September 22, 2022 Council Neighborhoods Committee

Video

Transcript

[00:00:28] Unknown Speaker: Pat,

[00:00:28] Member Pat Showalter: you wanna go ahead and start the meeting? Sure. Good evening, everybody. Um, my name is Pat Showalter, and I have the honor this year to be the chair of the council neighborhoods committee. And um, so I would like to welcome you to this meeting. Uh, this is the meeting for the, um, uh, San Antonio Ringsorf Delmideo area of uh, Mountain View. And, um, As you know, we have these neighborhood meetings, um, every other year in, uh, in, uh, in this area, and it's a, it's an opportunity for residents to ask questions directly of the, um, uh, of the staff people. We have a, we have someone he representing every department. Um, so I, it's a great opportunity for you as a resident to ask questions. And also, it's a great opportunity for our staff and and the city council members who come to hear what is of interest to people. So, um, uh, I'm really glad that we do these. Um, I'm going to. I am, I'm 1st of all, I'm going to introduce the other members of the committee. Um, I'm the chair this year, and another committee member is, um, uh, Mayor Lucas Ramirez. Lucas, you want to say hi to everybody? Sure,

[00:02:08] Member Lucas Ramirez: thank you, chair, show, Walter. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us, uh, as Chair Walter, uh, show Walter said, um, this is uh, a, a unique opportunity. Uh, there aren't that many cities that provide uh, neighborhood specific town halls. Um, so please use the opportunity to ask questions about what's going on uh, in the neighborhood and uh, citywide. Uh, this is my neighborhood. I live on California at Del Medio. I lived in the greater San Antonio area for my entire life. Uh, so it, it is a pleasure to, to join you all uh, this evening. Thank you.

[00:02:42] Member Pat Showalter: And how about on Vice Mayor Hicks? Like to say hello? Yes,

[00:02:48] Member Alison Hicks: I 2nd but uh, council member show alter and the mayor of said, welcome. I'm glad you're here, and although this is not my neighborhood, I have spoken to many of you about some of the changes in the neighborhood, uh, the good, the bad and the better, and I hope to hear more from you tonight.

[00:03:08] Member Pat Showalter: Okay. Well, without any further ado, I am going to read the, um, official disclosure about having a virtual meeting. During this declared state of emergency, this meeting will be conducted in accordance with the California government code section, 54953E, as authorized by resolution. Please contact city. clerk at mountain view.gov to obtain a copy of the applicable resolution. All members of the council neighborhoods committee will participate in the meeting by video conference with no physical meeting location. Members of the public wishing to observe the live meeting may do so at HTTPS. Colon slash slash mountain view dot gov slash meetings or um, HTTPS colon slash slash mountain view dot legisstar.com. We, we have um, Spanish interpretation for this meeting. And so I would like to give the um, interpreter uh, an opportunity to explain how that works. When

[00:04:19] Unknown Speaker: I started this, yeah, we can remos interpretation, en Español, disponiule, cuando, que pares en la pantayas, selection, español, pares, noche en Español. Tambien puede silenciare la the original, cuandaga, clique en eligano. Gracias.

[00:04:35] Member Pat Showalter: Okay. And as I said a few minutes ago, the the purpose of this meeting is really to give residents, an opportunity to um, catch up on what is happening in their section of the city, and ask neighborhoods. Um, You know, and ask questions directly to the city staff about their neighborhood. Of course, you can ask about other neighborhoods as well, if you like. But it's really to focus on your neighborhood. Um, we every time we have one of these meetings, we put together a neighborhood update. Um, and it has a paragraph or 2 from each of the departments about what are the things going on in your neighborhood. And um, it's an 11 page document this time. And you can find it at mountain view dot gov slash CNC. And, um, It's very interesting reading. So I would recommend that if you really would like to know, what are the development projects that are going on in your neighborhood? This is a great place to see them because they're all listed and described briefly. Um, But, okay, so now I want to just go into the basic agenda of the meeting. Right now we're having the call to order and the welcome. And, um, then we're gonna have a presentation on our, um, Community emergency response team, cert. And then we're going to go into the real meat of this meeting, which is the question and answer period. And um, people have submitted questions um, beforehand, we'll answer those 1st. And, um, and then you can quit, you can, um, submit questions for pretty much the entire time of the meeting. I think we'll cut it off maybe 15 minutes before the end. Um, in the chat, and we will do our best to answer each and every question. If we can't. If we don't know the information about a question you've asked. Staff will take your name and and contact information and they'll get back to you about it later. So our our intent, though, is to um, answer all the questions that have come in previously and and also all the ones that come in during this um, during this meeting. So, I think, um, without further ado, uh, oh, the other thing I, I like to do this, I think, kind of fun is I keep tabs on how many staff, how many times, particular staff answer questions. So I'm going to keep a running tab on that, and we'll find out who, uh, you know, what are the, the most pressing subjects in this, in this community. It, it's, normally it, it seems to bounce between development, transportation and, and, uh, legal issues. So we'll see. We're the interslies tonight. Okay, um. So without further ado, can go to, uh, era. Thank

[00:07:41] Anna: you, Pat. App appreciate it. So just before we get into, um, a small presentation and go into the questions, I did want to go through, uh, and remind everybody of, of some housekeeping items. So, all of the participants will remain muted through the entirety of tonight's meeting, uh, to participate. You guys can submit your questions through the Q and A box. Uh, at any time, and you can submit those questions starting now. Uh, the location of your Q and A box may vary depending on your version of Zoom or the type of device you are using. It's usually indicated at the bottom of your screen. Uh, and again, to reiterate what Cher, show Walter mentioned, the Q and A portion is going to be divided into 2 sections. We have received some pre-submitted questions online and we will go through those 1st. Um, once all those questions have been responded to. We will move through and submit to uh to the live questions. So, um, thank you, everybody, for taking the time today, and I will be able to pass it along to Robert Maitland for a short presentation. Thanks,

[00:08:51] Robert Maitland: Anna. I appreciate you passing along to me. Good evening, everybody. My name is Robert Maitland, like she said. I serve as your officer of emergency services coordinator. I want to take a moment to talk to you about sir. Our shirt program is, like, you were told the community emergency response team is a FEMA program, send it around educating individuals like yourselves, about disaster preparedness, and organizing teams of volunteers that can support our communities during a disaster. The city mountain view has our search program divided into 18 different neighborhood groups, and some of you on this presentation may be part of the certain team and know me pretty well. During a course of a year, we have numerous academies, refresher trainings and drills, and I'm happy to say that next month, we're going to start another cert academy. We've got a citywide drill coming up just after that in November. And then in 2023, we're looking forward to having a really well energized program. Our goals are to get people to think about disaster preparedness. We want to prepare our citizens to take care of themselves, create a core of train volunteers, and really encourage the community to get out and interact with our really great Mountain View fire department. Can you go to the next slide, please? If you've got questions, you want to sign up for this? Please reach out to me. Again, Robert Maitland, your office of emergency services coordinator. That's my office number, 650-903-6825. Of course, my email. Please visit us on our website. It's also up there for you and follow us on social media. We have Facebook, Twitter, next door. We want to hear from you. So thank you for your time. Look forward to seeing you in class. Thank

[00:10:25] Anna: you, Robert. Appreciate it. Um, So this, um, evening, I do want to start off again, as we mentioned, with the pre-submitted questions. So I will go ahead and start with the um, 1st question that was pre-submitted and staff can just, uh, unmute themselves and respond to the question. Um, 1st question we have is are there any efforts to better connect the Del Medio neighborhood to the San Antonio Caltrain station? Hi,

[00:10:55] Rhea: this is Rio Hitch. I'm the transportation manager for the city. Um, so the city has um, actually implemented several pedestrian improvements in the Del Medio area, um, as conditions of approval for private development. So some of those include the new, relatively new crossing across San Antonio Road, at Miller Avenue, um, and also a future trail connection. Um, just north of El Camino, um, between Del Medio Avenue and Cesano Court. Um, The city also has several capital improvement projects in the area, uh, that kind of improve uh, access as well. These include Fayette Greenway, which was built along the Hetch Hetchy right of way between Fayette, um, Avenue and El Camino Real. That was completed in 2021. And then we have another, um, another Fayette, uh, park, uh, Fayette Park, which is connecting, um, It has a promenade that connects Fayette Drive and San Antonio Road, and that's under construction. And we've also signposted um, portions of California Street, Del Medio Avenue, and Milla Avenue as part of an interim, pedestrian, um, uh, uh, interim, peninsula bikeway corridor. Um, we also just kicked off today, actually, uh, the uh, active transportation plan, and this is gonna, um, include community engagement on other network, um, and policy improvements that we could make in this area. And so if you're interested in that, um, there will be updates posted to the website, mountain view.gov slash transportation. Um, This, for example, could include improvements to the interim peninsula bike way, it could include things like um, other pedestrian bicycle connections close to the cow train station, that'd all be considered. Thank you. Thank

