I can't begrudge you too much for that. So I will be voting yes. Thank you.

[01:37:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes, I wanted to say um thank you to the staff and Prometheus for working together on this project. I understand that um there was a great deal of give and take, and people felt that the project was better for it. So that's I like to hear that when I when I talk to developers that it's there's been a really um good process with our staff. So thank you for that. Um and uh I I lived in rowhouses until I was 9, and so um uh but they were on streets. It was in Baltimore, and so it wasn't on a street. So I I um, you know, I don't have this this same aversion to this type of housing that some of my um uh you know, my colleagues do.

[01:38:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But at the same time, I think that um until we get this um construction liability issue dealt with in California, this is what we're going to have. And um there was a um a bill last year that for uh, I think for lack of time died, and hopefully it will be taken up again. And uh, I think we'll all be advocating for that so that um, you know, having stacked flats will be more likely. Even if maybe in this particular location because of the adjacency of of single-family residents that were one story, this wouldn't be the best place for it, but there are a lot of places where that, you know, in our community that would be great places. And um, we could get a little more density and um have more open space at the same time, which I think is a, an amenity for everybody.

[01:39:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But I also wanted to um, just uh mention one of my kind of uh pet peeves about townhouses and um, and rowhouses that I've seen on the West Coast, and that's that they don't have elevators. And um, I know I visited a number of relatives in other parts of the of the of the country that live in townhouses, and they have very small private elevators. And um, if they're designed into the uh structure initially, they're um they're not cost-prohibitive. But if you try and um uh get them in later, they don't work. Also, a lot of townhouses have stairways that turn, and so they make some of the uh, you know, the add-ons for um for uh elevator you know there's elevator ramps just they don't work. You can't, you can't go around a corner.

[01:40:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So I I I brought this up in my conversation yesterday with um with the developers, and I I hope planting the seed that we may see some of these in the future, because I do think that having elevators in this kind of housing allows people that are disabled to live here better, and it also allows um people as they grow old to um to stay in this kind of housing, and in their own house longer, which is a a community amenity.

[01:41:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: But that said, I really think that having these two rowhouse um developments on either side of the city park, we're really creating here a great place to live. And that's what we want to do in Mountain View, we want to build good housing and denser housing, but we want to make it in a great community. And having this um uh be right next to this park, uh it it is a wonderful you know, that should, that should create a great situation. So um, I'm um, I'm really pleased with this project and uh uh given the circumstances of what we had to work with, I'm really pleased with this project and uh I'll be glad to support it.

[01:41:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thanks Vice Mayor. Um so I'll be uh voting in support of the project. I just have a couple comments. Um and really appreciate uh other colleagues bringing up things that we've talked about over the years. I think one of the things I uh reflecting on, particularly given Councilmember Showalter and Councilmember Ramirez's comments, are kind of the ecosystem we're creating in the Terra Bella area. We didn't go forward with a precise plan, talked about a visioning, and I'm seeing all of that I guess eight years later um come to come to fruition, and I think with the groundbreaking on the um public sort of public storage site, um as well as City Ventures, and now this project, we're seeing that that we're putting more people on to live on a daily basis here.

[01:42:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Uh, one of the things I wanted to highlight and uplift is the work we've done on our small business strategy looking to my right and to my left since Councilmember McAlister and Councilmember Ramirez kind of brought this up is how we can also maintain our industrial use and make sure that we're encouraging, we have so many small businesses in this Terra Bella area, and I think that the residential developments we're seeing move forward will actually complement and fit in nicely um with the density that will be increasing um in the area, as well as having you know different setbacks or um kind of articulations that I think will will make it work.

[01:43:22] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um to uh the comments of Councilmember Ramirez, I was thinking that as I was looking at the site plan in terms of the flow and how people will get around this area, particularly the access to the open space, and one of the things that I thought was you know while that connection would be nice, it is a great community benefit to have that raised sidewalk. And in looking at the site design and talking to the applicant, it looks like the different courtyards will also be open, and I think that gives some um, like walkability to the site and not make it feel as as mega-block, so I think I was encouraged um and hopefully we can flag for staff and future councils that that's an idea of how we can create that general um walkable, bikeable kind of experience in this area.

[01:44:15] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, I also want to thank the applicant for the park in lieu fee. Though um, part of the being a gatekeeper, um, I think it's so encouraging how we've been able to be really creative on creating more open space, and what uh we thought was going to be a small city park has gotten larger. And so that's always exciting. Um and so um encourage that creativity to, you know hopefully we can use that parkland um in lieu fee to create that.

[01:44:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, I appreciate the comments on um the stacked flats and the condos and kind of the the quandary we're in. It seems like we've only seen I think one, the Fayette project, I think or maybe two, maybe one there might be one more. Um, but really how can we be supportive of that? The city has our you know Sacramento lobbyist, our federal lobbyist that we we've worked and passed legislation before, um, and so maybe that's something we want to flag as something um to work with our legislative delegation on um being able to address that and how that can really benefit you know their constituents, our residents, but also create um more opportunities for people to have what I would call are you know entry points for homeownership, but also if people want to downsize, right? So thinking about that creativity. So um those are my comments. Thank you very much, Vice Mayor.

[01:45:46] Councilmember John McAlister: You know sitting back here and listening to the comments, I I got a little bit of a kick and uh reminiscing about Councilmember Showalter was talking about elevators, and I remember 10 years ago she was on that point, and I'm glad to see that you're still fighting for it. And and then Councilmember Ramirez, we don't agree with some things but we both agree about the uh industrial, light industrial. We even talking about that for over 10 years, and that's a very important deal. And I'm glad you brought it up Councilmember. Um yeah, you, Kamei. So but uh I will continue that fight for you, the advocacy, and so I appreciate that.

[01:46:35] Councilmember John McAlister: So um, and I hope the staff realizes and whoever our new, we got a couple of potential new council members out there, that we need a balance of businesses, homes, open space. I mean it's it's all these things blend together to make a great stew, and that's what we have to continue.

[01:46:54] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Okay, seeing no further comment, um I intend to support this for the reasons that others have already talked about. So I won't bore you with saying that again, but I will, I will take 30 seconds to rant around condo liability legislation, which I watched the legislative session uh up until the expiration at midnight specifically to see what happened to that bill.

[01:47:19] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: It passed both houses easily. All it needed was a concurrence vote, and someone decided not to take it across the hallway in time to get a vote, which I would say was this usually happens intentionally, um not accidentally, just because time expires. So I don't know what happened, but hopefully um in the next year it will come back um even more uh and have an even better uh chance of passing and and being signed by the governor. But it was very unfortunate to make it all that way, only for someone to not take it across the hallway and get a vote. So I don't know who was responsible for that or if someone was responsible for that, um but that is uh very unfortunate for the folks who need um entry-level uh ownership housing. So with that, um I think we're ready for a vote.

Additional Content 2

[01:50:14] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, we will now move on to item 6.3, City Code Amendments to Chapter 38: Regulating Use of City Parks and Other Facilities. Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong and Shoreline Manager Brady Ruebusch 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.

[01:50:39] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Lindsay Wong, Senior Management Analyst in Community Services. And I'm joined here tonight by Shoreline Manager Brady Ruebusch. Tonight staff is presenting City Code Amendments to Chapter 38, regulating the use of City parks and other City facilities.

[01:51:03] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: To provide some background, Chapter 38 establishes rules for the use and operation of City parks, open space, trails, and recreational facilities. Addresses permits and reservations, group sizes, operating hours, sound, and permitted and prohibited activities, and includes regulations specific to Shoreline at Mountain View and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

[01:51:27] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: This chapter of the Code has not been substantially revised since 2014, and tonight's amendments are intended to align the Code with current practices and City operations. Additionally, these updates support the fiscal year 2025 through 2027 Council strategic work plan, which includes a specific City Code clean up project.

[01:51:49] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: Community Services staff reviewed the existing Code with multiple departments including City Attorney's Office and the Police Department to identify outdated, unclear, or inconsistent provisions and are proposing amendments that clarify park and facility use by updating procedures and responsibilities to make the Code easier to understand and administer.

[01:52:11] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: Modernizing park regulations by updating rules for activities and uses across parks, trails, open space and Shoreline. Removing outdated provisions by consolidating related sections and removing language that no longer reflects City operations. And finally revising terminology to be more current and accurate. The staff report for this item included a table which shows a section by section summary of these proposed amendments.

[01:52:44] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: So what happens next. Following this hearing, a second reading of the ordinance is scheduled for December 8th. If approved, it is anticipated that the new Code updates would be effective in early January.

[01:52:59] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: So in conclusion, staff recommends that the City Council introduce an ordinance of the City of Mountain View amending Chapter 38 of the Mountain View City Code to revise terminology, modernize rules for park use, update and clarify prohibited activities, revise Shoreline at Mountain View regulations, and make other minor modifications to align with City operations.

[01:53:22] Senior Management Analyst Lindsay Wong: And with that, Brady and I are happy to answer questions and we also have various Community Services Department staff available here as well. Thank you.

[01:53:33] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Does any member of the Council have questions? Councilmember McAlister.

[01:53:39] Councilmember John McAlister: You know, haven't been around for a while, old things come up again. And so I remember years ago when e-bikes first came out, we outlawed e-bikes on the trails. So now with the proliferation of e-bikes coming along and exceeding our 15 mile an hour speed limit, is this being addressed in this particular area or is this in a different area?

[01:54:12] Shoreline Manager Brady Ruebusch: Thank you for the question. Um, that is not being addressed in this particular area because we were focusing on Code clean up, we did not dive into anything that would require greater policy discussion, public engagement, advisory board visits and all of that. This was really just meant to clean up what we had and put it in and so that would be a much bigger, long-term discussion that we can visit down the road I'm sure. But the purpose of this particular item is just to do a clean up and really align it with what we're doing.

[01:54:39] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, well I just want to see if we get down on your radar, but you said down the road. So is it something that is crossing your radar?

