The City of Mountain View is on the cusp of something truly groundbreaking.
On Tuesday, September 26, the Mountain View City Council held one of their final hearings on their draft North Bayshore Plan, which lays out a vision for the corner of the city where Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and others are located.
In a session that continued past midnight, the City Council reaffirmed their commitment to transforming a landscape dominated by endless expanses of parking lots into a vibrant walkable community with up to 9,850 new homes, 20 percent of which will be dedicated for low-income residents. They also supported a smart master planning process that allows for careful coordination on walking and biking patterns, transit options, infrastructure, and other issues along the way.
And that’s exactly the direction they heard from the community.
The City Council received testimony from nearly 50 speakers in support of the draft plan’s vision for sustainable, equitable development. Many spoke about how the housing affordability crisis affects their lives, sharing painful stories of excruciating commutes and housing costs driven by the lack of homes near job centers like Mountain View. Others spoke about the health and environmental benefits of the plan, describing how locating new homes close to jobs will improve regional traffic patterns and relieve development pressure on our region’s valuable natural and agricultural lands.
The city also received a petition with more than 80 signatories calling for action on this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Greenbelt Alliance was proud to be part of this wave of community support for growing smartly in North Bayshore. Working with SV@Home and others, we helped bring together a broad coalition of community, environmental, housing, good government, and business leaders to speak with a common voice about the draft plan. But we’re not out of the woods yet.
We, along with our partners, will continue to advocate for the North Bayshore Plan as it comes up for final approval later this year.
You can make a difference!
Sign our petition to tell the Mountain View City Council to make their smart vision a reality.
For additional ways to get involved, please contact South Bay Regional Representative, Kiyomi Honda Yamamoto at khondayamamoto@greenbelt.org.