[00:12:46] Anna: you, Rhea. App appreciate that. Uh, the next question we have pre-submitted is what steps um, can be taken to reduce speeding along California? Yes,

[00:13:00] Robert Gonzalez: good evening. This is Robert Gonzalez, principal civil engineer in the public works department. So the city has a pilot program that is a pilot project that's going in on California that's currently in design. Uh, so the pilot program will reach from Showers Avenue over to Shoreline Boulevard. So that is going to install complete street elements, including temporary corner bulbouts, parking protected bike lanes, and tube midblock crossings. So the configuration is designed primarily to improve pedestrian and bike safety. So it's a big priority for us, but we also expect that it's going to lower overall vehicle speeds. Um, we're reducing the number of lanes during this pilot from 2 in each direction to one lane in each direction. So, um, really physically, you're not going to be able to go any faster than the car in front of you. So that's one barrier to high speeds. And the other one, we really, uh, see that in other locations, when you put a parked car or a stripe on one side and then you're really um, narrowing the travel way for the, um, for the automobile, you're going to have a natural slowing effect in that, uh, in that as well. I mentioned that this is a pilot program, we're going to install these improvements. And then at the end there's going to be an evaluation and council will have another opportunity to look at that, um, a performance of the, of the project and then do additional improvements. So we will be looking to this as a permanent, uh, uh, a permanent project, but this will be the pilot face for now. Thank you.

[00:14:39] Anna: Thank you, Robert. Next question we have is if somebody can speak to the uh, plans to fix the roads, uh, specifically on San Antonio, California and El Camino. Yeah,

[00:14:52] Robert Gonzalez: I'll stay right here. This is mine as well, Anna. So let's talk about El Camino first. So, Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation, um, Is the agency responsible for maintenance and improvements on on El Camino? And the good news is that we've been uh, actively uh, getting them to help us with this for a long time and they've begun design for repairs and repaving an El Camino in Mountain View. So the project is actually going to go through Mountain View, through, um, through a grant road all the way up to the city border. going to go into Los Alsos and it's going to go into Palo Alto. Sorry, my wife was calling me, so I'm going to jump off right after this. So, um, on El Camino, that is where that is scheduled to start in 2023. So we're anticipating that to start. I've got design drawings on my desk that we're going through and we're communicating on a regular basis with Caltrans. On California Street, I mentioned implementing the pilot project. So that pilot project will include a slurry seal. So before we do a lot of those improvements, we need to take off all the existing striping, lay out a fresh, fresh canvas, so to speak, of, of, of, uh, treatment, and then we'll put the improvements onto that. Once those, once those pilot improvements are in place and we can do an evaluation, then we may go in and do additional treatments after that. But that'll be, that'll be coming in 2023 as well. And then for San Antonio Road. Um, the city only has jurisdiction from El Camino to Alma. That particular section of San Antonio Road is actually in good condition. I check the condition index. today. So we don't have any plans to treat that portion of El Camino, or excuse me, of San Antonio Road. The other portions of San Antonio are actually within the city of Palo Alto. So, I will say, so those are the 3 streets. I will say that in addition to that, if you want more information about your street or about another street in the neighborhood, you can go to mountain view.gov slash PCI. That's PCI's pavement condition index, and that will lay out all of the, um, the analysis for our pavement program. Thank you. Thank you. Um,

[00:17:20] Anna: so next question we have is what resources are available to support unhoused community members.

[00:17:30] Audrey Ramberg: Good evening. Thank you, Anna. I'll take that question. Hi everyone. I'm Audrey Ramberg, and I'm assistant city manager and chief operating officer, and out of the city manager's office, we coordinate a number of policies and programs to support, unhoused and unstably housed residents, and also work in coordination with the staff from our housing department, who, um, have been a leader in addressing the regional need for more affordable housing. Um, just saying a little bit about that, that we have approximately 1200 affordable units in mountain view. Um, and 15,000 rental units that are rent protected under the community stabilization and fair rent act. Um, and about 700 more affordable units that are in the pipeline. So that's one of the areas that we work on this critical regional issue, which is increasing the supply of affordable housing. Um, for folks that um, are um, unstably housed and homeless now. We have a strong collaboration with the county of Santa Clara. Um, the county is the lead agency around services, um, uh, rapid rehousing, um, permanent supportive housing, uh, and other kinds of, um, uh, broad programmatic approaches to homelessness and the city can act as a very, uh, conscientious partner by providing funding and policy and and coordination support around that. Including um, close to $10000000 in funding since 19 I'm sorry, 2019, and um, supporting the development of some best in class programs, such as our safe parking program. We have space for 100 vehicles for people who are living in vehicles. It's the largest safe parking program in Santa Clara County. Uh, we also have, um, interim housing and and opened the life moves, uh, mountain view program, um, that, uh, just recently received recognition from the urban land institute. Um, and, uh, we have a, um, cold weather shelter and, um, a number of other, um, income support type programs, including the just launched guaranteed basic income, um, program, which is available for residents with fixed addresses as well as, um, people who call Mountain View home, but don't have a fixed address.

[00:20:12] Anna: Thank you, Audrey. Appreciate that. I just want to let everybody, uh, on the public, uh, know that also as well, um, Michaela's assisting me this evening, and in the chat, she is, uh, making it a point to put in the web addresses to the web pages that are being mentioned. So in case anybody wants to copy and paste from there and save them. Um, that is where we're putting those. Um, Our next question this evening is if somebody could speak to, uh, about having more trees in, in city parks, uh, especially on both sides of the trails and surrounding areas. Good evening.

[00:20:59] John: and the community services director, and I am going to pass that question along to Matt Fastimo. He is our um, forestry coordinator. Uh,

[00:21:10] Matt Feistam: thank you for the introduction, John. I'm Matt Feistam, the 4th Street coordinator, and thank you for your question. It's a great one. Um, I'll start off with this last fiscal year. We received funding from the HVAC offset funding. What happened at City Hall? The renovated air conditioning system. So we see funding to plant 50, 24 inch box trees throughout our city parks. And these were planted spread throughout all the city parks. Uh, we did plan some of this neighborhood section for the funding for this program, at least 24 inch box trees, and you want large scale trees. Some of the trees we planted were valley oaks, red oaks, ginkos, and we also have funding for a 2nd year of this planting, and we will be planning a few more at city parks were appropriate. Thank

[00:22:02] Anna: you, Matthew. Appreciate it. Um, the next question we have is could Mountain View incentivize more affordable housing by waving height limits and rezoning commercial to high density residential. Hi,

[00:22:28] Michaela: this is Michaela from uh, housing and neighborhood services, and I might turn this myself over to Rebecca in a moment to share from the planning perspective, but I can share that. The city is going through a housing element process right now. Um, which involves a lot of work on trying to find places where we can find more housing and, um, in the city and it's actually a really great resource to see all the different places where the city is rezoning or reconsidering, um, making housing, making sure that housing can be available, um, throughout the city. So I'll type in the website for the housing elements. You can take a look at that. It's still in its draft form. So a great time to engage. Um, and I know that there's been a lot of other ways that the city's been working to incentivize housing in our precise plan areas, making sure that our housing is part of a complete community, and I know that the San Antonio neighborhood is one of those very areas. So, I'll turn it over to Rebecca to see if she has anything to add. Sure,

[00:23:25] Rebecca Shapir: thank you, Michaela. Um, and um, I could probably go into way more specificity than is is useful for everyone to know tonight, but I think at a, at a, at a big picture, and this is all kicking off from the general plan update, the city undertook uh, actually now almost 10 years ago. Um, we, we have over many years now. Uh, been very strategic, uh, and in association with community input, looked to identify opportunities to, uh, essentially up zone, uh, particularly commercial areas and introduce, um, uh, allowances for introduce, uh, allowances and incentivized opportunities to develop, uh, more intense housing opportunities to address the demand that we know exists for housing in this community and communities in the Bay Area overall. Um, so, uh, all of the precise plan work that Michaela referenced has has in general prioritized opportunities to introduce and increase housing opportunities in key areas of the city, particularly locations like the San Antonio area, where, um, we know there are a lot of transit resources and, um, other commercial service resources that help support residential use in our communities. So, um, it's a, it's a great question and definitely something that, um, we have been and and will be continuing to work on. Thank