[01:54:55] Community Services Director John Marchant: Good evening, John Marchant, Community Services Director. During the last update we created, I believe it was 2014 as staff mentioned, there are some regulations in there related to electric vehicles. We also at the time were seeing electric skateboards which were allowed. And so I think we just need to confirm that the language at the moment is still correct and whether it's just a matter of enforcing that 15 mile an hour speed limit which might be more important.

[01:55:30] Councilmember John McAlister: Alright, okay, thank you.

[01:55:33] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Showalter.

[01:55:38] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, this was really very interesting reading and um I um I use the parks and the and the trails a lot so I I see you know how people behave or don't. And um I I add I asked a couple of um questions like some of this I think is a little hard to understand like um an electric personal assistant, assistive mobility device. That's really a mouthful. Anyway, um is there like a short uh a shorter word, it's it's not an e-bike, it's it's one of those, based on the answer, it's one of those gizmos that's uh kind of like a single, a single wheel and you stand on it, is that right?

[01:56:30] Shoreline Manager Brady Ruebusch: Uh so I believe the single wheel one is called a hoverboard and when this was updated in 2014 it was the Segways, which were the ones that had the little bucket with the handle that came up and so that, Segway is a brand name but that's what the EPAMD acronym stands for. And so that goes back to what John was saying about us looking at that and talking more. But I think our concern was with getting the Code cleaned up, was that if we opened up any of these doors into what vehicle should be allowed on trails and all of that, that it would be a much bigger policy discussion that would hold back some of the cleanup. But as John said, the most important part of it is the 15 miles per hour limit, because everything on there still should have a 15 mile per hour speed limit.

[01:57:18] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Absolutely. I would really concur with that. And I remember when we had the discussion, whenever it was, um about the speed limit on the trails, we we did talk about how there were just always new things being invented or or or becoming common. And we didn't know what the next great thing was going to be. But we did know that if you are going more than 15 miles an hour on a shared trail with walkers and runners, etc, um you're gonna have problems. And so we wanted to keep the, we just decided that regulating it by speed limit was the way to go. And frankly, I I think that was a good decision, I still think that was a good decision. But that does bring me to how do we enforce these speed limits. Um there's a, there's you know we have some rangers who go around on in little kind of golf cart sort of things. And they, I understand they educate. And um and then we also I see from time to time policemen on bicycles. So could you just tell me about what what do you see as the enforcement program for for the speed limits? What what are those kind of basic components of it?

[01:58:38] Community Services Director John Marchant: Thank you Councilmember Showalter for the question. First of all, everything you said is correct. So yes, we have rangers and we're in the process of hiring additional rangers to our program, so that's good news. They are able to educate. One of the things that we want to bring back is the ability for them to use, it's actually one of those radar devices on the trail, we just haven't had the staffing to do that on a regular basis. Once we hire the next tranche of rangers, we'll be able to do that on a more frequent basis. And yes then we do have to work with the Police Department to actually have them be out on the trail and be part of that that process.

[01:59:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Does anybody ever get a ticket?

[01:59:34] Community Services Director John Marchant: I will turn to the Chief to see if he has any information.

[01:59:46] Police Chief Mike Canfield: Good evening Council, Mike Canfield, Police Chief. Uh Councilmember Showalter, I am not familiar with the frequency of citations issued by the Police Department on the trail off hand. I will say that it is infrequent and the general approach would be a warning initially unless there's an egregious violation. We do have our bicycle patrol officers out on the trail as you mentioned, as well as our motorcycle officers, they both will patrol the trail regularly. That said, I think generally their presence is a speed reducer. I'm not familiar with them being kind of set up for a, for lack of a better term, a speed trap situation. I think they tend to be out on the trail to reduce speed by their presence.

[02:00:29] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well I would just say that as a frequent trail user that I do feel in particular the bicycles are especially effective because the bicycles are kind of a standard thing that just ordinary users are using. And so seeing the policemen um model good behavior is is really powerful, whereas nobody else is on a motorcycle out there. So you know, when you see a motorcycle you usually think somebody's been hurt and or or you know or there's a a crime or something, it's a, it's kind of a different it's a different kind of a feel. So I would just like to say my personal opinion is that the bicycles are really really on point, they're really great. That is great feedback, thank you. And um, and I um, I'm glad to hear that we will be having a, you know we'll be upping the, Mr. Marchant, that we will be upping some of the program with with the speed limit signs and that kind of thing, because when you when we hear our residents talk about what's a problem, impolite behavior on the trail is is is a problem. But most people are very well behaved, but there are people who you know creep. So that's so having a presence to make that go better. We used to also have an ambassador program, didn't we? What happened to that? Did anything happen to that?

[02:02:15] Shoreline Manager Brady Ruebusch: The Trail Ambassador program kind of faded with COVID. It's something that we are interested in bringing back. We are also entering an agreement right now with the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail to work with them on an Adopt-a-Trail program and hope that we'll have increased presence by educated trail users that can help with education. Because as the Chief said, one of the big things really is presence. I think a lot of the people that are speeding on the trail have no idea how fast they're going, they're just riding their bike and hauling to work or hauling to school. And so having the presence out there, getting the speedometer up and addressing that. And so the Trail Ambassador program is something that we're interested in starting again, but it's going to depend on staffing levels and resources and then we're hoping that we can partner with the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail for some of these volunteer efforts.

[02:03:06] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay. Um, and I asked a lot of questions and you responded to all of them so thank you very much for doing that.

[02:03:15] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Showalter. 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 City Clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Seeing no speakers, we will now take virtual speakers.

[02:03:42] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Seeing no virtual speakers, thank you, we will now bring the item back for Council questions and deliberations. Please note that a motion to approve the recommendation should also include reading the title of the resolutions and ordinance attached to the report. Looks like we have a motion by Councilmember Ramirez, seconded by Councilmember Kamei.

[02:04:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: The Vice Mayor had clicked the button but it didn't register so I I was able to to push it. Oh yeah, go ahead.

[02:04:12] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, Councilmember Ramirez, collect your infinity stones of municipal codes.

[02:04:17] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Before I make the motion, I wanted to ask staff if they would be amenable to one change, and that's related to Section 38.13 on the operational hours of city parks, trails and facilities. I had submitted a question about whether the intent really was a blanket prohibition for folks who are using trails to commute or you know go home. And I think I understand why the Code is is written in this way, but I was curious to understand from staff whether it would be helpful to have some staff an opportunity to add some general direction that would basically say it's okay to, you know, for a commuter to go home right from North Bayshore down Stevens Creek Trail or through Rengstorff Park or wherever, as long as the the lighting is adequate. Is that something there's I'm seeing some opposition from the Vice Mayor, but I would be it would be helpful to understand, I I'm thinking about scenarios where people are walking or biking, consistent with our desire right, going home, going to events, and sometimes a trail is the quickest way to to get to where they need to go. Um, so is there is there any way to think about this language where we're not prohibiting people from commuting back home or you know utilizing a trail or going through a park if it's the fastest way so long as you know the public safety concerns are are addressed?

[02:05:57] Community Services Director John Marchant: Councilmember Ramirez, um the the Code is written in a way to provide access during appropriate hours of use. And so trying to carve out that type of language would be difficult for us in this in this process, and I don't know if the City Attorney would like to add any information to that.

[02:06:29] Interim City Attorney Jannie L. Quinn: It's hard to do on the fly, because it's it's really set up to ensure that the hours are set so that it's sunrise to a half an hour after sunset, which changes throughout the year, and that's one of the primary purposes of that regulation is where the City feels comfortable that there's adequate lighting. And then using broad language like 'adequate lighting' would be really difficult for us to enforce, and I think also wouldn't provide enough information to someone reading the ordinance. So it's I we would need more time.

[02:07:03] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Well I I wouldn't necessarily suggest figuring out the language this evening, but if we were to approve the ordinance and staff had some time to think about it and come back next year or two years from now and say ah we've got an idea. That's fine, that's fine. I'll I'll go ahead and make the the motion to I'll approve the staff recommendations, including introduce an ordinance of the City of sorry, of the City of Mountain View amending Chapter 38 of the Mountain View City Code to revise terminology, modernize rules for park use, update and clarify prohibited activities, revise Shoreline at Mountain View regulations, and make other minor modifications to align with City operations. So that's that's in the record. I will express my gratitude to staff for taking advantage of the Council priority to clean up the Municipal Code. I'm hoping that's sort of the impetus for this work. I my gut instinct Chief, I'm not gonna make you come all the way down here, but I have a suspicion that in practice, you know if I if I were to go to work and then you know it's December and it's 6 o'clock, so it looks like it's midnight right, and I happen to use a stretch of Stevens Creek Trail, I'm not going to be harshly penalized for that right. I would imagine generally speaking not. I would hope that staff would think through you know if if the next item is gonna be Climate Forward, you know we want people to bike and walk. And this section of the Code has bothered me for a little while, it just feels antithetical to what we're hoping to achieve, and we're not going to solve it tonight. But I would hope that over time we find ways to address some of the concerns that I understand are behind the intent for this, but at the same time you know not end up encouraging people to drive simply because they're you know concerned about what happens after sunset. So I'll conclude my remarks there.

[02:09:01] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember Ramirez. Councilmember McAlister.

[02:09:04] Councilmember John McAlister: Thank you Mayor. I just wanted to piggyback on Councilmember Showalter's about the speed. It's not new to trails there, but I live at a point where you could say the trail begins or terminates. And a lot of people come over the overpass and they have the ability to hit that downhill and they scoot right along. And so that's always an interesting dodging of bullets there. And then also we have a lot of students coming early in the morning or they get they're not always on time so they take their souped up e-bikes and come cruising along. So I know that they've been working on it and they've heard my concerns. Anecdotally for you Councilmember Ramirez, I do walk the trail at prohibitive hours you might say, and no one has ever came up to me and I would just say if they did, I'm saying I'm doing my civil duty as walking the patrol and protecting it. So you're correct on that, especially where I live, people that have direct access from people from Los Altos, they get on the trail and head to North Bayshore, they're coming over the overpass. So it is yes, so maybe we let sleeping dogs lie and just say you know, they understand what's practical and what's not practical. I do appreciate you guys going through this and I look forward to seeing you do some other projects. And I will support it.

