INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Holiday Spirit 2019 NOVEMBER 22, 2019 VOLUME 27, NO. 43
www.MountainViewOnline.com
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MOVIES | 19
Housing advocates expect to overturn parking ban DEADLINE NEARS BUT REFERENDUM EXPECTED TO GAIN 3,700 SIGNATURES By Mark Noack
H
MAGALI GAUTHIER
A purple fire hydrant, part of a plumbing system for recycled water, stands outside new Google buildings under construction in North Bayshore. A new water purification plant is expected to more than double Mountain View’s use of recycled water.
Mountain View pitches in $3M for regional recycled water facility TREATED WASTEWATER IS TOO SALTY FOR WATERING SOME PLANTS By Kevin Forestieri
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n a bid to rapidly expand recycled water use in the northern parts of the city, Mountain View City Council members voted unanimously
Monday night to join a regional partnership to construct a $20 million water purification facility. Once built, the city is expected to ramp up recycled water use from 400,000 gallons per day to 1 million.
The three-way deal between the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the cities of Mountain View and Palo Alto tackles a long-standing problem that See WATER, page 7
ousing advocates said Wednesday that they plan to deliver a referendum petition with thousands of voter signatures to City Hall later this week in an effort to overturn a sweeping RV ban that they see as an attack on the homeless. If the referendum qualifies, it would force the City Council to rescind last month’s action to prohibit large vehicles from parking on most streets in Mountain View. If the council wishes to pursue the RV ban, it would need to go before voters to decide. The referendum takes aim at an ordinance passed on Oct. 22 that banned all vehicles more than 7 feet high, 7 feet wide or 22 feet long from parking on most city streets. Under the proposed rules, this ban is expected to close nearly all of Mountain View’s suburban neighborhoods to large vehicles, including RVs and trailers. While presented by city officials as a traffic safety measure, the parking ban was widely interpreted as a crackdown on
the city’s surging homeless population. For years, the number of homeless individuals in Mountain View has been growing, and the most visible sign of it is several large encampments where people live out of their vehicles. Ever since the parking ban was first proposed, advocates with the Housing Justice Coalition warned they would work to overturn it. Under city rules, ordinances approved by the City Council do not take effect for 30 days, and they can be overturned through a citizen petition process. To qualify, a referendum petition must include signatures from about 10% of the registered voters in Mountain View, which equates to more than 3,700 individuals. Housing Justice Coalition members have been working around the clock to collect signatures ever since the council’s decision, said Edie Keating, an organizer with the group. About 100 volunteers with Housing Justice and the Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America have See PARKING BAN, page 15
City approves four-story downtown office project By Mark Noack
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ight across from Mountain View’s main transit center, a new four-story office building is being slated for development. At its Monday, Nov. 18 meeting, the City Council gave unanimous approval to plans by the San Francisco-based firm Marwood to build a new 28,000-squarefoot office complex in the heart
INSIDE
of downtown. Located at the corner of West Evelyn Avenue and Hope Street, the lot where the new office building would go is currently occupied by a Subway franchise and low-density commercial space. Those buildings would need to be demolished to make way for the office tower, but Marwood representatives promised they would include about 6,500 square feet of new retail
space on the ground floor. “We feel this will deliver a suite of benefits to the city and the public,” said Tim McEnery, Marwood director. “We want to improve the downtown existence and we’re trying to go beyond our commitments.” More challenging was the issue of parking, which has been a major hurdle for most See OFFICE PROJECT, page 14
VIEWPOINT 16 | WEEKEND 17 | GOINGS ON 20 | REAL ESTATE 21
COURTESY OF CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
A four-story office building on Evelyn Avenue in downtown Mountain View got City Council approval, although plans for its parking garage are still being worked out.