[00:24:52] Anna: you to both Michaela and Rebecca for answering that question. Um, the, um, next pre-submitted question we have is on the corner of old Middlefield and North Ring Star. Um, There tends to be frequent accidents. Is there anything that can be done to reduce these accidents? Um, it's an area that has um, many seniors in the area. Hey,

[00:25:19] Scott Nelson: this is Scott Nelson with the police department and I had an opportunity today to pull up some statistics for that intersection. We actually show. There's been 5 collisions in the last year in that, uh, at that intersection. Uh, none of them were injury collisions, and none of them involved pedestrians, so they were vehicles that collided, but uh, did not result in injury. And that's not to say that we're going to wait until there's an injury to put more focus there. But what that just shows us is we can spend more time in that area. Our traffic safety unit does have office of traffic safety grant funded money that we received from the state. Uh, so we can definitely spend more time in that area trying to make sure that uh, pedestrians are safe and vehicles are falling. All the different enforcement laws for uh, red lights, uh, pedestrians, crosswalks, and things like that. So, I will definitely work with our traffic safety unit to put some more focus on that area. Thank

[00:26:16] Anna: you, Scott, for that. We appreciate it. So now we're going to move over to questions that have been submitted in the Q and A, again, members of the public can submit their Q and A. Um, through the Q and A box, uh, depending on what version of Zoom, that may, that is usually located at the bottom of your screen. Um, and you can just uh, submit and uh, type out your questions. So, the 1st uh, question I have is if anybody can speak to what is um, happening with the property on the corner of Latham and Ring Store, um, as it relates to, uh, development or what's the future going to look like for that corner? So,

[00:27:01] Rebecca Shapir: Anna, I can, uh, I take that question, uh, again, for, uh, folks are just tuning in, uh, Rebecca Shapir, I'm a deputy zoning administrator in our planning division, um, At the corner in question, at Lake from the ring store. Uh, a residential project was approved by our city council in September of last year. Uh, proposing to, um, replace what is there now on the site, um, with 85 new row houses. Um, At this point in time, I don't have an update on that particular project. It does often take some amount of time between when council reviews and authorizes a project for, uh, a developer to prepare, uh, construction drawings to enter into our building permit process. So, the best of my knowledge, um, that project has not submitted for their building permits yet. Um, there's a 2 year term initial approval term. Um, that uh, allows uh, a developer to to spend what time they need to prepare those drawings and go through the the building front process before construction. Um, but, uh, at this point in time, I don't have an update on, um, how soon uh, that development might move forward. All

[00:28:18] Anna: right, thank you for that, Rebecca. Appreciate it. Um, the next, um, I did miss some pre-submitted questions, so I would like to go back to those for a 2nd if I, I appreciate everybody's patience. Um, I have a question about designing wider sidewalks and combining those with bike paths and uh, big evergreen trees for shade. Um, so, if someone on staff could speak a little bit to that. Sure,

[00:28:47] Rhea Hutch Barrett Lowe: this is real, it's very low, transportation manager. Um, so the city is actually working on a variety of plans and strategies that will help to provide uh, wider sidewalks and more trees, uh, shade trees, uh, and we recently started work on the active transportation plan. Uh, which will consider the network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, as well as policies that affect um, sidewalks and and bike facilities. Um, Uh, the community services department is also concurrently working on the biodiversity strategy. And what we'll do in public works is we're going to integrate the work that they're doing on the biodiversity strategy into the active transportation plan to ensure that, um, that it, uh, accounts for, you know, pedestrian networks that are shaded and um, that function also as green infrastructure and habitat corridors. In addition to these strategies that focus on the public rights of way, The city has also adopted, the city council has adopted a number of precise plans in various areas like East Risman, San Antonio, North Bayshore, and the El Camino Real, um, Corridor. And these um, provide land dedications provide uh, for land dedications and public access easements in conjunction with development in those areas. And so that could provide for Paseos or wider sidewalks, um, in association with private development, um, along those. Also, plans like the El Camino Real streetscape plan have um plant pallets that help to inform our landscaping. And um, you know, the, the, and tree planting that happens in conjunction with development within that area. Thanks. Thank

[00:30:28] Anna: you, Rhea. I think the, um, I think you may have uh, mentioned a little bit about it, but about the planting of large evergreen trees. Um, and doing that a little bit, um, more of those to provide a canopy and walk and walkway. I

[00:30:51] Matt Feistam: can answer the portion about large evergreen trees. Oh, we do plant some like evergreen trees. We have them on our street tree list, and these are also planted at parks. I think the question referred to fir trees, which we don't plant. We do plant climate adapted species that have been proven to perform well in Mountain View. Some of these include the Coast Live Oak, the Brisbane Box, the Evergreen Elm, but we certainly will incorporate more evergreen trees throughout our park designs. Thank

[00:31:22] Anna: you. Appreciate that. The next question we have is regarding the segment of Latham Street between Ringstorp and Escuela. Um, And the question is what can be done or is being done to make the street more safe for pedestrians and bicycle? Uh, is there going to be more bike lanes or pedestrian crosswalks?

[00:31:49] Norwin Belong: Thank you for the question. Good evening. This is Norwin Belong, Senior Traffic Engineer. Uh, the study that the resident was pertaining to is the neighborhood traffic management program, uh, study or meeting that we had recently back in August, uh, we received petitions. From residents between 2 segments of late them actually, from scholar to rank store, from ring store to Ortega, back in September 2021, and we collected there, uh, back in March, and both segments qualified for the MTMP program. Uh, which eventually led us to only a neighborhood meeting, uh, last month, August 2022, where the community learned about, uh, how to address speeding issues along the segment of Latham, and during that meeting, the, the neighborhood, voted on what type of devices they would like to see along that stretch. And what they actually voted on were speed humps and speed feedback signs. Um, and the community should be expecting. The postcard service, uh, mailed to them in the next couple of weeks, this will be for them to vote on which devices they would like to see along Latham Street between Skuala, all the way towards Tega. And with regards to head and bike safety, which we can do outside the NTMP program. We do look for, uh, opportunities where we can solve, uh, race crosslocks between these segments, uh, if feasible. We have to look at, you know, available street with utilities, copies for utilities, and sidewalk options, in terms of the bike option. It will be, uh, uh, a difficult task to put in a, uh, bike lanes along Leighton Street, given the, the right away width that we have existing. Plus we have parking on both sides of the street. Uh, but these are options that we can take a look at, uh, outside the NTM.

[00:33:54] Anna: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Our next question is, um, from a resident of Park Crossings, um, they've been seeing a lot of development going up in the area and increases in traffic and they want to know what is being done to improve the safety of the streets for children. Hi,

[00:34:16] Rhea Hutch Barrett Lowe: this is Rhea Hutch Barrett Lowe Transportation Manager again. Um, and I can speak to um, a couple of things. So 1st of all, the city is working on safe routes to school program. This was something that was paused for actually 4 years due to funding gap and then COVID. We weren't allowed on, on the school campuses. And so this will address, um, some of the programming of this will address, uh, the, the training aspects. So safety training for all of the children in the, in the school district in, actually all of the school districts within Mountain View, um, and we also have a parent and, um, staff coordinating committee for safe routes to school. This allows parents to provide input to the city on uh, the suggested route maps for schools and also um, down the track for uh, also for improvements around schools. So in the spring, we'll be starting the safe routes to school infrastructure portion of this project, which will include walking audits around schools, and we can get some more specific input on each of the schools, um, the school areas in that process. We also have a large number of pedestrian and bicycle projects throughout the city. Um, and the active transportation plan is also kicking off, so this will kind of be looking at a citywide level also at potential future projects as well. Thanks. Thank

[00:35:39] Anna: you for that. Um, the next question is regarding Panchetki Way. Um, they're mentioning that, uh, it's an area where there's, uh, going to be a lot of development, but currently there's a lot of issues and there's a lot of people that dump cars and so if anybody can speak to any future plans in that area, that would be helpful.