[02:10:29] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you Councilmember McAlister. I get your desire to make everything line up perfectly. Although I do recall that like for 4th of July they there's like a special City like the City says is okay for people to come back when it's night time. I don't know if that's allowed and we're just gonna look the other way. Um but there there are moments I think that we they that our City has allowed that. Um but uh for the sake of cleaning up of the Municipal Code, um we can move this forward and this will be a few people in the audience's problem next year. So let's bring it up to the vote.

[02:11:20] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Motion passes unanimously, yay, yes. Alright, we will now move on to the next item, is everyone good? Does anyone need a break? We're good, we're good? Oh, okay, we're gonna do a what time is it, is 8:41, we're gonna do a 10 minute break. We'll see you all at 8:50.

[02:14:11] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Alright, we are going back into session. Um and we will move on to item 7, New Business, 7.1 Climate Forward Plan. Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee and Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky will present the item. If you would like to speak on the item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the City Clerk now.

[02:14:38] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Good evening Mayor and Councilmembers. I'm Danielle Lee, Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer, and joining me this evening is Rebecca Lucky, our Sustainability Program Manager. Tonight we're presenting Climate Forward Mountain View, the City's 5-year community decarbonization plan for 2027 through 2031. Staff is recommending that Council adopt the plan. Climate Forward builds on the City's existing sustainability work, the technical decarbonization analysis that was conducted, and the direction Council provided in May during your study session. It maintains Mountain View's community-wide carbon neutrality goal for 2045 and identifies practical actions for the next five years.

[02:15:31] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So why Climate Forward? Mountain View's 2045 carbon neutrality goal remains our long-term destination. But the path to that goal is shaped by factors both within and beyond the City's direct control, including state and federal policy, regional requirements, utility programs, technology, infrastructure, funding, and the affordability of lower emissions options. External factors can either accelerate or hinder our community's progress. Strong state and federal policies, new incentives, utility investments, and advances in technology can create opportunities for our community to move faster towards decarbonization.

[02:16:12] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: But when policies change or funding is reduced or infrastructure and technology lag, progress can become more challenging. This is why local action still matters. Climate Forward helps to position Mountain View to take advantage of opportunities when they arise by building local electrification programs, expanding infrastructure, strengthening partnerships, and addressing barriers to participation in decarbonization opportunities for our community. And when external policies or programs fall short, local actions help us continue to make progress in areas where the City has authority and influence.

[02:16:48] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: The decarbonization analysis that was conducted and that informs this plan illustrated how important this flexibility can be at the local level. As state and federal policy assumptions changed over the course of the last two years, including the revocation of the federal waiver supporting California's advanced clean cars two regulations, the share of local responsibility to address greenhouse gas emissions changed from roughly 7% of remaining emissions to 40% at the local level. It was a significant change. The takeaway is not to shrink away from our 2045 goal because of these changes. It is that the City needs a practical, adaptable framework that can respond to changing conditions, seize opportunities, and keep Mountain View facing moving forward in the face of headwinds.

[02:17:45] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: I'd like to turn it over to Rebecca Lucky at this point to walk you through Climate Forward.

[02:17:56] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Thank you Ms. Lee. Climate Forward is organized around four focus areas: clean buildings, clean transportation, zero waste, and ecosystem sequestration. It also includes integrated actions around advocacy, coordination amongst our internal departments and external partners like Silicon Valley Clean Energy, and continuing to enhance those partnerships as well. The plan is not 29 entirely new programs. It connects and strengthens existing city plans and programs, identifies where additional local action can help, and sets out a coordinated 5-year framework. The City's role varies by action, at times we're implementing, educating, investing strategically, coordinating, partnering, advocating, piloting approaches, or filling gaps where broader programs do not fully address local needs.

[02:18:54] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: The plan builds on our existing efforts, such as the General Plan, Sustainability Action Plans, the Active Transportation Plan, Zero Waste Plan, Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan and other adopted planning efforts. Climate Forward helps connect the implementation across departments and programs and gives the City a shared framework for keeping those efforts aligned to our 2045 goal.

[02:19:22] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: A central feature of Climate Forward is adaptive planning. This means taking action where it is feasible while remaining flexible as conditions change. Some local actions help our community take advantage of broader state and regional policies, programs, and investments. Others help lay the groundwork for future emission reductions. For example, addressing barriers, supporting building and charging infrastructure readiness, and making cleaner options more accessible. At the same time, we recognize that many factors affecting our progress are outside of the City's control and Climate Forward monitors these changes in policy, funding, technology, infrastructure, and market conditions so we can adjust our priorities as needed, as well as work regionally and statewide to to these changing conditions. The plan also identifies potential actions that may not be initiated during this 5-year period, such as local mandates to require electrification, but including them allows the City to keep options open and evaluate additional approaches if broader efforts are delayed, newer opportunities emerge, or gaps remain. The ultimate goal is to make meaningful progress today while preserving that flexibility to respond to tomorrow's conditions.

[02:20:42] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: The first focus area in Climate Forward is clean buildings and it includes 10 actions. And the near term focus is on helping residents, businesses, and property owners prepare for electrification. And that can include making permits easier to navigate, connecting people with incentives and technical assistance, and improving equitable access. The equity focus is important for affordable and multifamily housing, low-income households, small businesses, and mobile home neighborhoods. These properties can face distinct financial, ownership, electrical capacity, and installation challenges. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work for every building, and to support the success of broader policy such as the air district rules to phase out certain gas appliances, a more localized and nuanced approach to equity can be very beneficial. The plan also preserves options for commercial reach codes, regional building performance standards, and a longer-term planning for a transition away from natural gas. These local tools can help respond to changing conditions.

[02:21:51] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: A great example of adaptive planning in action is the Bay Area Air District's building rules. And since Climate Forward was completed just last week, the Air District amended Rule 9-6 that would regulate the sale of gas water heaters in the Bay Area. The compliance date was delayed from starting next year, January 1st to January 2028. And multifamily and affordable housing properties would start in 2033, and certain smaller and mobile home water heaters are exempt at this point. These changes affect the timing and reach of the district's requirements, but they do not mean that the City should automatically respond by implementing additional local mandates. Instead, our first priority is to support the successful implementation of these requirements as they stand today through the equity actions outlined in clean buildings, as well as partner with other cities to support the implementation of the air district regulations. Staff already attends, we already attend sprint to 9-6 meetings regularly with other Bay Area cities. We will continue to monitor the air district requirement and how it will work in practice and evaluate whether additional local measures would yield greater emission reductions or to support the air district further. If the air district policy achieves the expected emission reductions, additional local requirements may not be necessary. If meaningful gaps remain or more delays are adopted, the City will be better positioned to targeted options outlined in our clean buildings portfolio.

[02:23:33] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Our next focus area is clean transportation. It also includes 10 actions, and the strategy is twofold: to support the transition to lower emission vehicles, and also expand the choices that can reduce the need for single occupancy vehicle trips. That includes multifamily, workplace and public EV charging, improving the reliability and performance of the City's existing public chargers, supporting transit and shuttle connections, expanding walking, bicycling and micromobility options, and using transportation demand management and land use strategies.

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[02:34:36] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: The zero waste focus area includes five actions and it essentially continues the implementation of the city's zero waste plan.

[02:34:48] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Ecosystem sequestration also includes two actions that are guided by the biodiversity and urban forest plan.

[02:34:54] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Climate Forward also strengthens attention to mature tree preservation, long-term tree health, canopy, shade, and habitat as projects are coordinated across the city.

[02:35:08] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: So how will we track progress? So we heard from last time we were at City Council and also the community, uh feedback about more regular implementation updates.

[02:35:19] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Climate Forward does establish an annual reporting cycle using a focused set of indicators. The indicators will help show whether actions are being implemented and whether important community conditions are changing.

[02:35:31] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: They include building natural gas use and electrification participation, EV charging and program participation, waste diversion and urban forest and natural area improvements.

[02:35:43] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: The annual indicators complement the community greenhouse gas inventory. They, they don't replace it. The inventory remains an important longer-term measure of community-wide emission trends, as you saw earlier in your consent agenda item.

[02:35:57] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: And they will also, the inventories will also continue to be measured annually.

[02:36:05] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Climate Forward reflects Council's May 2026 direction to retain our 2045 carbon neutrality goal and focus on a five-year implementation period and remain flexible as conditions change.

[02:36:19] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: It also incorporates Council's request for stronger attention to workplace EV charging and mobile home electrification, along with more regular progress reporting.

[02:36:30] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: The plan has been refined after the May 20, uh after the May Council meeting, uh to incorporate the Council Sustainability Committee feedback, as well as community and departmental feedback. And detailed responses to the community feedback and suggestions are included in the staff report.

[02:36:47] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: And with that, I will hand it back to Ms. Lee.

[02:36:52] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So Climate Forward in addition to having actions within specific, specific focus areas, um, also recognizes that successful implementation takes more than just identifying actions in a silo. It requires partnerships and the capacity to put these actions into practice across multiple implementation parties and topic areas.

[02:37:14] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: The first integrated action, action is advocacy and legislative coordination. Uh, one example of this that was touched on in the memo, um, is the, is the city's participation and actually help in creation of the Local Government Climate Alliance, um, which brings local governments together to identify shared climate priorities and advocate for state and federal priorities, programs, and funding that supports local implementation.

[02:37:41] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Through this collaboration, Mountain View can help elevate local needs, share implementation experiences, and strengthen the collective voice of cities.

[02:37:50] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: This is particularly important because many of the policies, infrastructure investments, and funding opportunities that affect our progress are beyond the city's geographic boundaries.

[02:38:00] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh, in recent Council connections, a summary of LGCA's work in its inaugural year was included for your information.

[02:38:08] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: The second action within integrated actions focuses on implementation capacity and resources. This means coordinating staff and technical expertise, identifying funding and partnerships across city departments.

[02:38:21] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh, it also means being realistic about sequencing and moving actions forward based on available resources, readiness, and Council priorities.

[02:38:29] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Ultimately, implementation is a citywide effort. It cannot rest, um, on, on one individual division or department, and even it cannot rest on just the city alone. We need partnerships across our community.

