City Council Session Digest, July 5

Before the members of the Mountain View City Council left for break this week, they held one last session Tuesday to tie up some loose ends and continue to give city staff guidance for the work they'll have ahead.

Here's what happened.

At the study session:

• Council listened to Google's plan to build a private bridge crossing over Stevens Creek Trail at Charleston Road and replace the one at Crittenden Lane. Council members did not appear too impressed with the design and its environmental impacts. 

• City staff updated council on the various types of nodes that can be installed on utility poles, which could minimize the need to build more cell phone towers in Mountain View. Permitted wireless contractors could extend the poles an additional nine feet to add the node. However, while this may be one way to fill in the gaps and improve coverage in some areas, and may be easier to replace as the technology advances, they can be unsightly, as Councilwoman Ronit Bryant said. An alternative would be the advantage of a cell phone tower, because of its height and power. “MV is in the heart of where people are driving that growth, and you have a large role to play," said Bill Stevens with ExteNet, a utility provider.

At the regular session, the council swiftly approved all of the items on the consent calendar, which can be collectively approved by one vote unless pulled, except item 4.12, because Councilman John Inks went on the record to state his disapproval with the lack of transparency in the Moffett Gateway Project (see document attached). The mid-year project did get approved.

Under new business, the council looked at and approved the following:

• City staff presented to council a work plan with 10 points that could help in the consideration of future rental housing fees used to provide and build below-market rate (BMR) homes in Mountain View. The 2009 Palmer court decision discourages cities, in order to avoid litigation, from requiring that new developments offer below-market-rate homes or charge an in-lieu fee. However, at the council session, Mayor Jac Siegel suggested the idea of a possible parcel tax to raise funds to build BMR homes or create a voucher system to give candidates the choice to find a place to live. The idea of placing the generation of BMR fees in the public domain received positive attention from council. Right now, Mountain View has about $11 million in accumulated BMR fees that have not been used to build affordable homes in the city. Council approved the work plan 5-2, with Councilmen Tom Means and Inks voting against.

• The council agreed to authorize city staff to create a short-, medium- and long-term parking management strategy for downtown Mountain View. The council made its decision after staff presented an initial study that showed a need to improve the parking. On any given day, about 9,700 cars park in 2,855 spots on and off the street, according to Assistant Director of Economic Development Ellis Berns. On Fridays and Saturdays, the core parking areas will soon reach 85 percent capacity. The cause of this could be that some drivers don't know about parking lots and structures available closer to California Street or the available neighborhood parking spots. The consequence of reaching 85 percent capacity means that drivers will start to circle more and more in their search for a place to park. Staff looked at revenue-generating parking models, like permits and meters, but does not recommend it to council.

• In a sign of the economic times, the council has decided to cut back on the time and cost associated with the Mayor's Recognition Award. Initially, Mayor Jac Siegel had proposed that he be the committee and jury responsible for choosing the award recipients in order to save on the costs. However, the rest of the council members quickly vetoed that idea. Instead, council voted to authorize a committee of five to pick only five award recipients and spend only $1,000 this year.

Items initiated by council:

• A discussion took place about whether Mountain View should allocate $5,000 for a Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study that would look at connecting the trail in Mountain View with adjacent cities like Sunnyvale and Los Altos. Councilwoman Laura Macias said that for years, neither Sunnyvale or Los Altos showed interest in the trails in Mountain View and Cupertino, and the latter two cities paid for all of the work required to build the almost 10 miles of trail. However, Aaron Grossman, executive director of Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, reminded council that actually connecting the trails through the four cities would encourage more biking. Councilwoman Margaret Abe-Koga added that this would benefit Mountain View residents who want to bike to the reservoir. The council approved the payment of $5,000 from the Project Readiness Initiative account.

Finally, Interim City Manager Melissa Stevenson-Diles updated the council on the affects of the state budget cuts on the city.

She stated that originally the council had authorized that $359,000 be taken from the contingency reserves to provide funds, in case cuts for certain police and fire positions and law enforcement matters like booking fees, among others, took place.

However, the state did not cut in those areas. Instead, Mountain View will experience the state cuts through a $265,000 diversion of vehicle license fees—which the League of California Cities plans to challenge in court—and $25,000 that would have gone to the . This means that $109,000 will be returned to the contingency reserve account.

The City Council meets next on Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m.