[00:36:13] Darren Villa: I could try to take that, again, Darren Villa, senior traffic engineer. Um, We have recently installed, uh, Race Flock Along Pichetti is part of the 2580 California project, and, uh, as part of the, another development, we have also installed the signal at California and as been as, as mentioned in the question. This is to improve, uh, or provide safe processing of California, pedestrian, and access and development from, you know, eastbound California. And, uh, we have also installed some some wave, uh, systems for pedestrian, push buttons, San Antonio, California. These are the touch list, which buttons that, uh, we have tried to, to install citywide. We have that also at California and Aspen. Um, and we encourage residents to submit asthma view, uh, questions or concerns for any tropical aid questions you have, uh, especially for, you know, any development related issue that you may see along your neighborhood. Thank you. Thank

[00:37:23] Anna: you. App appreciate that. Our next question is, um, Can somebody speak on, uh, what uh, plans or what the city is able to do to improve the sound for residents who live nearby the Caltrain? Good

[00:37:40] Don Cameron: evening, Anna. I'll take that question. I'm Don Cameron, public works director. The most significant noise, residents of, uh, experience from Caltrain and trains are the train horns, and they go off when trains are approaching at street crossings. It's a major safety measure to ensure that bicyclists, pedestrians, cars are aware that the train is coming. And to help avoid collisions at these at great street crossings. So the thing that the city has been working on for a few years, and now we're in very close partnership with Caltrain in further developing this, is to grade separate our current at street grade crossings of Caltrain. And that's both at Ringsdorf Avenue and Castro Street. In both of these cases, the city's invested significant amount of money to bring these great separation projects to um, a point where there's agreement on the concepts and how they'll be designed. And we've taken it through what's called preliminary design and engineering. At this point, uh, we are now working in partnership with Caltrain, who is uh, starting final design for both great separation locations. Um, these are very um, significant infrastructure projects. It will take a couple years to get through final design. But we're planning for it and looking forward to construction beginning in about 2 or 3 years on both locations. And once we have these great separations in place. The train no longer needs to uh, use the horns. When they cross those particular streets. Thank you. Thank

[00:39:21] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. Um, I do have a comment um, from a resident that lives on Ortega and Latham, and she is mentioning that there's a strong interest to limit new development, uh, to 4 stories. Um, if somebody on staff could speak to a little bit to that.

[00:39:45] Rebecca Shapiro: Thanks, and this is uh, Rebecca Shapiro, deputy zoning administrator for uh, for the city. Um, the, the target site in, in question is within the San Antonio Precise Plan, which is one of those areas that I mentioned earlier, was identified through our general plan for change in growth in the city, um, due to its proximity to transit and other, other areas. Um, and resources. The San Antonio precise plan on the target site allows up to 6 stories and 75 feet to be built. There is, however, a residential transition zone that, um, requirement along the, uh, sorry, let me orient the easterly property line, which is the, the portion of the target site, which is located closest to Ortega. And in that zone, um, closest to the residential neighborhoods of the east. Um, there's a limit on, uh, on height in that zone, um, where the buildings have to step down to know more than one story taller than, um, what is allowed on, on adjacent properties along Ortega, um, and, uh, additional stories have to step back incrementally, 10 feet to create what we, we were often referred to as a daylight plane, um, to, um, minimize or reduce the, the impacts of taller buildings on that scale residential area. Um, There are certain state regulations that could allow development on that site to seek, um, waivers or reduction of development in, uh, exchange for the provision of affordable housing. But those are the regulations um, that uh, apply to the target site. Thank

[00:41:34] Anna: you, Rebecca. appreciate that. Um, the next question, um, is regarding the removal of trees, uh, around San Antonio Circle, if somebody could speak to the reasoning or for the removal of those trees.

[00:41:52] Rebecca Shapiro: So I might ask Matt to tag tag team a little bit if he has anything to add, but um, the, that question refers to uh, a development that came up earlier at 2580 to 2590 uh, California Street and uh, property along San Antonio Circle as well. Um, it's under construction right now. I'm sure everyone is seeing um, seeing that project. Um, often when the city devises plans that allow for growth and change and development or if a private property owner seeks to otherwise redevelop their property. Um, you know, the city is in a position, have, of having to, to, to balance trade-offs between different objectives like the creation of new housing resources for, um, to address the housing crisis that we're all dealing with. Um, Um, and in a community like Mountain View, which is, um, an area that we refer to as an infill community. Um, we're not expanding our boundaries outward to accommodate that, that growth and change. We're trying to be, um, efficient with our land and develop on the property that we, that exist in the community, and to facilitate that development. So, um, you know, there, there, there are always, um, competing, you know, values and objectives that city staff and our council members are grappling with when they review development proposals, um, in the, the case of, um, this particular project there were, uh, a large number of trees that were not able to be preserved while providing for new housing opportunities on the site. Um, there were some redwoods and other heritage trees that the project was able to preserve, there will be uh, an almost one acre. I think it's .8 acres of publicly accessible open space within the center of that development, which includes, um, uh, I want to say 3 or 4, maybe 5, um, preserved redwoods, um, that that will be part of that open space moving forward. Thank

[00:43:57] Anna: you, Rebecca for that. Matt, did you want to add anything to that or? Sure,

[00:44:02] Matt: I'll add something to it. Um, as far as the site, I've been out there and been back out there and also some project engineers. Um, there were some great changes in the sidewalks that some trees had to be removed. But the initial development review, we call the PCC process, was completed on this project. As far as working with the plant set and trying to preserve as many trees as possible. There was a priority to preserve a lot of the London plane trees. Unfortunately, due to locations of roads, utilities and easements, not all of them could be preserved, but we really try to do our best to preserve as many as possible. Thank

[00:44:40] Anna: you to Rebecca and Matt for tag teaming on that question. Our next question is, is it possible to increase lighting at Climb Park at night? All

[00:44:52] Tim Youngberg: right, this is Tim Youngberg. on the Parks and Open Space Manager. And uh, our parks are closed at dusk. So we don't want to encourage folks from gathering inside the parks and, uh, um, and doing things that shouldn't be happening there. So a lot of times we don't light our parks and that is one of them. Um, it's more of a public safety reasons rather than, uh, for having people do after hours activities in the park. So we do not light most of our parks.

[00:45:23] Anna: Thank you. I appreciate that Uh, our next question is if somebody could speak to uh, pedestrian access to Ring Star Park and the San Antonio train station. Um, could be greatly facilitated if the now restricted gate at the northwest end of Leland Avenue could be made available to all residents.

[00:45:46] Rebecca Shapiro: So I can take that question again, deputies and administrator Rebecca Shapiro. And, um, Ted, thank you for putting that in the QNA. I know that was submitted in advance as well. Um, so this particular issue is something that the city has been uh, aware of for, for some time, and we have uh, been looking at the options to address this connectivity need because we we do understand it's important. Um, I'm going to try to be concise, but there's actually a good amount of back history. Uh, on this particular question. So um, please bear with me. Um, The particular question, um, refers to a specific, um, a specific connection from Leland Avenue, which was originally part of an older approved development at Town Circle. Um, the HOA there later installed uh, and proposed to install a security gate on private property, uh, in and, in or around about 2010. And while, The city and city staff had hopes to keep this connection open, what our research determined was that, um, the, the original development had intended that connection to be a means to provide neighborhood access to, to town circle residence specifically. And it had the unintended benefit of allowing through access for members of the public. Uh, and the neighborhood up until that security gate was installed. And, um, the town circle development does not have any public access easements, which would allow members of the public to have a right to use that area as a cut through. Um, uh, which I know is sort of it probably tough information to to hear. But since then, what we have done is that the city approved a rowhouse development and a city park, actually, um, at, uh, a long Ortega Drive at, at Mora Drive, or sorry, Ortega Avenue at Mora Drive. And that particular development does include public access, Eastments, along the entire back edge of the property as well as the internal streets. And Those easements may provide a means to support a new future public connection from college drive, just a bit south of that Leland Avenue pathway. Um, but creating that connection will require additional, um, additional land acquisition or easement dedication, um, uh, by the city. for that private property that currently exists between the More Drive project and uh, college drives. So, um, it is on our radar. Um, we don't have an immediate solution for that, but it's definitely something that we've been aware of for some time and are are doing our best to work on a solution. Thank

[00:48:41] Anna: you for that, Rebecca. Appreciate it. I know, um, there's already been mention of of updates going on on Ringstore Road. Um, but, uh, the question is, are there any additional updates? and there's a question specifically about what is the update on the ring store underpass?

[00:49:00] Don Cameron: Thank you, Anna. Don Cameron, public works director. I believe both of these questions are related to the ring store of grade separation projects is what's being referred to. And as I mentioned earlier, The current status is um, the project's entering into final engineering design, which will take about 2 years. And during that period, also, uh, we will require some additional right away for the great separation projects. So we'll be working on the right away and property acquisition required over the next 2 to 2.5 years. So we, we, again, are planning uh, for construction to start within, in about 3 years. Thank you.