[02:38:45] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh, in terms of funding, um, Climate Forward, the plan itself does not, um, the action before you this evening does not include, uh, appropriating funding or establishing project budgets. This plan identifies potential costs and funding sources, but actual funding decisions will come through the city's established annual budget process, capital improvement budget process, grants, and other applicable financing opportunities.

[02:39:14] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Potential resources include, um, some of the funds that I just mentioned, regional programs and state and federal grants, um, development-related resources, partner and private investment, new or expanded revenues, and non-profit or philanthropic support.

[02:39:32] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: The appropriate mix may vary by individual action.

[02:39:43] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: In closing, staff recommends that Council adopt Climate Forward Mountain View, building momentum toward a carbon-neutral future 2027-2031, which we call Climate Forward for short.

[02:39:56] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, adoption establishes the five-year framework. Specific funding and project decisions, as I mentioned, will continue through, um, regular budget processes.

[02:40:06] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Thank you, and we're available to answer any questions.

[02:40:12] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Ms. Lee and Ms. Lucky. I'm so sorry, I misread your name. I misread the script. Um, so does any member of the Council have questions? Councilmember Hicks.

[02:40:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: So, I have, I have one big question or series of questions, set of questions. Um, as, uh, as, as a member of the Council Sustainability Committee, um, I, I'm sure you'll remember a lot of our work on Climate Forward has been responding to, um, the election of, uh, a more conservative administration in Washington two years ago and the many changes and cuts that that, um, that that, uh, resulted, um, which impacted a lot of our plans, as, as you said.

[02:41:06] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and I don't know, maybe coincidentally, just a week ago, there was another sort of, um, significant election.

[02:41:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, with, uh, and so this, this plan was put together to be flexible, or I think you're using the word adaptive. Um, and so like I said, we had another election, another set of changes, and I expect and hope we'll continue to have changes. I won't predict what they'll be and how they'll go.

[02:41:38] Councilmember Alison Hicks: But given that that you've made this adaptable, um, and you've been watching those events, what are some of the next step kind of things that you think the city, uh, might, um, particularly interest in what you might lobby for at a regional, state, or even national level?

[02:41:59] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, and also next steps in terms of, uh, building electrification and transportation policies that you maybe have thought about as, over the past week or so in particular.

[02:42:15] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Um, yeah. And what might we do with our City Sustainability Fund? And what incentives might we offer residents, businesses, or others to cut emissions? I'm open to any hopeful ideas you might have.

[02:42:32] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you for the indeed large question. Um, I will say that over the past two years, we, we have observed significant changes in the context, the policy landscape that we were trying to implement our decarbonization work.

[02:42:48] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: And the silver lining of that is that it has really forced us to rethink how we plan on this work, you know.

[02:42:54] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, we don't really want to go back to the days of setting a 10-year or 20-year plan and then just diligently for the next 20 years doing that without real, um, ease to make changes to that. So we've brought this adaptable plan, and we think that even in light of, you know, last week's election, um, this structure will serve us well.

[02:43:18] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: We will be able to continue to evaluate what changes continue to come. Not everything will be undone, um, come January when, um, newly elected members, um, of the federal government are sworn in.

[02:43:32] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So some things will change more slowly. We do look forward, I think, with some more optimism, optimism in terms of climate policy. I think that there are, um, lots of interesting opportunities, um, especially in the transportation space, where the federal government had significant sway over our context before, as well.

[02:43:55] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So, um, where the federal government has the most influence, it will continue to have the most opportunity for change. Um, California had a waiver from the EPA for clean cars, which was going to require, ultimately, 100%, you know, all electric vehicles for sale in the state.

[02:44:12] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, the federal government took that waiver away, but also has the ability to reissue it in the future. So that's an example of an opportunity area. All the areas where, um, there is the most influence, I think, are some of the most significant opportunities.

[02:44:26] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Aside from specific legislation, I think also there are market signals that can be, um, intuited from companies. We've seen some manufacturers of electric vehicles slow production, and we're hopeful that there may be some reversal of that trend over time, um, as well.

[02:44:45] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So we don't know, I don't have a fully formed plan, um, based on the election, but what I'm really excited about is that the way that we have thought about Climate Forward can allow us to in real-time have this conversation with the Council, with the Council Sustainability Committee, with the community, and we can chart a path forward that takes advantage of whatever opportunities come before us in real-time, um, without delay.

[02:45:17] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So I think the biggest picture is, the biggest kind of silver lining of this is that we have really given thought to how to do our work, how to work differently and in deeper partnership with others, um, to get more progress under whatever conditions we face.

[02:45:36] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember Ramirez.

[02:45:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate staff's work on this and I also appreciate the members of the Council Sustainability Committee, uh, who have spent a lot of time on this.

[02:45:53] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I think this is, uh, the first time that the Council has been able to talk about this, uh, this document. Um, I think there was a study session where I rambled a little bit. But, um, I'm overall very happy with the direction this is going in.

[02:46:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: I just have a couple of questions. Uh, so the first is related to the transit and shuttle connections, um, uh, action item or set of items.

[02:46:20] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I submitted a question about this and staff provided some, um, helpful responses, but I wanted to delve a little bit more deeply into opportunities to explicitly commit to collaborating with, um, specific partners or key destinations, and the two that come to mind are schools and CSA.

[02:46:41] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Since we know that there are, um, uh, potentially many, uh, transit-dependent, um, individuals, right, students or seniors who, uh, may benefit from, uh, coordinated shuttle stops serving those destinations.

[02:46:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, is there a reason why we, well, would staff object to, or is there a reason why we wouldn't explicitly commit to identifying opportunities to serve, um, those destinations and those populations in that way?

[02:47:13] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh, thank you for the question. Uh, um, Public Works Director Ing is available to speak to that further.

[02:47:29] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Good evening. Jennifer Ing, Public Works Director. So when we first started the shuttle program, I think it was back in 19, 2019, there was a study that was done and it really allocated destinations, or identified, I guess is the right word, destinations, um, for a broad, um, user base across the whole city, um, to get around the city.

[02:47:53] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um, I think the two things that you had identified as possible expansion areas are schools and the CSA. Um, let me pick them off one by one.

[02:48:02] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um, the community shuttle itself was actually not meant to serve, uh, for students. It was meant to serve the general broader population. Um, I know that a lot of students do use the transportation shuttle system, just because it, you know, it's convenient and it's, and it's free.

[02:48:22] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um, but the way the routes were designed and developed, uh, weren't really around the school system, the school hours, um, you know, start times and end times, um, etc.

[02:48:36] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Uh, with respect to the CSA, um, the location of the actual CSA is, um, around a residential area. It would require a loop of the shuttle system to get through there and back out. Um, therefore it could impact our 30-minute headways that we have for the shuttle system, um, and decrease our productivity for its loops.

[02:49:04] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Now, those are kind of the things you don't want to hear right now. What I will say moving forward is that we do have an RFP out for the future of the community shuttle. Um, I think there's an actual name for it in the CIP that's better than what I just expressed.

[02:49:21] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: But, um, it essentially looks at, um, a myriad of things. How do we continue to fund this very expensive program? Are there opportunities to change our routing? Are there different methodologies for delivering a similar system or the same system in a different way? You know, should we go to on-demand instead of fixed route? Should we look at, you know, requiring, um, you know, just different ways, and opening up our minds to changing, potentially, our shuttle system from what we have now.

[02:49:57] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: So part of that evaluation or part of that study, um, will include routing and destinations.

[02:50:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. For, for my benefit, has the scope of that work already been approved or will that go probably to the Council next year for approval?

[02:50:15] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um, depending on the cost of the contract, it may come back to Council. The scope has already been written, um, and we actually have proposals in hand and are, uh, in the process of consultant selection.

[02:50:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Um, that's very helpful. Thank you. Um, I have another set of maybe not necessarily for public works, but thank you for responding to that question.

[02:50:40] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, a question or a set of questions that, that sort of is tangentially related to that. Um, it's, it's good to know that that work is happening, and what I'm a little concerned about is sometimes we do a lot of good work, uh, that is, uh, that may have a nexus to sustainability, but sustainability is not the core focus, right.

[02:51:01] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So I'm curious about opportunities to, uh, maybe in the context of the implementation capacity and resources, sort of goal or opportunity to more, or integration into city policies and programs, might be another good place to incorporate this.

[02:51:18] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, to ensure that, um, to, or to avoid silos or to break down silos where they exist, that there is a sustainability-oriented analysis that is explicitly incorporated into that work.

[02:51:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, I asked the city manager about this, so hopefully I, you know, there was an opportunity to think through it before this meeting, but, um, how would staff feel about, for instance, um, on relevant staff reports including something like a climate forward analysis, right.

[02:51:49] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: As an analog, I work for a different city, uh, and, uh, that city has a Climate Smart and then the name of that city analysis incorporated into staff reports. So as the Council or the community reads through the agenda item, they see, ah, you know, here's the nexus to sustainability, here's how it relates to, um, greenhouse gas emission reductions.

[02:52:14] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: We don't really have anything like that in Mountain View, and I would be curious to know if that is a way of thinking or an approach that we could consider, you know, after we, um, or when we begin implementing the Climate Forward plan. So I'd love to hear staff's, um, reflection or ideas around something like that.

[02:52:34] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Uh, thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Um, Audrey Seymour, Assistant City Manager. Um, we understand the question to, um, be to include within the analysis section, rather than kind of a standard section of each report that would state whether and the degree to which there was an environmental impact. Is that, or, or maybe I should state it less as a question and more as, um...

[02:53:08] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: We, we haven't generally, um, looked to new sections of reports that would highlight the degree to which, uh, a certain policy choice before the Council, um, uh, stacks up against or relates to or impacts, um, a city, uh, priority or, um, uh, objective.

[02:53:35] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Um, however, I think it's entirely appropriate to have within the analysis section of any given report for which there is a sustainability component or impact, for that to be included in the discussion. And so I don't know if that's responsive to the suggestion that you're making.

