A Mountain View neighborhood community is protesting the rezoning of commercial offices on Miramonte Avenue as a potential housing site.
The Environmental Planning Commission voted unanimously at a meeting Nov. 5 to recommend to the city council passage of zoning updates, which would change zoning at 1702 and 1704 Miramonte Ave. and 777 Cuesta Drive commercial office to neighborhood mixed use, which allows up to 30 units per acre.
The zoning changes, which must be ratified by the city council, are prescribed as part of the city’s housing element, a planning document which guides new housing growth. The state-mandated housing target dictates that the city must develop over 11,000 new units through 2031.
Kristen Lenart, a nearby neighbor, called the intersection of Miramonte Avenue and Cuesta Drive as a “chokepoint” of traffic, transportation and commerce. She said she lived across the street from the proposed development site in a residential neighborhood.
“We’re pro zoning, development and affordable housing, but essentially not all sites are created equal,” she said. “This is extraordinarily not viable.”
The neighborhood group has garnered 641 petition signatures in support of the effort to void the zoning plan, she said. The organizers said their top concerns are for youth and pedestrian safety; and traffic impacts of new development. They’ve called for a detailed, spot-specific traffic and safety analysis at the sites.
Prerna Dillon, another nearby resident, said the impact to quality of life for existing residents outweighed the benefits of new housing at the site.
“We’ve been looking at this from the city planning perspective. This intersection is highly dangerous,” she said.
According to the city’s housing element, the parcel size at 1702 Miramonte is 0.75 acres. It was not included in the city’s prior housing element from 2015 to 2023 and is zoned for 15 units priced for the city’s moderate income level. The site currently includes a one-story dental office built in 1955.
A representative for the property owner declined to comment.
The commissioners framed the approval as contingent on meeting the requirements of the housing element. The commissioners emphasized that there would be an added level of city review at the point of a potential development at the site. No housing development has been proposed at this time.
“There’s nothing in this that says that they can do away with anything that’s part of the normal process. It is still simply saying this land use is permitted but you still have to go about the normal process,” commissioner William Cranston said.
Commissioner Joyce Lin said, “I sympathize with those who have taken the time and effort to come speak … we are required to follow through and unfortunately we are where we are.”
Christian Murdock, the city’s community development director, said at the meeting the limited discretion to null the zoning changes could be related to small business retention. He also noted that the analysis of the site for housing was “less precise” than a review associated with an actual proposed housing development.
“There are a lot of unknowns because we don’t know exactly what projects are going to look like,” he said. “We can’t know that until a development actually comes through.”
Maximum building height would be 45 feet under the new zoning guidelines, he said. The existing zoning allows for 35 feet.
Not all commenters at the Nov. 5 meeting opposed development at the site.
“I see this change as an extension of, rather than disruption to, the existing neighborhood and I am excited to see a positive change in our city’s development happen in a place I know and love,” Zoe Martin said during the meeting.