[00:49:45] Anna: Thank you, Don. appreciate that. Um, our next question is, and uh, was submitted in Spanish, and I believe I'm reading it correctly, uh, the amount that was received by a community group for the, uh, CNC grant last year, um, and the amount they received and a little bit as to why, and, um, I would, I would say that for clarity on how we, uh, the decision was made for the grants, you guys can reach out to me directly Anna Renoso, and I'd be more than happy to go through and look up your grant application and provide, uh, the information needed. Um, there is a question of how many people are um, attending uh, today on the call. We have about 30 uh, 30 residents on the call today. So thank you everybody for taking the time this evening, and I do want to give a special thank you to all of the, uh, city staff who work with me and who, uh, take the time to be on these calls. I appreciate all of you. Um, I have another question that says, are there any updates on the LASD project? Uh,

[00:51:06] Rebecca Shapiro: so I can express a little bit of an answer to that. Um, uh, our CSD coach may also want to jump in. Um, In summary for folks who aren't familiar with, um, the, what's being referenced in this question. Well, South Coast school district acquired approximately 11.5 acres of land in San Antonio Center in the northeast corner. Um, So between Picketti and Showers Drive, uh, California Street and the Hitchachi Right of Way, um, which is currently a driveway in the San Antonio Center. Um, on that site, LSD intends to construct a new school. And um, there will be a joint use open space of approximately 4 or 4.5 acres of land that will provide field space, uh, and amenities to the community after school hours or outside of school hours. In addition, um, the city has agreed to purchase approximately 2 acres of land from LASD to, um, to create an independent city park. Uh, the, the city council and Los Altos school district board have, um, preliminarily agreed that that park would be located at the corner of California Street and the Pipetti Drive, uh, driveway into San Antonio Center. So it's going to be central to the neighborhood and should be easily accessible. I don't remember the specific timeline for, uh, the beginning of of, uh, work on the, um, the city park site. I want to say it's fiscal year 2425. Um, but there are still several steps that have to be finished before we get to that point, uh, including final transfer of the property, which is dependent on continued master planning of the site with, um, with the Los Altos school districts, um, and, um, other kind of technical steps that are, um, are important to have happened so that the city can receive the property free and clear of any incumbrances. So, um, all of that is in process. Uh, the last of the school district has initiated their environmental review process for development of the school. That's an independent process. Um, that, uh, that LSD leads. Um, I think they, they released a notice of preparation uh, a month or 2 ago. Um, and some folks in the area may receive a notice from them for that, but, um, that is a process that is ongoing and it's an important step to, uh, eventually lead to the development of of plants to actually build a new school at that location. Thank

[00:53:47] Anna: you, Rebecca. Appreciate that. Our next question is the community shuttle recently has to reduce their trips due to a lack of drivers. Are there any plans to address this? Uh,

[00:54:00] Don Cameron: Don Cameron, public works director. Yes, it is unfortunate. The community shuttle has been facing a driver shortage recently. They do have some vacancies. They also had some drivers need to take time off for some family emergencies. So right now, uh, we are working closely with the shuttle operator, they are uh, actively recruiting for new shuttle drivers, and they will hire new drivers as quickly as possible. I believe they're also um, just looking into opportunities to maybe uh, borrow shuttle drivers from other, uh, shuttle services in the area. So they're exploring all the options. Until that time. They are trying to maintain the current shuttle frequency, which is 30, every 30 minutes on weekdays, and um, which has been the challenging one to maintain. And when they do not have enough drivers, they do have to fall back to hourly trips on weekdays. But one of the things we've worked closely on is we realize that uh, students in particular are depending upon the shuttle to get the school on time in the morning and pick them up after school. So the shuttle operator is being very careful to schedule the drivers they do have to ensure none of the trips that are serving the school times are missed. Meanwhile, they continue to post on their website, almost a daily, as well as on the mobile app called Trip Shot. Uh, when they do have shortages and they are needing to reduce service levels uh, to hourly levels. Thank

[00:55:41] Anna: you, Don. Appreciate it. So our next item is a, uh, I think comment and question combined into into one, um, regarding California Avenue traffic improvements, please consider widening sidewalks, um, not installing, uh, traffic calming devices that may be difficult for elderly people to navigate. Um, also regarding treason park. It seems that 50 trees for the entire mountain view is a very low number. Why not more, especially given mountain view's canopy goals. Thank

[00:56:17] Robert Gonzalez: you, Anna. Robert Gonzalez, principal civil engineer. So I can I can respond to the questions regarding California, um, and then maybe look to parks to respond to the trees, uh, question. So I had mentioned the California complete streets pilot. Um, Prior to this, that pilot will include 2 midblock crossings. The, uh, if that goes well and everyone likes those, we will actually look to expand the number of those crossings in the permanent uh, project. But the crossings will be, uh, will have safety measures. So they will be high visibility visibility crosswalks, meaning we'll use high visibility paint across them. They'll have additional lighting. And we'll be looking at safety features such as the rectangular rapid flashing beacons for those crossings that are pedestrian activated. So we'll be looking at that in the design process to make those as safe as possible. At the corners, we'll be implementing bulbouts for pedestrians. So those are designed to make the crossing shorter for pedestrians for all of those intersections. As well as other intersection improvements to make those safer. I think the other questions above that from Cheryl were regarding just general traffic in the neighborhood, I don't know if maybe Darwin can respond to those separately. Thank

[00:57:41] Anna: you for that, Robert. And yes, there, there, uh, there is uh, some question about uh, the cars coming through the neighborhood. Um. Oh,

[00:57:54] Darwin Galong: yes, I couldn't I couldn't find the questionnaires. Let me read the question again. Uh, with regards to traffic uh, or cutting through along the neighborhood, we do have the, the NTMP or the neighborhood traffic management program. As as an option to address that issue. Uh, we encourage you to submit a petition to our city traffic engineer, so we can start that process and we can take a look at that issue. Thank you. Thank

[00:58:24] Anna: you, appreciate that. And then, um, the other question as well was regarding the redwood trees and was it really necessary to remove all those redwood trees. I'll

[00:58:41] Rebecca Shapiro: let Matt jump in in case he has a more specific recollection of all of the rationale behind the removal, but as he mentioned earlier, with any development projects, city staff collaboratively, this includes multiple departments, looks at the existing trees on the site, allow development and opportunities to preserve as many trees as possible. Um, I don't recall the exact number of redwoods that were moved um, at the 2580 California Street site. Um, as I mentioned earlier, there were certain uh, redwoods that we were able to retain uh, in coordination with the uh, publicly successful open space that I mentioned. Um, It's it's never something that we're pleased to bring forward with development to have a large number of tree removals, but it is something that all city staff really looks that closely. Um, and does everything possible to retain as many as we can. Um, I'll just add that, um, there, there are often sort of many, um, more nuanced, uh, reasons for tree removals, uh, amongst in this case, the, the 78 trees that were mentioned, um, oftentimes some of those trees are being removed because they are already in, in poor health. Um, but sometimes they, they are being removed and because they're in conflict, in conflict with, uh, the proposed development and, um, and, uh, that's, that's when we get into the, um, you know, the situation where we're evaluating what's allowed to be developed on the site and and what, what can be preserved as far as existing tree canopy, but we always seek in our projects to ultimately approve development that will meet or exceed what currently exists on the site um when the project is implemented. Thank

[01:00:37] Anna: you, Rebecca. App appreciate that. Next question is, could a system be devised for the train crossings where the train conductor could simply trigger and activate flashing lights at the intersection just before the train arrival, again, avoiding the use of train horns? Thank

[01:00:55] Don Cameron: you. Don Cameron, public works director. So 1st off, train crossings are regulated by the California public utilities commission or CPUC. And They have very strict requirements for the train systems in terms of how what safety measures they must implement. The use of the train horns is a key requirement and, um, And essentially, They will want to always give priority to ensure safety over reducing the noise impacts of the train horns. And there have been some recent collisions, for instance, at the Ringsdorf grade separation crossing that they would look at and say, yes, you know, if nothing else, they may even want increased use of the train horns to make sure it's warning people that the train is coming. Should also note that there are still plans in place to put in high speed rail along the Caltrain tracks. It's called the blended system where they'll share the tracks with Caltrain. And those trains go even faster. So the expectation, again, of using train horns, as well as probably putting additional safety measures called quad gates and so on, our crossings are likely to happen. To support the high speed rail. Now, our goal is to see if we can complete our grade separations before the high speed rail begins operations so that we can avoid those particular, um, uh, situations happening at the crossings, uh, for the high speed rail. Thank

[01:02:40] Anna: you, Don, for that. Appreciate it. Um, next question. What are we doing to make Mountain View segment of El Camino Real friendly to pedestrians and bicycles? Hi

