Mountain View weighs options to increase density in multifamily residential areas

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While often touted for its commitment to housing, Mountain View has its fair share of struggles when it comes to residential redevelopment. Many projects in recent years have done little to replace or add to the number of homes that already exist, and the price tag on new housing is often unaffordable to most.

The issue is particularly pronounced in parts of the city zoned for apartments, condominiums and row homes. Known as the R3 zoning district, the area covers about half of the city’s multifamily residences and nearly all of its rent-controlled units.

On Tuesday evening, the City Council dug into the details on the city’s major revamp of R3 zoning regulations, ultimately settling on a plan to explore density changes in targeted areas, with a particular focus on promoting housing diversity and growth on larger-sized properties.

In a 4-2 vote, the council supported the proposal, with Council members Margaret Abe-Koga and Lisa Matichak opposed, at the April 9 meeting. Council member Ellen Kamei was absent for the proceedings.

From the onset of the study session, the issue of density posed some challenges for council members. Rather than promote “density for density’s sake,” the council – at the urging of public commentators – preferred to view higher density as a tool rather than a priority for zoning changes.

“I would prefer to be asked, ‘what do we want to achieve,’ and then to be provided analysis demonstrating how variations in density can help us achieve those goals,” said Council member Lucas Ramirez, setting the tone for the rest of the discussion.

For Ramirez, tactical increases in density would bring about many of the desired outcomes that the council has identified as top priorities for the city, like more housing diversity. As it stands, the status quo was not delivering, Ramirez said, noting that in recent years, mostly rowhouses have been built in the R3 district, falling short of the community’s needs.

“We may not be able to achieve everything with just density and development standards, but we probably could achieve a lot more with different standards than we have in place today,” he said.

Council members Abe-Koga and Matichak expressed a more skeptical view to the targeted density, stating that they would rather apply a holistic approach to rezoning, preferably in the form of a precise plan or general plan update, that also would take into account parks, walkable streets and proximities to commercial retail.

“I really think that’s the way we achieve what we’re trying to achieve in terms of great neighborhoods, that is inclusive of all of the elements of a neighborhood, not just increased housing,” Abe-Koga said.

Abe-Koga also stated her desire for more stacked housing that would support ownership opportunities for the city’s “missing middle,” households that earn too much to qualify for affordable housing but still are priced out of the market.

Dawn Cameron, acting assistant city manager and community development director, identified this as a challenge for the city, not because stacked flats wouldn’t support housing diversity and growth, but rather because developers were choosing not to build them. Instead, they have been developing more rental apartments, as seen in Sunnyvale, she said.

But for some council members, adding more rental units to the city’s housing stock was not as desirable. Mountain View already was a city for renters, Mayor Pat Showalter said, adding that she also would like to see more home ownership opportunities.

Taking a broader view, Council member Emily Ann Ramos questioned the silo effect of the study session, noting that the issue of housing growth and diversity in the R3 district was intimately connected to other council priorities, like its anti-displacement strategy and green space initiatives.

But separating them has artificially pitted the priorities against each other, Ramos said, noting that it was possible to advocate for more housing development, tenant protections and parks at the same time. “We want these to actually be looked at together, that they are supposed to be uplifting each other,” she said.

Another challenging area for council members was deciding on whether to move forward with the categorization of the R3 district into five sub-districts. The sub-districts correspond to different residential areas of low, medium and high density, that have buildings of different scale – some the size of a house, while others spread over an entire block. The building heights also vary, depending on the type of dwelling, with some as low as two and a half stories, like duplexes and townhouses, and others going up to six stories as mid-rises.

For Ramirez, the sub-districts are a useful way to target housing density that is context-specific to particular blocks and neighborhoods. It allows the city to apply more refined and precise development standards, he said.

But Abe-Koga and Matichak were hesitant to support the sub-districts without first seeing where they would be placed.

Cameron encouraged the council to support the sub-districts, if only as a placeholder, to give staff the direction they needed to identify areas that could accommodate different building sizes, density and character.

Council member Alison Hicks, who initially supported the idea of the sub-districts, switched her vote, and then changed it back again, to prevent a 3-3 deadlock and provide clear direction to city staff in a 4-2 vote.

The council members, in another 4-2 vote, also supported an approach to rezone and change standards for the R3 district that would take longer, around two years, but would reduce some redundancy and cost less than a phased approach. On the flip side, it would miss housing element deadlines, which concerned Matichak.

But Ramirez, citing the example of the city’s emergency shelters rezoning, said that the state was receptive to jurisdictions working in a good faith effort to address its housing obligations and could provide reasonable accommodations for delays. A staunch advocate for updating R3 zoning regulations, he said this should remain a top priority for the city going forward.

“Personally, this is the most important project on our council work plan. It’s the one I have spent most of the time thinking about over the past several years. To the point where I think it’s a little unhealthy,” Ramirez said.