Transcription: Comments from the Public To MV City Council on Non-Agendized Items December 12, 2011

Mountain View City Council Meeting
Item 6. Open Comments from the Public On Non-Agendized Items
Dec. 12, 2011

Transcribed by Christine Bush, Mountain View Resident

Despite the faithfulness of this transcription to the video source, this transcription is UNOFFICIAL. It has not been reviewed by the Mountain View City Council or Clerk's Office. To the best of my knowledge, however, this is the only written account of what the public said.

"Great. Good evening Mr. Mayor and Honorable Council Members. It's Michael Goulash representing INTUIT this evening...and here just to make some very brief comments on the release of the General Plan and simply to say thank you for the last year's worth of hard work on it...for a very professional and well-written document...and to express accolades for the city staff and Environmental Planning Commission for some hard work during that time. We support the General Plan as it's written. We appreciate the vision that's expressed in it with the focus on job creation and, uh, driven really with an attention to sustainability...the traffic demand...and particularly the community. We think it's a very good formula for prosperity for the city and the area out there. Thank you.” Source: http://mountainview.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=852 at 00:31:55.

"Don Letcher. 788 N. Rengstorff, Mountain View. Forty year resident...forty year property owner in the city. OK, the General Plan is out. I got a chance to look at the Draft General Plan and I object to the Draft General Plan as it is produced. Since the very beginning...since the very beginning...I have followed the General Plan closely. I didn't participate much, but I followed it. I was concerned about my property. And many, many times I've been here to protest that I DID NOT want my property put into a Village Center. Absolutely under no circumstances do I want my property re-zoned into a Village Center. But I see in the Draft General Plan that it is. That's what's proposed. That they take my property.

"So I just seriously, seriously object to this city running people out of business by just re-zoning against their wishes. Property owners should have some control, just some control, over what happens to their property. So when I was re-zoned into that CS district about fifty small businesses...fifty!...including mine...were run out of business on Old Middlefield Way. That prohibited me from renting units because no housing is allowed in a CS district. And I've been notified...I actually got a letter from the City Manager's Office to get out of my own home. But, you know, there's big fights over grandfathering...what people can do with their property...and they should be able to have some kind of control over what kind of zoning happens to their property...at least some input. So I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY object to being re-zoned a fourth time into a Village Center and I don't want that to happen under any circumstances.

"So talking about the General Plan, I know the thing was budgeted at half a million dollars–$500,000–but it's taken three and a half years, including the visioning. And I'd really like to know, and I think the public has a right to know, what the actual costs on that thing are. Obviously it's gone over the $500,000. But I'd really like to know what this General Plan cost and that's including staff time and pensions and all the rest of it that go with it: the TOTAL cost of this General Plan. I think the public's got a right to know.

"I read in the paper, ok, that now it's cheaper to rent than it is to own a home. So it's now cheaper to rent than it is to own a home. And the utility rates in the city are soaring...”

Mr. Letcher was told by Mayor Jac Siegel at this point: "Your time is up." He left the podium. Source: http://mountainview.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=852 at 00:32:55.