[01:02:52] Robert Gonzalez: Anna, Robert Gonzalez, uh, public works. I'll take this one. Um, so at the end of this, I will, um, refer you folks to a, uh, a project web page with a lot of description, but we have, uh, the Caltrans project that I mentioned earlier. Um, will deliver a lot of pedestrian and bike improvements. So Caltrans is designing a project right now, which is planned for implementation in 2023. Um, so, uh, for those who are riding cars, we there will be significant surface pavement improvements. So, uh, we've gotten lots of communication back from the public and we recognize that the the condition of of pavement on couch on El Camino, um, has deteriorated significantly, and this is something that Caltrans is addressing. On top of that, we've been communicating with Caltrans that we like them to deliver some pedestrian bike improvements that the city will pay for and they will help deliver for us. So I'll read some of these off. Um, Curb ramps will be upgraded. So a lot of times the curb ramps are not up to ADA standards. So where they are not, um, we'll be upgrading curb ramps and we'll actually be installing corner bubble boughs. in a lot of locations. So we have 36 corner ball bouts that we will be implementing, and those are in the non-signalized minor crossings across the minor streets on El Camino. So not going across El Camino, but going across the minor streets. Um, In a lot of the intersections, we will be installing high visibility crosswalks at the signalized intersections. We're going to be, uh, improving um, the class 2 and where we can class 4 protected bikeways on El Camino. So that's a big shift in in the use of El Camino. Um, earlier this year, or I believe it was last year, council approved, um, removing some parking on El Camino to make room for those bike lanes. Um, so those will be areas that will be a big improvement for the for the Mountain View Corridor in El Camino. Um, and then on top of that, we have 3 locations where we'll be installing pedestrian hybrid beacons at midblock crossings. So at Pettis, at Bonita and at Crestview Drive, all of those locations will be getting a mid-block crossing. So if I could remember how to find this, I believe the shortcut is mountain view.gov backslash El Camino. And that'll give you lots of new information about the project you could read all the way through it. Thank you.

[01:05:30] Don Cameron: If I may add on. Um, one thing to understand is, uh, El Camino Real, between Sunnyvale and Ringstorf is within the city of Mountain View's jurisdiction, and of course it is owned and maintained and operated by Caltrans, but that's what's within our city limits and jurisdiction. Between ring store up to the Palo Alto city limit. It is within city of Los Altos jurisdiction. That's both, believe it or not, both sides of El Camino, even though the uh, land to the north of El Camino is city and mountain view land use area. Now the good news is, is that the Los Altos City Council followed our lead. We're very happy about that. And just not that long ago, voted to approve removing on street parking from El Camino real between Ringstorf, to Palo Alto, and also ask working with Caltrans as part of the repaving project to install class 2 bike lanes on their segment El Camino. So, um, you know, we were very happy to see Los Altos follow in our footsteps, and when Caltrans comes in to do the paving project from Grant Road, through to connect to Palo Alto. We should have some uh, fairly continuous bike related improvements. Thank

[01:07:01] Anna: you to Robert and Don for that. Um, the next question we have is regarding the bike lane, uh, on ring store avenues, south of Caltrain, and, uh, Can we mention anything uh, that's being done to improve the safety of cyclists, uh, using the bike lanes. Uh, I have marked here and I don't know if that was by, uh, on purpose or not that John Lang, you wanted to answer this question or could answer this question? Uh,

[01:07:31] Robert Gonzalez: that's incorrect. I apologize. Oh,

[01:07:34] Don Cameron: John, I thought you were joining public works. Again, Don Cameron, public works director. So a couple answers on this one. They ringstore of great separation will include upgraded bike facilities on rainstorm, uh, at, uh, south of the Caltrain station to about where the community center entrance is. So that'd be built into that project. As for further south, heading towards El Camino Real, our bicycle transportation plan from several years ago had identified this as a quarter where we would like to enhance the bike lanes in that area. We are going, um, we're going to continue as part of the active transportation plan that Rhea mentioned, we're just kicking off. Um, you know, continue to look at what's, what the options are to do in that area as part of the active transportation plan to help us identify what might be a feasible set of improvements we can do within the existing ride away. So it is something we'll be studying further and looking at what kind of improvements could be made there. Thank

[01:08:43] Anna: you, Don. Appreciate it. Next question is, um, Can public works? Please make it safe to turn from San Antonio Road to San Antonio Circle. Um, The barriers come too far into the left lane. I

[01:09:08] Darwin Galong: can take that question on. Darwin Galong senior traffic engineer. Uh, this is, I believe, related to the development that is happening at that corner. We can definitely take a look at that and work with our construction team, our inspector, to see if, uh, we can move the, the, the barriers closer to the development so we can keep enough space for, for vehicles and pedestrians. Uh, traversing that area. Thank you. Thank

[01:09:37] Anna: you for that. App appreciate it. Next question is, is Castro Street going to have an underpass like RingStar?

[01:09:46] Don Cameron: So the Castle Street great separation project is a different design than what's planned for ring store. The plan is to actually close the road crossing itself over the train tracks and connecting to Central Expressway. Those of you that have been to Castle Street in downtown Mountain View of the last couple years, where we've closed those, that section of the street for outdoor dining has seen that, we've already closed some of that access, between Central Expressway and Castle Street. But the Great Separation Project itself will fully close off the road crossing. And instead, what will be built is a bike and pedestrian undercrossing of the train tracks and Central Expressway, this will be more than the typical bike pit under crossings you might see in other areas. It will be very wide, very open, have multiple connection points that connect directly to train station platforms, get you to both sides of Moffatt Boulevard on the other side of Castro Street. Um, it, we're really looking at, at it to be a really, um, Grand entrance to downtown Mountain View from the downtown side of it. So we're really going to be focusing on those bike head crossings, um, just a little uh, factoid here. Um, there are, uh, but pre-pandemic, and as things come back, there would be over 300 bikes and pedestrians crossing Central Expressway and the train tracks per hour during the peak periods of the day. And this is one of the reasons that we're really focused on giving them this, this really nice undercrossing and they no longer have to try to cross the tracks and Central Expressway at grade. So that is, that's the key portions of the castro grade separation project. Thank

[01:11:49] Anna: you, Don. Appreciate it. The next one isn't really a question. It's just a comment regarding the bowl bouts. I'm mentioning that they may not be as safe because drivers can run over them in low visibility situations that may be elevated crosswalks might be a lot better measure. Um, Another one which is not necessarily a question, but um, it seems as feedback is to consider isolated bike lanes potentially combined with sidewalks. Yeah,

[01:12:19] Robert Gonzalez: thank you, Anna. Robert Gonzalez, public works. Um, so there was a lot there to cover. Um, so I'll say in general, um, the city and when we're designing ball bouts, we look for, uh, for a permanent installation, we will look for a raised, uh, uh, bout, which is essentially an extension of the existing sidewalk. So the only time we would consider something other than that is if it was on a pilot or a test situation, I think on Moffatt north of Central Expressway, there's a couple areas there that still have kind of temporary bulb out locations, but for a permanent installation, particularly where I mentioned along El Camino, those will all be at the sidewalk level. Um, I'm going to jump over to the uh, to the question again to make sure I get the, get the uh, the other portions of this correct.

[01:13:14] Don Cameron: If I may, May, Robert. I think because the question disappeared there. Um, I think some of the question was, has to do, you know, with vehicles maybe jumping the the bulb out as they turn. And, you know, 1st off, they are, you know, carefully designed to take into account vehicle turning radius, but the intent of them is to slow the vehicles as they make the turn. It's safer for pedestrians. It also shortens the crossing distance for pedestrians. So is there anything you feel you can add about, um, how they're designed? to help mitigate for that.

[01:13:52] Robert Gonzalez: Yeah, so in the low visibility, um, condition, we could actually look at, um, painting the curbs, uh, color so that they're more of visible, um, in those low visibility, uh, locations. I see Lorenzo is typing something, so he may choose to jump in here as well. Improved lighting. Right.

[01:14:12] Don Cameron: That's what I was thinking too. We improve the lighting and make the curbs more visible that way. The other question, the isolated bike, what I believe with what you're referring to is protected bikeways. Which are situations that are 2 types of protected bikeways. One is along the street like a bike lane would, but you also have a vertical element that separates the bike lane. From the vehicle traffic lane, that could be a curb or some kind of raise element that just creates that extra separation. And the other type is what's called parking protected bikeways where you actually place the, um, the bike facility adjacent to the sidewalk. So you have the sidewalk, the bike facility, then you have cars parked, and then you have the travel lane. We have that version of a parking protected biplane currently on Castro Street, uh, in the grand middle school area, and you can see what that looks like. So I will just, um, note that it is one of the city's schools and is what we look at now is everywhere we can put in protected bikeways. That's what we, that's our goal. That's what we strive for. Um, as much as possible. So, and we have several protected bike ways in our plans, and you will start seeing more and more of them on our streets in the coming years. Thank

[01:15:48] Anna: you, Robert and Don, for that. Um, so I just want to do a quick time check. It's 748 and so I also want to do, uh, I don't see any additional questions, but I do want to do a last call, uh, for 4 questions. Um, we appreciate everybody taking the time this evening and uh, And sending in and asking such great thoughtful questions. Um, and um, I see Mayor Ramirez has his hand raise.

