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FEBRUARY 2, 2018 VOLUME 26, NO. 2
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Council OKs 62 new affordable apartments RENTAL UNITS EXPECTED TO COST $39M TO BUILD of the displaced tenants would have access to temporary houshe Mountain View City ing, and the option to receive Council happily threw one of the new units when its support behind plans they’re finished. The most complex facet of the to build 62 new affordable apartments in the Jackson Park Shorebreeze expansion was its neighborhood — but they won’t arcane financing plan. The $38.8 million project come cheap. needed to draw At an estifrom a varimated cost of ‘It’s always an ety of sourc$38.8 million, es, including the project at exciting day when nearly $14 mil460 N. Shorelion in federal line Boulevard would be the we get to vote to add tax credits and about $14 milmost expenmore affordable lion more in sive affordable federal loans. housing projhousing.’ On top of ect, per-unit, COUNCILMAN KEN ROSENBERG that, the origiever undertaknal housing en in Mountain package also View. requested to Despite the price tag, council members borrowing $6.3 million from at the Jan. 30 meeting swiftly the city of Mountain View. approved the project in a unani- Ahead of the Tuesday meeting, MidPen officials informed the mous vote. The new housing would be an city they needed to increase that expansion of the existing 120- loan to $7.32 million to accomunit Shorebreeze Apartments. modate rising market costs. For about 30 years, Shorebreeze Exact details on how that loan has been managed by Mid- would be repaid will be sorted Pen Housing, one of Northern out in negotiations led by the California’s largest affordable city manager’s office. Each apartment unit will cost housing nonprofits. Given the soaring costs of land and con- about $626,000 to construct, struction, it made sense to add making it the city’s most expendensity to already established sive affordable housing built properties, said Peter Villareal, to date. Palo Alto Housing’s MidPen’s housing development 62-unit project that is currently under construction at 1701 W. director. “We’re trying to find an El Camino Real is costing about opportunity to leverage a great $424,000 per unit, according to location at a low market cost,” he city reports. Meanwhile, a 116said. “It’s so hard to find afford- unit ROEM project now being able land in Mountain View, built at 779 E. Evelyn Ave ended but we have to make sure we’re up costing about $538,000 per finding ways to build affordable apartment. Once built, the new aparthousing for families.” To that end, MidPen’s pro- ments are expected to be priced posal calls for demolishing 12 at about 50 percent of the going existing apartments and replacSee SHOREBREEZE, page 9 ing them with 62 new units. All By Mark Noack
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MICHELLE LE
Jill Denny’s choir class practices inside a modified classroom at Mountain View High School. Newly approved plans call for larger choir and ensemble space at both Mountain View and Los Altos high schools.
MVLA board set to approve $295M bond measure ENROLLMENT GROWTH, AGING FACILITIES SPUR CONSTRUCTION PLANS AT HIGH SCHOOLS By Kevin Forestieri
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alling it necessary to accommodate a swelling enrollment on alreadypacked campuses, Mountain View-Los Altos High School District board members are
expected to vote next week on a $295 million bond measure. The measure would require 55 percent of the vote to pass and would be placed on the June 5 ballot. If approved, the bond would help pay for massive construction plans spelled out in the
district’s Facilities Master Plan, which trustees approved last week on a unanimous vote. The plan includes more than $100 million in upgrades to both Mountain View and Los Altos See SCHOOL BOARD, page 6
Teachers’ annual raises likely to shrink AFTER TRAILING ITS PEERS, PAY IN MV WHISMAN DISTRICT IS NOW COMPETITIVE By Kevin Forestieri
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t’s been more than three years since Mountain View Whisman School District teachers, frustrated with low pay, declared an impasse in contract negotiations. The strained relationship between the teachers’ union and the district peaked in 2014 when teachers, in protest, stopped
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participating in coaching, afterschool programs and other work outside of the contract until a bargain was struck. But after several rounds of sizable raises for all district employees, the tenor couldn’t be more different. Two recent studies paid for by the district show that its teachers are now some of the best-compensated in Santa
Clara County when compared to similar elementary school districts. District officials say that teacher pay has finally caught up, and warned that the big salary increases may need to taper off to keep the district solvent in the future. Since the 2013-14 school year, See TEACHER SALARIES, page 9
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