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JANUARY 26, 2018 VOLUME 26, NO. 1
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City weighs three new tax measures MARIJUANA SHOPS, HOTEL STAYS, PER-EMPLOYEE TAXES COULD GO ON NOVEMBER BALLOT companies and an increase on the local hotel tax that would s many as three new tax help capture short-term rentals measures are being pre- like Airbnb. Each of the taxes pared for the November represent efforts to catch up with election, but city officials want to businesses that may fall outside make sure they don’t overreach. of current city regulations. Exactly how much money At their Tuesday, Jan. 23, the city could gain meeting, City depends on the Council members approved a ‘Mountain View details. In general, slate of research the tax on large and polling to needs to have employers would determine which a sustainable be the city’s taxes would have attempt to draw the best odds of winning at the stream of revenues more revenues companies ballot box. In to help reduce from like Google, which a unanimous vote, members traffic congestion.’ are considered to be a major source approved spending $72,000 for COUNCILMAN JOHN MCALISTER of regional traffic congestion. Cities staffing and such as San Jose polling for the have already begun charging tax measures. City officials emphasized businesses $60 per employee if that the three proposed taxes they have more than three workwon’t affect the pocketbooks of ers. If Mountain View adopted most Mountain View residents. similar rules, it would reportThese ideas include a surcharge edly generate about $3.2 million on future marijuana sales in annually. the city, a new per-employee See TAX MEASURES, page 12 fee aimed at the city’s largest By Mark Noack
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Craig Oku is the owner of Moffett Mobile Home Park, one of the city’s smaller parks that could be impacted if rent control is extended to the spaces rented by mobile home owners.
Committee reverses on mobile home rent control PARK OWNERS AND TENANTS BOTH THREATEN TO SUE OVER EXTENDING RENT PROTECTIONS By Mark Noack
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urrounded by legal threats on all sides, Mountain View’s Rental Housing Committee on Monday backed away from plans to bring the city’s mobile home residents
under the aegis of rent control. The decision was a reversal of last month’s meeting when rental committee members acquiesced to the advice of their attorneys to begin drafting new regulations for mobile homes. The Monday, Jan 22, meeting
was intended to lay out the policy framework and process for extending rent control to about 1,100 mobile homes in Mountain View under the voter-approved Community See MOBILE HOMES, page 8
MV Whisman school board favors Cooper Park housing UP TO 82 AFFORDABLE UNITS COULD BE BUILT FOR TEACHERS AND STAFF, FINANCED BY SELLING SINGLE-FAMILY LOTS By Kevin Forestieri
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esponding to an overwhelming need by local school teachers for more affordable housing, Mountain View Whisman School District board members agreed last week to explore building workforce housing at Cooper Park, transforming a portion of the districtowned land into three-story townhouses for school staff.
INSIDE
Last year, the district commissioned a feasibility study to figure out whether it would be possible to build below-marketrate housing units for its teachers and classified employees. The goal was to provide some kind of financial incentive for prospective teachers — as well as relief for current teachers — in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. The 71-page report, released
earlier this month, shows how the district could leverage its vacant land at the former Whisman Elementary as well as Cooper Park in order to finance housing construction at sites all over the district, including on small areas at schools like Bubb, Huff and Landels. School board members largely favored focusing on teacher housing at the 9.5 acres of district land at Cooper Park on Eunice Avenue.
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Among the proposals, the school board could choose to build 82 studios and one- and two-bedroom townhouses in the center of Cooper Park, and finance the project by selling off 36 single-family residential lots along the edges of the property at market rate. Assuming that each lot is worth about $1 million, the district can use the city’s strong real estate market to finance an otherwise cost-prohibitive
teacher housing project, said Leah Denman, a consultant with DCG Strategies. “You would still continue to own the middle section (of Cooper Park), but the perimeter would fund the development of your workforce housing, making it cost-neutral,” Denman told board members at the Jan. 18 meeting. See COOPER PARK, page 11