MVLA Voter Guide, endorsements INSIDE
OCTOBER 12, 2018 VOLUME 26, NO. 38
www.MountainViewOnline.com
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MOVIES | 21
LASD board punts on use of 10th campus UNKNOWN IF NEW SCHOOL WILL SERVE NEARBY MOUNTAIN VIEW RESIDENTS By Kevin Forestieri
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VERONICA WEBER
Marijuana buds are displayed at a dispensary in San Jose. Mountain View is poised to become the second Santa Clara County city to allow marijuana stores and is asking voters to approve a new tax on sales.
Voters to decide on two tax measures MEASURE P RAISES FEES ON BUSINESSES; MEASURE Q TAXES MARIJUANA SALES By Mark Noack
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ountain View voters will see two tax initiatives on their Nov. 6 ballots. Measures P and Q — a business license update and a cannabis tax,
respectively — are both designed to pay for expanding city services without requiring much in the way of sacrifice from residents. If passed, the tax measures are expected to raise somewhere in the neighborhood
of $7 million annually, which would help pay for transportation improvements, affordable housing and other services. See TAX MEASURES, page 13
Council may put curbs on vehicle dwellers VOTE TO FUND TERRA BELLA SAFE PARKING SITE COULD PAVE WAY FOR NEW RESTRICTIONS By Mark Noack
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ver the last couple of years, a political debate has played out in Mountain View over whether to take a tougher stance toward the hundreds of people living in their vehicles. More than any other issue, City Council members say they have heard complaints from frustrated residents who are fed up with the sight of squalid
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motor homes and trailers. Last spring, a thin majority on the council rejected calls to take stricter measures such as parking restrictions, saying it would only shoo the problem elsewhere. Mountain View needs to hold off a little longer, at least until the homeless population has another viable place to go, they argued. One potential alternative materialized at the Tuesday, Oct. 9, council meeting. A proposal by
the affordable housing nonprofit Palo Alto Housing would temporarily use one of its vacant lots as a safe parking site for people living out of vehicles. The location at 1020 Terra Bella Ave. is intended for affordable housing, but that project is expected to take years to develop. In the meantime, the site reportedly has enough space to host up to 11 vehicles. See VEHICLE DWELLERS, page 14
VIEWPOINT 15 | GOINGS ON 22 | MARKETPLACE 23 | REAL ESTATE 25
he Mountain View City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that will pave the way for a new school in the San Antonio region of Mountain View. But factoring into the decision are plenty of unknowns, after Los Altos School District trustees avoided making concrete decisions on who will attend the future school. Trustees argued at a board meeting Monday night that the future is far too hazy to decide whether the new 10th campus should serve students residing in the Mountain View portion of the district, or Bullis Charter School — or even an unknown third option. Nothing was taken off the table at the Oct. 8 board meeting, with board members instead calling for construction of a school with maximum “flexibility” that could fit a multitude of uses. Board members have met in closed session six times in the last few weeks to work out the final details of a land purchase for a new school, which would be located at the corner of Showers Drive and California Street. It’s unclear how much the district will pay for the roughly 9.6 acres of property, but cost of land in the area has been estimated in the past to be between $10-15 million per acre. In order to offset the cost, the school district has sought help from the city of Mountain View. Barring a decision to reverse course next week, council members are expected to authorize contributing $23 million in park fees in exchange for use of field space, and permit the district to “sell” any unused allowable density on the site to developers to defray the costs. The so-called TDRs (transfer of development
rights) are expected to generate $79.3 million, essentially pushing dense developments into other parts of Mountain View. Some council members have expressed uneasiness signing off on the financial help until they know what kind of school will go on the San Antonio site, but school board members maintain that decision would be premature in such a volatile situation. It’s unclear what facilities Bullis Charter School will require, as the charter school prepares to grow by more than 30 percent. Negotiations for buying the land are also still ongoing, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to “spin everyone up” about the use of the site if the land hasn’t even been secured, said board member Steve Taglio. “I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that it’s going to happen,” Taglio said. Board member Bryan Johnson said he understands the city wants a clear plan for the school by the Oct. 16 council meeting, but he said it’s difficult to conjure up a specific plan when there are so many unknowns with regard to enrollment changes and what the Bullis Charter School community wants. Putting a flag in the ground now when the situation could radically change in the next two or three years would be a mistake, he said. After the meeting, Johnson told the Voice that he agrees a neighborhood school would be a huge benefit to the San Antonio neighborhood, but it’s unclear if an elementary school is going to be the best use of the site for “education purposes” in the near term. “This neighborhood deserves a neighborhood school as much as other neighborhoods, in the See 10TH CAMPUS, page 9