[02:53:54] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Well, I, I'll bring it up during the comments. Um, I don't, I don't intend to be prescriptive in exactly how this would be achieved, so I'll, I'll share an idea, but um, it sounds like that's not something that was explicitly contemplated, but it's something that is consistent with the intent of the broader Climate Forward plan.

[02:54:16] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Right. For there to be alignment across different policy and plan areas, that's something that the Council Sustainability Committee has discussed and interest in. Um, and that that's kind of at the policy and analysis level, but there's also a tremendous amount of work that, um, sustainability and the operating departments do to be in coordination with each other, um, around, um, uh, how projects, um, might, uh, help with sustainability or how sustainability might be implemented through...

[02:54:55] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour: Um, so I think that that is an appropriate and already underway effort to have that be part of the analysis.

[02:55:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you. Those are my questions for now, but I'll come back to this later.

[02:55:09] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Councilmember Kamei.

[02:55:13] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Thank you. All right. Um, I've been trying to figure out the best way to ask these questions, so I'll look, I'll look to staff. So, um, action three in when we're talking about specifically, I guess, buildings, uh, staff and the report, and the plan calls out equity and access for building natural gas use.

[02:55:38] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, but I think one of the, one of the other, and I tried to look at the attachments because I think it kind of permeates throughout the plan, and I, I feel like one of the things that we've heard when, particularly like when Silicon Valley Clean Energy comes is, um, not just the support, um, for the improvement, but people actually participating in any type of like incentive program that's available.

[02:56:11] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And so I started thinking about the transportation because I know one of the efforts Silicon Valley Clean Energy has been doing is like, for example, like e-bikes, right? And, and some rebates, and, um, so I thought, well, the equity and access can not only go in clean buildings, it can also be maybe called out more prominently in the transportation section.

[02:56:35] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: But then I took a step even further back and thought, well, how can we talk about this in general? Um, and maybe start, because I know I saw in the report kind of staff touching on it in different places.

[02:56:47] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And maybe you can share, because I think, um, one of the things that wasn't called out but I'm, I'm hopeful for is, and I know staff is already doing this, is sharing this in our different Leadership Academies and, um, the education component.

[02:57:04] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And we, we have Wordly now, like what are we doing on the translation, um, of all this work we're doing. So maybe staff can kind of take all of those thoughts and share with Council and the public how you're approaching that.

[02:57:18] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Sure, I'll start this off and then I'll turn to Ms. Lucky to see if I've missed anything. Um, I think that broadly speaking, equity is really infused across all of the areas. You know, barriers to decarbonization don't just exist in one sector, you know. If it's hard to electrify your home, it's probably also hard to electrify your transportation.

[02:57:38] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So we really have tried to focus on the opportunities within each of those areas. So electrification of mobile homes, bringing EV charging to multi-family properties.

[02:57:49] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, previously we had the electrification, um, electric landscaping equipment that we provided to the Day Worker Center.

[02:57:56] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, we also had an e-bike incentive for income-qualified residents. Um, and we've done, um, virtually all of our outreach and engagement, we've had materials available in multiple languages. We also participate in the MEP programs, um, as you mentioned, to try to make sure that we're reaching a much broader audience.

[02:58:18] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, and then I think even it might feel kind of diffuse or not direct, but participating in the sprint to 9-6 rule making process, um, the, the exemptions that were included were equity based.

[02:58:35] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, you know, if we, if we reduce gas, natural gas use for water heaters, you know, there are fewer emissions that are emitted into neighborhoods. So it's not really a gain that has occurred at an individual household level, you know. This is a gain that it can occur for the entire community and the costs can be borne by the individual homeowner.

[02:58:55] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So it's, it's inherently, um, an equity measure to allow exemptions for implementation for people who are unable to afford them, but they're still able to benefit from the gains of these changes that are being made across the community. So the city was actively participating to advocate for this at the policy level as well.

[02:59:14] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, we haven't called out an equity chapter. We've instead tried to really incorporate that thinking, that mindset throughout the document and throughout our work.

[02:59:24] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, I don't know, Ms. Lucky, would you like to add anything to that?

[02:59:29] Sustainability Program Manager Rebecca Lucky: Okay. Does that...

[02:59:31] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yeah, I see it. I think that I'm hopeful that with our plan adoption, we might be able to maybe also like, add a step or an additional layer where getting a little bit more to outcomes. Um, I, I feel like Councilmember Ramirez, um, because I feel like, how are you talking about outcomes, metrics, um, but, uh, in this case, um, I, I feel because I would love to to know if these efforts are actually leading to utilization, um, by our residents, basically.

[03:00:07] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: And I think that from what I've seen, it's been so great to see, um, the office at all the different community events. My favorite is Wasson, and I really appreciate, um, that at Monster Bash there was like a limited edition Wasson you can get. Of course I got it, and at Dia de los Muertos, you had one too. I got that one, we're very excited, my kids and I are collecting.

[03:00:30] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Um, so I think the education component is, you know, this can be really fun and it can be a, you know, it's like family friendly, um, it's a, you know, gateway into hopefully leading to, yeah, understanding a bit more about how it's actually permeating into our community. And so I don't, and I'm sorry, I didn't see that in the attachments, and so maybe that can be, I don't know if you already have that, but I think, um, I understood the intent and how it was kind of infused in, but I wonder too about how we can maybe be have some section where we, we say that we're doing certain things, so that when people read this plan, they will also, they won't just have to kind of be in the know to know what we're doing, but there's certainly...

[03:01:20] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: I think some of the indicators. The multi-family indicator is the strongest one because we have a very specific goal of um percentage of units within Mountain View that will have access to EV charging within the next 5 years, and all of our um incentive money has gone to um incentives for EV charging in multi-family properties, because we recognize there's really an equity barrier, it's very hard to purchase an EV if you can't reliably charge it.

[03:01:48] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: And so, um, we see that one as an already identified indicator that would really get at um the equity success of our measures. We've also um engaged in discussions with um state agencies around electrification for mobile homes and bringing forward incentives specific to that uh space.

[03:02:08] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: As those are rolled out statewide, we could also look at including uh performance metrics related to adoption, like participation in these programs for our community. So those are some very tangible measures that we can identify. We can also um we we do also track our engagement efforts, which also gets to that. So just the number of people we've talked to and the number of people we've communicated with.

[03:02:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I don't know if those are a little bit more specific and...

[03:02:40] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: I think so.

[03:02:41] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: I know that what the city is doing it and you and your team are doing it and so I just always want to try to define opportunities to uplift but also to kind of share that and um as I was I apologies if I missed it but as I was reading the the staff part and the attachments I didn't see that and I'd love to be able to have that like uh storytelling element to adopting this um so hopefully we can I don't know how folks feel but I think it being able to include that would be really important for folks to know and then understanding how it's leading that they're that we are tracking, there are indicators and we are seeing the needle move not just for a certain subset of our community but our entire community.

[03:03:23] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Yeah, and we will we we will be reporting on the success of Climate Forward annually and so in that storytelling each year we can bring forward um our thoughts and and talk more specifically about that as part of our annual report.

[03:03:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yeah.

[03:03:39] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. Councilmember Showalter.

[03:03:43] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yeah, I kind of want to add on to the subject that uh Councilmember Kamei brought up, which is basically, how do we tell the story and or communicate our success, how far have we gone? And I think um, you know, there were a couple questions about it that in the and and one of them maybe you could could talk a little more about is um, uh we're we're all interested in getting people out of their cars and and biking more, right? And so how do we, how do we know they're doing that? And there was a discussion of of how we're going to look at VMTs, uh vehicle miles traveled, right? Did I read that correctly? So, so could you talk a little bit about how that, how that's going to work?

[03:04:29] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh the the discussion was really about which metric helps us to identify the emissions related to transportation because you know we have our plan like really if you oversimplify it it has actions um primarily in buildings and transportation, and then there are a few other related actions, but the vast majority of our emissions come from buildings and transportation.

[03:04:53] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: And so VMT um is kind of our proxy to how much um emissions we can attribute to vehicles, because that's you know people on bikes dont result in emissions. So um as VMT goes down, we can assume that alternative transportation modes usage has gone up, fuel efficiency of vehicles has gone up, electrification of vehicles has gone up, um and active transportation options have gone up.

[03:05:26] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And and also because when we look at this VMT we're also going to be looking at gasoline sales, right? Because because if you have a vehicle miles traveled and it's an electric car, then it's not right, you're reducing emissions, but if you, so you can so we're going to mesh that with gasoline?

[03:05:42] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Exactly. The VMT does take into account kind of the average fuel economy and that somehow um incorporates electric vehicle adoption, but Mountain View has very high um electric vehicle adoption. So we think that combining that with uh gasoline sales is going to be helpful. It should give us some additional insight.

[03:06:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well I think another another thing that we're interested in is we've, you know, we went through this reach code issue a couple of years ago and we came out with a a new um a new way of going about it, which is essentially we're saying um you might not you might want to put in a gas stove, but you're you're going to have to wire for electricity and you're going to have to provide room for them and, you know, all those things.

[03:06:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So one of the things I'm interested in is is how are we seeing these um essentially um workarounds. Not maybe workaround isn't the right word, but but novel approaches to to um to uh incentivizing electricity working. How are we going to um what's the what's the tracking on that one?

[03:07:00] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Well we we do um speak to natural gas usage in buildings. So I think you know our primary concern now that we have very clean electricity is how much natural gas is being consumed in buildings. Um so we will be measuring that and you know I think your story of reach codes really touched on kind of like an early um example of adaptive you know kind of response to our decarbonization work, you know, one avenue within our reach code efforts was um basically paused and so you know we went a different route and we again have had to pause our reach code and and find a way forward um to get an electrification of our buildings.

[03:07:46] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So this pre-wiring, uh measuring so that we assume that if if you have pre-wired your home, when your appliance dies, maybe by then the Air District rules for appliances appliance sales will be in place and you'll only be able to buy an electric appliance and your your home will already be wired for that.

[03:08:07] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So that change will be very easy. Um I I think that um measuring that the pre-wiring uh activity that has gone on, the rebates that we have already been issuing for electric appliances and then the natural gas that's consumed still in buildings will paint us a a pretty good picture of where we are and the progress that we're able to achieve locally.