[01:16:22] Member Lucas Ramirez: Am I allowed to ask questions? They are easy ones.

[01:16:26] Anna: You can ask whatever you'd like. Thank you. Uh, so

[01:16:31] Member Lucas Ramirez: 2 quick questions, uh, the 1st is, um, any update, uh, regarding the city's efforts to reduce abandoned shopping carts, which I think hit this area particularly hard, and then, um, any, uh, information about, uh, sidewalk repair efforts, especially along California Street. Hi,

[01:16:53] Elizabeth: good evening, Elizabeth Cycle with public works. Uh, yes, we have been working with the stores and with the cart retrieval companies, um, to try to increase the retrieval companies, um, Surveillance of those areas to to pick up abandoned shopping carts and we're continuing to work closely with them and develop a plan to, um, to address those problems in that area in particular. And

[01:17:18] Robert Gonzalez: Robert Gonzalez, principal civil engineer. Um, regarding the um, sidewalk and repairs, uh, the city has a regular sidewalk repair, capital improvement program. Um, and that's generally um, responsive to citizen requests. So we often get citizen requests through ask MV specifically about sidewalks that are frequented by them or maybe they're in front of their household. And I do remember getting one recently about California in general. It's hard to walk the entire length of California and then identify all of the sidewalk repairs. So if there's specific ones, Mayor Ramirez, I can certainly look into those. Um, but yes, we do have a regular um, sidewalk repair program where throughout the city, we're looking for damaged sidewalks for us to bring back up to code. A lot of these are tree related, but also can just be, um, wear and tear um, as through aging. Thank you. I'll

[01:18:17] Don Cameron: just add on. A 2 prong approach. We also have a streets crew that goes out and they're doing sidewalk repairs constantly. They do more that, the temporary and the quick repairs where they will grind down offsets, or they will replace individual, visual sections of sidewalk where they can. And then when there are longer stretches or just more is needed, that's when it falls to Robert's group and more of a capital project to bring in a contractor to do more extensive sidewalk work. But I will agree, uh, you know, just 2nd what Robert said, that the best way for us to make those repairs is for people to submit, uh, via Ass Mountain View, specific locations, and then our streets crew will check it out and see if they can take care of it, and or work with our engineering group for, for more permanent repairs.

[01:19:13] Rebecca Shapiro: And I'll just add that sort of one final, uh, means through which uh, sidewalk repairs and upgrades happen is when we do have private development projects that occur, uh, along a street frontage. So, um, you know, folks will have noticed that, uh, the sidewalks were reconstructed and widens, um, during, uh, development happening within San Antonio Center, uh, along California Street, that, uh, the Great Star project on the north side of California Street between Picetti and San Antonio Road, um, you know, has constructed and uh, will have publicly public sidewalks that are improved and widens, uh, along their frontage and then other projects, uh, if or when they happen. which would include the LASD project within San Antonio Center and another development that fronts on California Street at 3 before San Antonio, if those, if or when those projects proceed, those would also improve sidewalks along California Street. Thank you all very much. Thank

[01:20:17] Anna: you, everyone. We've had a few more questions come in through the Q and A. The 1st question is how often are cyclists ticketed? I've been noticing an increase in cyclists using pedestrian crossings. Hey,

[01:20:31] Scott Nelson: I can answer that. Scott Nelson with the Mountain View Police Department. I don't have any specific stats for a number of cyclists have been cited, but I can tell you that cyclists and pedestrians are definitely cited at a lower rate than vehicles. We do have specific days where we go out and do enforcement directly related to pedestrian safety as part of the office of traffic safety grant that we have. And when we do that, we're not necessarily looking for a specific violation for whether it be a vehicle, a bicycle, or pedestrian, but we're looking for any type of unsafe, uh, vehicle code violation. So it could be a cyclist, it could be a pedestrian. It could be a vehicle. Uh, we look for any type of violation that we could uh, try to educate people on and let them know safer ways to get through there. So, uh, Tyler, I will put my email address in your comments so you can, if you don't mind, shoot me an email, let me know the specific location, and then we can try to spend some more time out there where you're seeing those issues. I

[01:21:30] Rhea: would like to add something. Also, it's very important for drivers to, um, when you're turning, um, at an intersection to make sure you look left as well as right, to make sure uh, uh, cyclists are permitted to ride on the sidewalks as long as they do so carefully. So make sure when you're turning at corners that you look left as well as right for the safety of uh, the pedestrians and the cyclists in the city. Thank you. Thank

[01:21:57] Anna: you for that. Appreciate it. The next question is, I understand that there are provisions within the precise plan to try and limit impact of large scale new development projects on single family buildings next to them, but are there provisions for helping to make sure that neighboring smaller apartment or condo buildings aren't overwhelmed and don't lose their light? So,

[01:22:22] Rebecca Shapiro: uh, again, Rebecca Shapir, Deputy Zang administrator, um, the, the short answer is that, you know, the, the provisions that you referenced are part of our strategy to try to minimize the impacts of, uh, new develop, new tolerant development on adjacent development. Um, it's challenging to avoid all, uh, casting of shadows by any, by any development. I think if, you know, you live in the area and you're in a free story, you know, building, you'll, you may find, if you, if you take close attention over the course of a day, that the building that you live in, uh, cast shadow, particularly on, on any development that's to your north. Um, but the, um, you know, the, the height step downs that I referenced earlier and setbacks or some of the tools we use to try to, to minimize those impacts. Thank

[01:23:17] Anna: you for that, Rebecca, appreciate it. Next question is, I noticed that Mountain View approved a policy for replacing rent control apartments with deed restricted income restricted housing. How does this work? I understand that most older buildings are subject to rent control, but not all of these buildings are necessarily inhabited by only low income residents. Would all new buildings need to be income restricted, even where they currently have residents at all income levels. And I believe Michaela can speak to this one. Thanks,

[01:23:49] Michaela: Anna Arena. So, Michaela, housing neighborhood services manager. Um, so this, uh, policy that we just brought through to council is part of our implementation of a state law called SB 330, which, among other things, requires a one for one replacement of, um, what the state designates as protected units and one of the, Um, definitions of protected units is units that are rent stabilized. And so then the city is required to require developers, um, who are demolishing, uh, Any rent stabilized units to replace them on a one for one basis. Um, the law further says that if there were previously low income residents of those units, that those units that are replaced have to be deed restricted to be affordable for um, incomes of uh, for residents of similar incomes as the pre previous tenants. And then in cases where, uh, the tenants are above income, the council had a choice of what the, uh, what to do based on the law and the council determined that we should replace those units with, um, deed restricted units, mainly because, um, the rents would be quite similar to the rents, um, of the previously rent stabilized units. And so it would be maintaining those units as naturally affordable housing. That being said, the rest of the development. Can uh, proceed mostly with, unless there are other uh, restrictions relating to affordability from other requirements. Rest of development can proceed with market rate units, um, for folks above income, and that's typically what we've seen in these developments so far. That the developer replaces the rent stabilized units on a one for one basis, um, at income restricted levels. And then the rest of the units are uh, brand new market rate units available uh, for all incomes. Thank

[01:25:44] Anna: you, Michaela for that. Um, there's a question and maybe Scott can. I know he's typing, but I think maybe the information can help multiple people on the call. is, um, regarding bicycle crossing showers drive at Pichetti Way, and a little bit. I'm assuming that's a little bit about the bicycle and the traffic, so if you could speak a little bit to that, Scott, I know it says you're typing the response, but if you could, you know, share it with everyone. Yeah,

[01:26:13] Scott Nelson: I think that was a specific to the question, I, the last question about locations for some unsafe bicycle crossings and pedestrian areas. So I'm gonna make a note of that location and see if we can spend some more time out there. Thanks, Cheryl, for giving the info.

[01:26:30] Anna: Thank you. App appreciate it. Um, next, uh, question. I have is how confident is the city that rangstorf grade separation will really even happen.

