City may alter apartment complex overhaul
Despite 5 years of planning, more changes possible
MOUNTAIN VIEW >> After five years on the drawing board, the planned overhaul and expansion of a community of rent-controlled apartments north of downtown could go through yet more changes as the City Council on Tuesday took another look at the plans and still had concerns.
The project by AvalonBay Communities, which first was proposed in 2015, aims to completely transform the 1960s-era apartment complex at 555 W. Middlefield Road into a modern community of over 700 homes, complete with a public park at its center.
The proposal would bring the existing 402 apartments up to modern standards while the developer constructs two new, fourstory apartments buildings within the 14.5-acre project area by eliminating surface parking taking up about half the site.
Though the proposal is in line with other developments planned for the area — including one diagonal to a project that aims to bring 716 apartments to the area — the Mountain View City Council on Tuesday was apprehensive to move forward as it sees a “patchwork” of unrelated projects popping up across the area without any kind of central planning.
“We’re developing along Moffett in a way that’s very piecemeal,” said Councilwoman Alison Hicks, referring to the 15 separate proposed developments in the area. “I think this should be considered a second half of our downtown. My big reservation about the project is that it’s not included in a precise plan.”
Like in the East Whisman
neighborhood and the North Bayshore development area, Hicks wants the city to devise a comprehensive community plan for the area around the intersection of Moffett Boulevard and Middlefield Road.
The project’s close proximity to the Mountain View Caltrain station — which is just a 15-minute walk — demands that the development be considered transitoriented and incorporated into the city’s walkable downtown area, Hicks said.
She said the people who have written letters to the council concerned about their rapidly changing community — largely planned out by competing development interests — “are completely right.”
“I don’t want to be developing anything else along Moffett until we do a precise plan,” Hicks said. “I think we’re really at the point where we have to do that.”
Though some residents detest the project’s density,
Hicks said that the kind of “second downtown” she’s envisioning actually will bring the walkability that people desire. Council members agreed the developers plan to keep an existing 6-foot-wide sidewalk along Moffett Boulevard should be widened to accommodate more foot traffic.
But some council members are still wary of parking as a central issue. Residents say Cypress Point Drive, a tree-lined street that will serve as the main entrance for the proposed complex, will not be able to handle the influx of new cars. Residents say parking is already bad in the area, andifthetrendofdevelopment continues it will only get worse.
The developer does have a parking plan, which includes three levels of underground parking to replace the area of the existing leasing office and amenity building, pool and spa.
Council member Sally Lieber wants to make sure the city and the developer do more, especially for the people who will be attending the Mountain View Los Altos Adult School nearby and may struggle with parking at night.
“When the adult school has classes or are doing testing, the parking lot is not enough to hold folks,” Lieber said. “Folks are coming from work and trying to get to their tests. It’s going to be important to have some parking control on that.”
Lieber was generally supportive of the project but felt the developer could do more to beef up the project’s benefits to the community. She also called for a rent rebate program to be started for the residents of the 402 apartments that will deal with ongoing construction over years.
Already the developer is planning to pay about $2 million to the city in community impact fees, but council members want it to do more.
Councilwoman Lisa Matichak, who has been vocally opposed to the project, proposed that the developer foot the bill for a connection to the Stevens Creek Trail running alongside Highway 85 on top of community benefits already outlined in the plan.
“It would address connectivity issues and it would be a nice project to add to this one,” she said.
Whatever else the city negotiates with the developer to build on the site, Councilman Lucas Ramirez said he’d like to make sure the community impact fee money stays in the community.
“I support the community benefit proposal, but the only thing I want to emphasize is that it’s really importune that the community benefit funding be reinvested in this neighborhood,” he said. “This is the area that’s going to be impacted by this development; they should get the benefit.”