Senators and Representatives of the California Legislature:
We are sending you this letter in opposition to Senate Bill 79, introduced by Senator Scott Wiener.
Our city of Mountain View’s highest objective is to be a Community for All and Livable Mountain View has consistently been an advocate for good development. Our city has been a leader in the Bay Area in providing new housing and is one of the few cities in the region that has earned a pro-housing designation from the legislature. Our city council has always encouraged participation of all stakeholders when it enacts housing policy. The result is housing and zoning decisions that have wide public support, both from renters and homeowners alike.
The proposed legislation upzones properties within one-half mile of trains, light rail, and frequent bus lines to allow five to seven story buildings, without any further concessions from developers. It fails to provide for the needs of the community as it omits any requirement for affordable and low-income housing and adherence to community developed precise plans that already include upzoning and increased density in all areas of our city.
Because our city is fortunate enough to be well-served by all three of these modes of transit, about half of our city would be rezoned for high density if this legislation is enacted. The result could be a total disruption of our cities’ neighborhoods. Furthermore, omitting any requirement for affordable housing in exchange for the density increase would undermine our city’s ability to meet our state mandated RHNA allocation for affordable housing.
The housing crisis in our area is one of AFFORDABLE housing, not market-rate housing. According to the latest report of our Rental Housing Committee, 15 percent of the housing built in our city the last eight years lies vacant because apartment owners will not rent it out at lower rents. Solutions to provide housing in our community need to go beyond bills that provide massive rezoning without concessions from the developers who build it.
Thank you for considering our views.
Robert Cox, Louise Katz, Nazanin Dashtara, Muriel Sivyer-Lee, Toni Rath, Peter Spitzer, Maureen Blando, Jerry Steach, David Lewis, Carol Lewis, Hala Alshahwany, Carole Griggs, Leslie Friedman, Nancy Stuhr, Natalie Solomon, Sean O’Malley, Diane Gazzano, Lorrie Wormald, and Alice DeGuzman
For the Steering Committee of Livable Mountain View, California