[01:26:44] Don Cameron: Well, um, I don't have a crystal ball. But all the signs are very positive that it will happen. And some of the reasons for that are that, uh, in 2016, the voters approved, uh, the Valley Transportation Authority of BTAs, measure B sales tax, towards transportation. And one of the categories of funding for that sales tax was for great separations in Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. And as part of all of that, it was determined that Mountain View is entitled to receive 25% of the money that's going towards great separations. And because of that, we can put that towards both the great separation. So right now, we are looking at upwards of $140000000 from VTA measure B funds that will be going towards the restorf grade separation. And in fact, Just a couple weeks ago, the VTA board approved 42000000 to come to that project, towards final design and property acquisition, and that's what's allowing us to proceed with the next phase. The city is also identified. We've already set aside some money of our own to put towards the project. And there is some new federal grants coming out related to grade separation crossings, and we are working closely with VTA and Caltrain and Ringstorf was decided as the key grade separation project that we're all applying for some federal grant funding. So while it is a large scale project. It is very expensive. And we still have a little ways to go to complete the funding gap. We are, we're already at 80% funded and it's, we're just getting very, very close to closing that funding gap. And meanwhile, we have now secured the funding we need to proceed with final design and property acquisition.

[01:28:50] Anna: Thank you for that, Don. App appreciate it. So I don't see any open questions, so I'm going to do another last call for questions. Um, and while I do that, I know Michaela, um, has been assisting me, so thank you to her and has been putting all the information in one place, so I know she wants to share, um, and I'll let you share your screen, Michaela, with kind of a summary of information this evening.

[01:29:18] Michaela: Thanks, Anna, and I just wanted to bring up right before I did that, that I saw that some questions got answered, um, directly in the Q and A, and at least a couple of them. I think we might want to have answered for the whole group. Um, Lieutenant Nelson, if you could share. I think we saw a question asking about street racing on California. I know we talked about high speeds, but I thought your answer. I thought it was informative. Maybe you could share with everyone.

[01:29:40] Scott Nelson: Yeah, that'd be great. So, uh, we do have a couple ways that people can report that. I would say the biggest help to us would be is if you could call our non-emergency number when you hear that happening. I don't think that you're going to be overburdening us with calls. We have the resources. So please take the time to do that. That lets us know when the time that it's happening. You can also go online to the ask Mountain View, uh, webpage, and you can report that under the police department, uh, traffic section as well. We're also part of a regional street forcing enforcement group. So we share information about when these different groups are going into different cities in the Santa Clara County area. So it really helps us when we know those groups are out there because we communicate that with our officers on the streets. And with the agents, other agencies in the county, and they do get active a lot on the weekends. But if you do see that happening, please feel free to call that non-emergency number. Uh, and let us know.

[01:30:41] Michaela: Thank you and apologies. I should be calling you Captain Nelson now. Uh, congratulations. The other question I saw was, um, a question about the increase in mail and property theft and what's being done to address that. Yes,

[01:30:56] Scott Nelson: so we do have a few of our officers that are trained in, it's called Crime Prevention by Environmental Design, and it's a relatively new thing, maybe the last year or 2 that a few officers have been trained in this. And we really try to work with apartment complex managers or um, residents that want to design their area where the mail is delivered to be safer and more resistant to burglaries. So we've been very successful with working some with some of the apartment complexes to try to put more lighting or put it in a different area. So we really encourage you to reach out to us and we can set up those meetings. We frequently have those meetings. Our officers will actually go out and meet with people and walk the entire property with them, and then we'll almost give them kind of like a little report that they can go back and try to make some of the changes. And it seems like that's helped with a lot of the male thefts. Um, male theft is really tough because most of the time it's a misdemeanor crime. Um, so whether or not the jail keeps them is is not under our control. But if you could take the preventative measures to work with us ahead of time, that would be great. And

[01:32:03] Michaela: now I can share that slide that Anna had mentioned earlier with some of the websites that, um, That our team has mentioned today. And I mostly put these in the chat already. So hopefully folks have been able to access them. But if you haven't been able to, um, if you want to take a photo of your screen, or a screenshot. I find that that's helpful to reference later. Um, Also, almost all of these I hadn't been to before, but found them, um, by, uh, searching on our really excellent Mountain View website, so hopefully folks can go there. And if you ever get stuck that ask Mountain View website right in the middle, there is probably your backpack. So I'll leave this up for a few more moments so folks can take a photo. And now I'll hand it back to Anna. Thank

[01:32:58] Anna: you, Michaela. So it looks like we got one more just comment and the comment says, would like to thank the city for putting in various pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements on Villa Street, speed, humps, slow down cards making it safer for cyclists and the additional pedestrian crossing on Shoreline makes life easier for pedestrians trying to get to Castro Street. So we appreciate the feedback. And I do not see any additional questions. So with that, I will hand it over to chair show, Walter, for final comments and adjournment. Great.

[01:33:37] Member Pat Showalter: Well, this has been a very interesting meeting. It seems like most of the things that we have discussed, the questions have really been related to transportation. Um, it was sort of neck and neck about who was going to answer the most questions. I thought it was going to be Rebecca Shapiro, but Dawn beat you out right at the end, Rebecca. But anyway, um, thank you so much for um, both of you. Really, all of you providing so much detailed information that's site specific. I think it's so much more meaningful to people when it's site specific. Um, I'd like to give my colleagues on the uh, committee, uh, um, uh, an opportunity to say a few words and then I'm, I'm gonna, uh, sum up a few things. So, um, uh, Mayor Ramirez. Thank

[01:34:33] Member Lucas Ramirez: you, chair, show, Walter, um, and I think ending where I started, uh, well, thank you everyone for attending tonight, uh, and asking questions and, uh, taking the time to learn a little bit more about what's going on in our neighborhood. Um, but I also want to thank the staff for participating. It's a, uh, a lot of work to, uh, prepare the questions submitted in advance and, and uh, provide responses, but even more challenging to respond to questions on the fly. Uh, and they were always good and important and meaningful questions asked by the residents in each of these neighborhood meetings. So thank you all staff for spending your evening with us. Uh, thank you, everyone, in the community for joining, uh, and please reach out. We are all accessible, uh, and we all uh, want to hear what you all have to say. So have a good evening. you. Bye mayor Hicks.

[01:35:23] Member Alison Hicks: Yes, I'll just say thank you to everybody for all the to all the residents for coming. I have to say I've been coming to these meetings for almost 4 years now and and this was had some of the most interesting questions I've heard. So, maybe it's an interesting area to live in. I've certainly learned a lot more about it. Um, and then thank you to all of staff who came, um, as, even though I've been reading staff reports for you now. I did learn a number of things. So thank you to everyone. Well,

[01:35:54] Member Pat Showalter: there's a couple things I'd like, I'd like to put in plugs for. Uh, September is um, sort of emergency respond, uh, months or, and one of the things that, that it's a good idea to do during this month or anytime is to put together an emergency plan. Um, uh, an emergency plan is kind of like the form you would have filled, filled out for your kid when they were going to elementary school. It needs to have phone numbers, emergency phone numbers in one place, like your doctors, uh, who you should call an emergency, and you need to practice how to get it out of your house. Um if there was a fire. And, um, just decide among your family who would be that person, uh, that, uh, you would contact uh, during an emergency, if you weren't able to contact your family members, and where are you going to meet? You know? So all of those things, they're very basic, but this is the month to go over them again. So I'm just going to bring that up. And then I also want to put in a plug for Ask Mountain View. Um, the city staff does the best job they possibly can to keep up with things like cracks and sidewalks or, um, lumps and trails that people can trip over, but they can't see all of them. So, um, if you see something that you think is dangerous. I'm sure you're right. Take a picture of it and submit it on Ask Mountain View. Somebody who doesn't trip on it because you did that will be thankful. Um, then another thing I, I'd like to say is, uh, I didn't know we should be celebrating that we have 80% of the funding for the Ringsdorf Crossing, but that's actually an amazing thing. So I'm really pleased to hear that, and I guess in a sense, maybe we're the 1st group to hear that. So that's pretty exciting. Spread the word about that because, um, If Dawn's crystal ball is correct. We should be able to find the subsequent 20% of that money and get that done and that will be a tremendous improvement to our community long term. That's really exciting to me. And um, then last, but not least, I'd like to thank the staff again for all the time and effort that you put into this, and I'm hoping that in 2 years when we have this meeting again. It'll be in person. And um, it will be even more fun because as residents, you can ask the question publicly, of course, if you want, or if you're a little shyer, you can just, you can just approach the people personally and ask them and that's sometimes even better. So we'll all keep our fingers crossed that we'll be able to do that. And um, are there any more final questions? No? Okay, well, with, with that, um, thank you very much to Anna, uh, Renozzo for organizing this and for the whole city team and, and, um, we're adjourned. Thank you. Have a good evening. Okay.

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