[03:08:31] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Uh I I do too but I I also am very interested in how our policy um changes translate into um reductions in um you know or don't translate into reductions in GHG. So I think that in addition to looking at um you know looking at the the uh just the reduction in in GHG emissions, we also want to make sure that we we um I don't know if we have a metric or or it's just an analysis process, but we go through and and analyze how our various policies have either been effective or haven't.

[03:09:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And you know we're blessed in this area in that we have um a lot of cities that are very sustainably um oriented and people go about things slightly differently. So we have opportunities to see, you know, kind of how the nuances work. And I guess that's what I'm getting at, is kind of how how are are we are we getting at that kind of thing through our measurements, are we getting at that kind of thing through our coalitions, um because as we move forward in this, we have to get better and better at at this job because there are so many buildings that have to be um uh, you know, that have to be upgraded. And and it's got and if it isn't smooth and easy, it isn't going to, you know, it's going to take longer, right? So and and it's the same thing with with transportation. We have to figure out the easiest way.

[03:10:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: So can you talk a little bit about how that kind of um testing of the policies that we are really um experimenting with are is is going to be evaluated. How are you, how are you looking at that?

[03:10:34] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Yeah, thank you for the question. And I know it's a it's a complicated topic. You know, we we bring you an annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory, but I think we're regularly telling the Council or the Council Sustainability Committee how hard it is to measure individual programmatic impact. Uh we conducted a much more detailed analysis and built a model to predict emissions reductions impacts of a subset of the measures that were included within Climate Forward.

[03:11:04] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: And I think we chose the ones that we thought would have the most measurable, significant impacts. And we in the same breath recognize that we can't measure everything. So what we're trying to do is take a snapshot, you know, where in general do our emissions come from? Um which programs do we think, broadly speaking, will be the most effective? And then what can we do uh in those priority areas that will move the needle.

[03:11:29] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: We might be laying the foundation, you know, pre-wiring, as an example, doesn't reduce emissions at all, but it makes the change much smoother. You know, if it's seamless for the resident, it will happen, and so how do we count that win? It's coming in 10 years or 15 years when that appliance dies, but it's a win now, as soon as the wiring goes in, we know that's nearly a guaranteed change in the future that we don't have to fight for in the hard way.

[03:11:57] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So we don't not do it because we can't measure it. We still do all of the foundational work that we need to have done to build the the pathway to the future. And we are measuring, we're checking ourselves, we're we're we're measuring a reasonable subset of our work, we're not trying to measure everything, but we're also uh not paying any heed to it at all.

[03:12:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, thank you.

[03:12:19] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. Councilmember McAlister.

[03:12:24] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I was going to ask a question, but uh I'm still a little bit confused here. I asked a question about did you rank your various 29 projects, and I'm still under the belief, and I think that the uh data will prove that cars driving is the biggest impact on greenhouse gases. But I don't see you really putting the emphasis on how to reduce it.

[03:12:54] Councilmember John McAlister: And I read that there's a cost, well, it costs the most, but it could be the most effective at reducing the largest percentage. And yet I see continually this look on EV charging stations and multi-EV changing stations and etc etc uh EVs, and I brought this up during the ATP that it's not you're you're only going to get decrease greenhouse gases by a little bit. Whereas you get people out of their cars, that's going to be your greatest impact, going through the shuttles, which I've always been saying that we got to get our shuttles going, and there's inexpensive ones.

[03:13:25] Councilmember John McAlister: And uh I was Mayor in 2015 and we started the shuttles back then, the community shuttles with the uh various cons uh companies.

[03:13:34] Councilmember John McAlister: So help me understand why that we have really no control of who's going to buy an EV, and if you're saying, if EVs are going to be in a house or near a house, it's going to make people more reliable or easier to buy these vehicles, but they're going to still cost more than a gas vehicle.

[03:13:53] Councilmember John McAlister: And yet we're not really emphasizing transit and shuttle connections that we know will drastically reduce the greenhouse gases.

[03:14:03] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Thank you for the question. Um, transportation is a, certainly a challenging uh category of emissions for us. We have more local control over the, the buildings, you know. We we get to say how buildings are built within our community, what kinds of buildings can go where.

[03:14:29] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, with transportation, we have far less control, we don't control the highways, um fuel efficiency standards, um even as a state, you know, it's kind of rocky right now whether we can mandate what kinds of vehicles are sold. Um so Climate Forward, you know, although I agree with you, um, if we had everybody in active transportation, public transportation, that would be the best solution.

[03:14:51] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um but we recognize kind of where we are, and the fact that this is a five-year plan, and so we see electric vehicles playing a very important bridging function. You know right now, many people are in their vehicles, and so we have to think about how can we reduce the emissions from those vehicles.

[03:15:09] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: At the same time, we certainly also include measures related to the broader transportation system and areas where the city can be active, um, including the shuttle, I think there's a measure related to the shuttle within our um, measure. We also have um, measures related to active transportation.

[03:15:28] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh and then furthermore, um the Local Government Climate Alliance uh just last month adopted its policy platform for the coming year, and transportation was added there as well. So we'll be working together with cities across the state to advocate at the state level around transportation emission reduction opportunities.

[03:15:48] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So we're trying to attack it kind of pragmatically, where where we are now, what we can do in the next five years, um what we can do locally for the long term vision, and then what can we do kind of across the state, like what additional opportunities can we bring about through uh collaboration with other jurisdictions. So we're trying to do it, but I I don't think we could address all of our transportation emissions in the five-year range, so we've tried to include a mix of shorter term things keeping the long goal in sight.

[03:16:19] Councilmember John McAlister: If we increased our our shuttle service in Mountain View, and you're measuring greenhouse gases in Mountain View, would you be able to see a change in if our public transit improved?

[03:16:36] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Um, I don't have the specific calculation for that. I believe we worked with public works, uh the Public Works Department previously to um give some insight into the emissions reduction potential of the shuttle. We'd be happy to follow up, unless Director Ing you'd like to, yeah, we'd be happy to follow up with that. Um we did do some preliminary analysis related to the shuttle specifically.

[03:17:04] Councilmember John McAlister: So is cost your biggest obstacle in improving the shuttle service?

[03:17:11] Public Works Director Jennifer Ing: Um, by improvements, if you mean expansion of uh service, uh oh, expansion of service, or um increasing frequency or adding stops, then yes, cost is definitely a barrier.

[03:17:27] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. But is that not also the biggest bang for the buck? If we re-increased, has there been an analysis first of all, that the increased cost would do the greatest reduction in greenhouse gases?

[03:17:41] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: Uh, the previous analysis that was conducted, and it was a very targeted um effort to answer a specific question, did not show it to be the most cost effective measure um in terms of per ton of GHG emissions reduced. But we did...

[03:17:58] Councilmember John McAlister: Wait wait a minute. You didn't compare it to everything. Um, I think the question was asked um specific to a a particular program related to um incentives for home electrification. So I can speak to the comparison of a heat pump versus the shuttle, but I can't tell you that every measure within Climate Forward how it how it stacks up against the shuttle.

[03:18:33] Councilmember John McAlister: So when I ask for the ranking of these different things, you said you weren't able to do it or you didn't do it, I mean I guess you weren't able to do it. So then how do you know, when funds come available, do you want which one is the most effective at the time?

[03:18:52] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: We did do an analysis of um what we identified as the most likely to have large emissions reductions potential. We actually analyzed the reduction potential and have created a model that allows us to input different assumptions about participation rate, technology, efficacy, and we can actually calculate the emissions reduction potential. We didn't do it for every measure because some of the measures the the projected impact was smaller. Doesn't mean that those measures are any less important. They might be critical in laying the foundation for something to come in the future.

[03:19:36] Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Danielle Lee: So it's hard to stack everything...

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[03:19:36] Staff: up on a single metric when emissions reduction now versus later isn't captured in the same way. It's I wish I could have that. I actually entered into the climate forward process with the intention of doing that and quickly found that it didn't give the full picture.

[03:19:59] Councilmember John McAlister: If we want the public to buy in to this program, would it be helpful for them to know what is the most effective thing that they can do? And but if you don't rank it, how do you know, so how would they know what's the best thing to do?

[03:20:18] Staff: That's a great question. Thank you. We do have a whole, a very robust outreach and engagement program. And in fact, we are planning to do a presentation to the Council Sustainability Committee where I will share the staff report as I always do with the full council. It will summarize basically our efforts around community engagement because the story that we tell residents about what they as individuals can do is slightly different than the plan that we are bringing forward to council about what we as a city can do. Within your own home, you might think of resiliency, or you might think of your personal vehicle, or the way you move around. As a city, we might think about the legislative opportunity at the state level that we can bring about that might change the whole context. So the list of what to do is not identical. There is obviously a lot of overlap, we would like to encourage our residents to do many things, but it's not the same. It's not the specific intention of this report, but we do have other materials that kind kind of talk through what a homeowner can do or what a resident can do.

[03:21:31] Councilmember John McAlister: Do people respond to seeing a chart where it would indicate things are going down, that what they're doing is effective? And do we present that to the public?

[03:21:45] Staff: We do. On the consent agenda this evening was the annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory. And that is an annual assessment that we complete that basically measures at the broadest level where our emissions are, and they are indeed going down.

[03:22:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Does that include the components of that greenhouse gas?

[03:22:06] Staff: It does, by broad category. Buildings, transportation, wastewater.

[03:22:11] Councilmember John McAlister: Transportation is the big one in that. Okay. So, circle back to what I asked earlier. Transportation is still the big one. I'll leave that for comments. Okay. Thank you.

[03:22:25] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. All right, with that, we are done with council questions. Unless you want to also do it during council deliberations. But we will now go 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, click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a speaker card to the city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Any speakers? No speakers? I'm seeing someone pointing at himself. Oh, Alex Brown.

