The perfect pizza pair WEEKEND | 21 DECEMBER 14, 2012 VOLUME 20, NO. 48
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Council compromises on housing fees MILLIONS MORE TO BE GENERATED FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING By Daniel DeBolt
$10 per square-foot, less than the $15 per square-foot proposed by acing an unprecedented city staff and supported by coundemand for more afford- cil members in a recent study able housing in Mountain session. The average in nearby View, City Council members cities for such a fee is $11.87. Fees voted Tuesday to increase funds for retail, entertainment uses and for affordable housing through hotel buildings were left at $2.47 fee hikes on commercial building per square-foot. and rental housing developers. The need for affordable housAfter much disagreement, ing has increased dramatically in council members the last 10 years, voted 4-3 in favor said city planner of the new fees, Linda Lauzze. designed to increase ‘Minimum-wage In 2001, only 33 the number of subpercent of the sidized homes for workers would city’s households lower-income resiearned less than dents in Mountain need to work 164 80 percent of the View, with Mayor hours per week region’s median Mike Kasperzak and income. A decade council members to afford to rent later, 84 percent Ronit Bryant and Jac make less than Siegel and opposed. a two-bedroom 80 percent of the The new fees are area’s median apartment.’ income, she said. expected to generate millions every year “M i n i m u m BRUCE ENGLAND, for affordable houswage workers ing projects such as MOUNTAIN VIEW RESIDENT would need to the 50 apartments work 164 hours under construction per week to afford downtown at Evelyn Avenue and to rent a two-bedroom apartFranklin Street. It is costing the ment” in Mountain View, said city over $12 million and pro- resident Bruce England. “Wagvides homes to families making es have stagnated but rents less than 60 percent of the area’s haven’t.” median income. Council member Bryant supThough he opposes subsidized ported higher fees on commerhousing, council member Tom cial developers, and expressed Means succeeded in passing a disappointment that other memmotion intended, he said, to bers did not, such as Margaret “minimize the pain” on devel- Abe-Koga, who had supported opers. Council member Laura $15-per-square-foot fee but voted Macias was the swing vote, sup- for $10. That will mean millions porting the fees when an imple- less in housing funds as compamentation date was set for Febru- nies like Google are set to expand ary 9, 2013, five months earlier rapidly in coming years. than Means proposed. “With the new general plan The move raises the amount allowing quite a bit of intensifipaid by developers of office and See HOUSING, page 8 high-tech buildings from $7.43 to
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MAGICIAN’S TALE CREATES ONSTAGE MAGIC Bayer Ballet Academy is staging “A Winter Fairy Tale” this weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. See Page 16 for story and more photos.
Cities asked to prepare for changes at Moffett Field By Daniel DeBolt
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ow that the presidential election is over, there’s buzz about the federal government finally making a decision about whether to get rid of Moffett Federal Airfield and its icon, Hangar One. After talking to NASA officials, General Services Administration officials and Congressional staff, longtime Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board member Lenny Siegel says that Sunnyvale and Mountain View should begin to brace
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themselves for the big decisions over Moffett’s fate that have been looming for years. “What I know is that something is happening, but I’m getting conflicting rumors about what is happening,” Siegel said Monday. Siegel said it was possible that President Obama’s administration has been waiting until after the election to accept a deal from Google’s founders to restore Hangar One in exchange for a long-term lease and use of the runway for their private planes, operated by their com-
pany H211, LLC. If such a deal had been accepted previously, “Obama would have been criticized for playing favorites with some of his supporters,” Siegel said, referring to Google’s founders. The other scenario is that NASA will move forward on its wish to dump the airfield and Hangar One with the help of the General Services Administration. NASA has complained of the cost of operating and maintaining the hangars and See MOFFETT FIELD, page 8
VIEWPOINT 19 | GOINGS ON 26 | MARKETPLACE 27 | REAL ESTATE 29