[03:23:07] Public Speaker Alex Brown: I think they're going to call me. Hey. Hi, friends. Thank you. As someone who is currently trying to get a replacement of his furnace and broken air conditioner with a heat pump system permitted and get the rebate from Silicon Valley Clean Energy, it is not easy. It's in a mobile home. But I have my neighbors really appreciate that we do have difficult constraints and also a lot of folks who struggle to do things like permitting and getting things done. But I think it's a community that would benefit a lot from electrification. It's fairly dense housing and we want to do our part to help the climate. So, thank you. And thank you. And soon, thank you. All right. Bye.

[03:24:04] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Alex. We will now take virtual speakers. Seeing no virtual speakers, I will now bring the item back to Council questions and deliberations. Councilmember Ramirez.

[03:24:19] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to let someone else make the motion, but I did want to try and make a brief case, because it is almost 10 o'clock and that means John and I will have to vote no pretty soon on... But I so I appreciate the comments from many of my colleagues. And I think it, especially yours, Councilmember McAlister. I think it's not, when we're thinking comprehensively about sustainability and the way we are with the Climate Forward plan, it's an appropriate opportunity to think about the relative impacts of some of the actions that we're considering, right? What is the greatest bang for the buck? And I think what I've observed in the time I've been on the council is when we think about things in this manner, we ask those types of questions. But then we don't generally approve all of the action items at once. They come back to us incrementally, sometimes as consent items, sometimes going through committees. Right, the discussion about how to evolve the community shuttles, an appropriate one for this example. When that goes to the council, we may not be thinking about the impact to greenhouse gas emission reduction. Which is why I think this item, this bullet point here, which attempts to kind of encapsulate what several colleagues mentioned and as our assistant city manager was suggesting earlier, some type of formal incorporation into the analysis in a staff report, I think is an appropriate tool or opportunity, especially for our sustainability division to elevate that consideration. It's not just about money, right? We have other goals, right? Sometimes money is an important consideration, right? It is expensive to expand the community shuttle service. But if we can put an explicit price tag on it relative to the benefit to whatever sustainability goal it may be advancing... What do we care more about? Are we willing to make that investment if it achieves our goals? Well, if we have that explicit analysis to help us make that determination, maybe we might be willing to spend a little bit more money. And there might be examples where there might be some other consideration, right? Reducing the number of lanes on a road is hard, right? It's a politically fraught decision. But sometimes it's a decision that we will make without thinking about the sustainability implications, right? Does that help us achieve other goals related to mode share or VMT reduction or things along those lines? So the reason I don't want to make that motion is because I'm hoping someone else will agree with me and say, yeah, we should incorporate this idea into the direction that we provide. It's also a hard direction to provide since I don't really have the words in the correct order for how exactly staff should do this. I don't want to be prescriptive. But I, you know, I'm going to be gone in a few months, never to be seen or heard from again. But I really hope that the next council thinks about and elevates the staff opportunities to expand beyond some of the impacts that we consider, the fiscal impact, right, some of the narrowly scoped considerations, and include also robust analysis on the nexus to climate. Like I would love a Climate Forward alignment statement, right, in staff reports. Does this achieve the goal? Is it antithetical to the goal? Hey Council, we know this is a hard decision, but the bang for the buck is high, and that's why we think you should consider it. You know, if we don't explicitly include that, the risk is we don't think about it. And maybe we make decisions that are based on other important factors. You know, money is a real thing, we have to be sensitive to that. But when we're discerning those trade-offs, if we don't have that analysis about the sustainability impacts or the greenhouse gas emission impacts, then we may make different decisions that don't end up helping achieve our sustainability goals. So that, I would love to be a little bit more explicit about community shuttle expansion opportunities and coordination with schools and CSA, I appreciate our public works director explaining some of the constraints there. I think those are real and important to consider. But when we're thinking about trade-offs, right, that's the first place I would want to start since we know that there's likely to be high utilization. And I think the last thing I'll say before I stop talking for the rest of the night, is I'll push back gently on what you were saying about the local control over transportation-related emissions. You're not wrong, right, we do have more control over building for a variety of reasons. But we get to make a lot of decisions about how we use the roadway, right? Whether Rengstorff is four lanes or two is a decision we get to make, right? I don't get to make that decision. The next council does. But one thing I will observe is when that was elevated to the CTC, none of the alternatives included two lanes. They all included four. And that's because, for the most part, the decision was not based on greenhouse gas emission reduction or sustainability. It was based on different considerations. So we should think about, right, if we're, how serious are we about implementing this goal? Are we actually able to make hard decisions? Sometimes we are, sometimes we're not, right? But we are best equipped to make hard decisions when we have all of the facts and we have all of the analysis. So, words for other people to think about. Thank you.

[03:29:58] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez. Councilmember Showalter.

[03:30:01] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Okay, I'll give it a try. I'd like to make a motion that we adopt the five-year community decarbonization plan, Climate Forward Mountain View, building momentum toward a carbon-free future, and that we ask that when appropriate, discussion of sustainability impacts will be included in the analysis of council reports.

[03:30:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Second.

[03:30:36] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I purposefully made that rather broad so that it can be, you know, that we trust staff to use good judgment about when to include it and what to include. Because sometimes doing analyses are, you know, very, very rigorous, expensive, time-consuming, you know, all of the above. And there may be times when that's appropriate. But many times just thinking about, well, how does this, how does this project kind of weigh in on these things can be done rather quickly and added I think probably pretty easily. So that's my motion and we have a second. Thank you.

[03:31:30] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Showalter. We have a motion by Councilmember Showalter, seconded by Councilmember Ramirez. Vice Mayor Clark.

[03:31:40] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: I don't have to say very much because I think you worded it well, and I think what I would say is, you know, as Councilmember Showalter pointed out, I don't expect a climate analysis in every, a paragraph in every single staff report of every single thing. We kind of went down that path 10 or so years ago in a different front and we trialed it and it didn't just didn't quite accomplish I think what we'd hoped. So, but my hope is that, you know, rather than having an analysis for everything that might even be remotely related to climate, it would be, you know, as you're thinking about the cost of this CIP project, remember that it also helps us accomplish this really important climate goal, right? And making sure that we're reminded of that, that it isn't just dollars at stake here, it's also, you know, helping us achieve, you know, some of our other objectives and some of the implementation items here. And, you know, I know a lot of the topics that have been brought up on this item are important, but overall this is a guiding document and plan. There will be implementation frameworks as to how or if we expand the community shuttle, there will be CIP projects that will be tied into this that will be brought to us separately. And I think part of the struggle tonight is just that it's not all tied together in a 50-page implementation plan for some of these things where we're talking about shuttle routes and all the other things, which are important to talk about, they just come as separate pieces that hopefully all fold into and integrate the plan. So I plan to support the motion on the floor and appreciate you wording it so well, Councilmember Showalter, better than I could have.

[03:33:34] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Vice Mayor Clark. Councilmember Hicks.

[03:33:39] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, having been on the committee that put this together over the months or years, I don't have a lot of additions. But I do appreciate, Councilmember Ramirez, the suggestions you're making. But Councilmember Showalter, the way you made it brief and not very prescriptive. I'll say why... while I appreciate metrics, first we have the greenhouse gas inventory with a lot of information, so I hope everyone's reading that. And while I appreciate metrics, I also appreciated Ms. Lee's description of how not everything we do can be measured. And some of the things, like the pre-wiring was a great example, but I think there are others as well, there are things that we do that bear almost no fruit right now, but may bear a lot in the future. So I wouldn't want us to not do those things because we can't assign them an immediate number. Some things are more... I appreciate maybe the qualitative as well as the quantitative, or I guess the planning for the future or lobbying, you know, we can't quantify that. So I like the way it's been put together now, and I will be supporting it.

[03:34:55] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Hicks. Councilmember McAlister.

[03:34:59] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah. So on our plate this last year, we have Parks and Rec plan, we have ATBP plan, we got the biodiversity plan, we got the downtown plan, the economic vitality plan. We got a lot of plans and all those plans have a lot of implementations. And so we need to... that's why I was bringing up the idea of prioritizing certain things because we have all these plans and do we really, how much do we accomplish at the end of six months or a year? And it's frustrating from the time I've been on that we see these plans and a lot of things, they don't get done. We don't really make a big impact on what we're trying to get done. And this one particularly, we've been talking about greenhouse gas... I'm on VTA and we talk about greenhouse gases there, I was on early on with Silicon Valley Clean Energy, we're talking about greenhouse gases and how we were the first city to go with carbon-free energy. And so it's a little frustrating for me just to keep saying that transportation is the biggest issue that we're going to deal with. But we can't, we're not going to really address it because we usually go for the low-hanging fruit. And we don't really see if there's a big impact. And that's why I was asking the question, can we see what happens in Mountain View? Can we see what we're doing? We just recently passed the transportation bond for Santa Clara County, and we got this money now. So now we've got to figure out... I'm on a policy board, we're going to go, hey, what are we going to figure out? How are we going to use this money? Well, maybe we ought to start looking at how, what VTA can help us with the shuttles. And that's why going back to my multi-modal program, talking about how we integrate all these programs with the shuttles and so forth, so that we can get people out of their cars, how we can get, and this is what Councilmember Ramirez, I am a huge supporter of taking our shuttles and getting the middle schoolers to their schools. I mean, I see it all the time... I mean, to me that's a no-brainer, is that we can do this. It's safe, it cuts down on the cars driving, bikes and all that. I mean, but we don't look at trying to do that because the cost. And maybe, you know, the big... I say the big bang for the buck, but there's multiple benefits by doing, looking at that and seeing how we can take a shuttle. I did a project with VTA where we took a bus and we rerouted it in the morning to go past Homestead High School and the Junior High. And that worked. And they still do it. And I can't see why we can't do that with our shuttle, to say okay, we're gonna have a certain shuttle and it's going to be dedicated, because we're only looking at about a half an hour or so to get those people. So I always try to look at what's a simple solution, what we can get done, what we can measure the impact. And just some common sense. So I would like to see this along with the ATBP where we start really seeing what we can do with the shuttles. I know it's a cost, but maybe there is unknown possibilities where it increases safety, it gets people out, it reduces traffic, you know, all these side benefits that we don't talk about. You know, vehicle miles traveled or so forth. As we go forward, I still like to see measurements that say okay, we're accomplishing something. And I hate to, well, I don't hate it, but I'll still pick on the EVs that we spend a lot of time on. Well, we get these EVs, and it's not going to really put a dent into what we're trying to do. And so going forward let's look at what we can actually accomplish and show to the community this is what's helpful for you. So those are my comments.

[03:38:43] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember McAlister. Councilmember Kamei.

[03:38:46] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great, thanks. I just wanted the opportunity to say thank you to our Sustainability Committee, to our community, to our staff. I have been recently reflecting on how eight years ago we were adopting the recommendations from the Sustainability Action Plan and part of it was creating the Office of Sustainability. And here we are eight years later, I don't know how many staff we have now, I think close to 10, is that right? Give or take. We have 10 city staff completely focused on this. We are able to put forward this climate action plan and have pivoted since the kind of the challenges that we've been facing that other colleagues have talked about. And so I just think this is really exciting. And I just, you know, to reiterate again, I think this is part of Mountain View's story and to be able to elevate that and how far we've come. Obviously there are places we need to go as well, but I think that that's quite the achievement. So I just want to mark the milestone, say thank you, because I don't know how much we always get the opportunity to just realize that we have accomplished a lot as a city and there's a lot to be proud of here. So thank you very much, I'll be supporting the motion.

[03:40:07] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Councilmember Kamei. I'll add my comments in now. Thank you so much, staff, for your work on this, and actually particularly thank you for adding in the changes that we asked at the last study session. The one I remember the most was the mobile home park residents really wanted, because of the way electricity gets to them, that it limits some of the decarbonization achievements they wanted to have. And so thank you for taking that into account with this plan. What Councilmember Ramirez mentioned, I guess something kind of like a climate lens, San Jose does that. But I believe also the county does that. Because, and they do it for like a lot of things, which I found really kind of funny because I remember reading through one old staff report, they had the climate lens, they had like an equity lens, then they had like a children and youth lens, and it was just kind... it felt kind of ridiculous because it was kind of like the same thing. It was like some item on housing and it was just like, low income, it will help low income kids, therefore it will help kids. I was just like, okay, that sounds, that sounds cool. So I see where it was. I'm wondering if Vice Mayor Clark, was that the Human Rights lens?

[03:41:21] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: That was it.

[03:41:22] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Okay, I do remember that too. Um, maybe it could be something we look into again. Maybe not exactly that. We could reflect on like what didn't work from that and see how we could make whatever this climate thing, when, when applicable essentially. So I, thank you for the direction from Councilmember Showalter. I will now go into my fun story of... September was transit month! And during this time I had the opportunity to really learn about public transit. And it was a really kind of eye-opening thing. Now, I 100% agree with Councilmember McAlister and I would love to have more resources towards the community shuttle, because that thing is really a gem in our community. It is really highly utilized and people really love it. Because it's a free shuttle and you can go there... I see Asian grandmas with their carts and going shopping, and it's like the best thing ever. Um, so, and like people rely on that for things like every day. I kind of view it, not necessarily as like people's only way of using public transit, but kind of like a starter pack to public transit. Because the hours are limited. They end especially on the weekend, they're very limited. So, like you actually, in order to really make use of it, you would say I wanted to go watch a movie. I would take my stop at Easy Street and Middlefield on the public shuttle, and then I would go to the San Antonio Center and watch a movie. By the time I was out of the movie, the shuttle system was done. So I would take like the bus 22 just straight down and then walk back to my apartment from there. So like even if I can't use the shuttle during its all its times, it kind of encourages me to use other public transit for completing the route. It's still, I don't know if it's cheaper or not for me to instead of me driving to the movie theater and out in Draft House and stuff like that, but it makes it cheaper because you get the free shuttle there and you only pay $2.50 back for that ride back essentially, um, plus a bit of walking. But, um, it still allows that benefit to the community. And maybe as if, as we improve our shuttle connections with other pieces of transit so that people can use both really well. I actually think our shuttle is actually even better than some of the bus systems, it's just the bus systems can take us farther and they have longer hours that we can really take advantage of. So, thank you for that. What also I learned when I was doing my public transit adventure, especially when it was really late, I actually had a friend drive me back from Gilroy because that was gonna be a really sucky trip via public transit. She had an EV car. And so we were driving back, and then as we were driving back she got to the point where, you know where it says like you have so many miles left on your charge? That disappeared. And so she's like, we need to find an EV charger. So we actually had a huge like fun adventure trying to find an EV charger. Because we started at, the first place we tried to do was at Rengstorff, there's an EV charger there. We show up there, it was actually broken. And that was kind of scary if you didn't have like charge left on your thing. And so we walked to where the Chevron, I guess, near the In-N-Out, to see if that was working. It was not, it was broken. And so we were kind of freaking out there. So I see in Action 14, reliable city-owned public charging, and I think what would also be very helpful is that like making that information out when we do have that and like where it is. Because I kind of felt bad that I couldn't help her, I don't have an EV myself and so I never had to learn, but I feel like this is something everyone should have easy access to when they are at zero charge. Um, so that was kind of a fun thing, but those are my comments. Um, so thank you for this, and I feel like this is a really great document going forward. And I believe we are ready to vote.

[03:45:42] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: And that passes unanimously. Yay us! I'm gonna second this motion because I'm pretty sure what it is. Vice Mayor Clark.

[03:45:50] Vice Mayor Chris Clark: Yes, out of respect for our honored guest tonight, I think since we've managed to somehow go past 10 p.m., I think we owe it to our honored guest to continue with this one last short item, so I move that we continue past 10 p.m.

[03:46:07] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: And I second. Um, we are ready for that vote. I love you, but... And our first non-unanimous vote, but it still passes, y'all. All right, so we are on item 7.2, the grand finale. Appointment of City Attorney and authorization to execute employment agreement with Justin Mates. Acting Human Resources Director Lindsay Bishop 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.

[03:46:55] Acting Human Resources Director Lindsay Bishop: Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members. City of Mountain View conducted an executive recruitment and selection process for the City Attorney position following the former City Attorney departure in July of this year. Through this recruitment and selection process, Council has selected Justin Mates to serve as City Attorney. Justin Mates is a seasoned attorney with 14 years of experience in local government, including seven years in senior executive management, most recently as Assistant County Executive for the County of San Mateo. Justin holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University. The purpose of this item tonight is for Council to approve the selection of Justin Mates for the City Attorney position and authorize the Mayor to execute an employment agreement with the terms stated in the City Council report, and those which the Mayor will summarize in compliance with the Brown Act. Justin is present in the audience tonight and I'm available to answer Council questions. Thank you.

[03:48:00] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Mr. Mates, would you like to introduce yourself and say a few words?

[03:48:09] Justin Mates: Good evening, Mayor Ramos, Vice Mayor Clark, honorable Council members, Ms. McCarthy, Ms. Quinn, Ms. Glaser. It is an honor to be with you all tonight. It is particularly humbling and an honor to be considered to be your next City Attorney for the City of Mountain View. I will keep my comments very brief given the lateness of the hour and appreciate the votes to keep this meeting open. I am so excited for the opportunity to join a city so well known across the region and across the state for its forward thinking, for its innovation, for its dedication to its values and its residents, and for really setting the standard for good and responsive government across the region. Thank you for this tremendous opportunity, or to be considered for this tremendous opportunity, to serve the Council, to serve with such a talented and accomplished and award-winning executive team, and for the opportunity to support and lead a dedicated group of attorneys and professional staff in the City Attorney's office. I'm very excited and honored for this opportunity. Thank you so much.

[03:49:20] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Mr. Mates. Does any member of the council have questions? No? We're sorry for keeping you past 10, no take backsies though. 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 city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Go ahead, Alex. Welcome. All right, we will now take virtual speakers. Seeing none, thank you. We will now bring this item back for council questions and deliberation. In accordance to the Brown Act requirements, that the City Council orally report a summary of any council action on salaries, salary schedules, or fringe benefits for the City... the City Council appointees, the specific recommendations to be approved by the City Council regarding the appointment of the City Attorney are as follows. I have to read all this, so bear with me. A salary of $400,000 annually. One-time lump sum hiring bonus of $10,000. A 457 deferred compensation contribution of 4%. Participation in the CalPERS retirement system with the same employee cost share and employer contribution as provided to the department heads. Participation in and employer contribution for health, retiree health, life, disability, and other insurance plans and benefit programs as provided to department heads. Holiday, sick leave, bereavement, and management leave as provided to department heads. Vacation leave in the amount of 23 days per year, increasing to 24 days after one year of service. Initial bank of 80 hours vacation and 60 hours of sick leave. Cell phone allowance of $50 per month. Payment of professional membership and license fees including but not limited to federal court and the California State Bar Association and Santa Clara County Bar Association fees. Eligible to request location reimbursement and home loan through City Council policy D13 Mountain View employee home buyer and relocation assistance program, subject to City Council approval and availability of funds at time of the request. In the event of termination of the employment agreement, six months of severance is provided to the council appointees. And, adopt a revised salary plan to reflect the compensation changes to the City Attorney classification as attached to the Council report. We have a motion by Councilmember Kamei, seconded by Councilmember Hicks. Do we have to say anything about like, you're removing the staff recommendation I'm assuming, right? We're removing the staff recommendation. We are ready to vote.

[03:52:14] Mayor Emily Ann Ramos: And we are back to unanimous votes! Welcome, Mr. Mates! All right. Now we will move on to item 8, committee staff and committee reports. Do we have any committee staff and committee reports? I don't think so. Um, I'll just announce that... I'm so sorry, we had CTC yesterday. I can disclose for Councilmember McAlister, Hicks, and myself. Okay, wonderful. We also had the REI sub-committee on the 4th, which was great. Lots of REI, yay us. You will see the fruits of those labor at our next council meeting. And then I also, we also had the Home Energy Choice Act signing celebration. Our city hosted that, so yay us too. That was a bill that was carried by Assemblymember Berman, to help us with our climate goals. So yay us. And with that, I'm calling the next council meeting will be held on November 17, 2026. That's going to be a long one, so brace yourselves, y'all. And I call this meeting to be adjourned at 10:22.

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