New Council needs to CANCEL this bad idea. Who builds a school right near a huge shopping mall?

That will be a NO for me...traffic is horrible as is!!!! And you want to add a school, where would we shop at??? Taking our only mall is bad idea!!! You should added a school at one of the places where you planting ugly sky scrapper looking housing that blocks the views of the mountains. Why bother calling Mountain View when you no long have views!!

Apart from Kohls, what businesses will be lost?

I am assuming that the businesses will be located somewhere else and probably not all together. San Antonio used to be useful for shopping and now we are getting more and more limited in our choice. We will end up having to shop online because the alternatives just involve too much effort to get to.

That stretch of California from about Escuela to Del Medio is gangland central. Constant police activity. Not to mention the Walmart parking lot is becoming another broken-down RV slum. What an idiotic place to put a school.

I feel like this is terrible news for Santa Rita, Almond, and Egan. The most likely outcome if LASD follows through on this purchase is that one of these three schools will be re-located to the 10th site and their current campus will be handed over to BCS.

Which businesses will be kicked out from that area?

Kicked out will be Gamestop, Luu Noodle, T-Mobile and Kohl's from the one big building. The other big building is an overflow space for 24 Hr Fitness but their original location is separate. Also kicked out from the small building on the corner would be Sushi 88 and Pearl Cafe.

Also Joanne Fabric would go as well.

Between JoAnn and Kohl’s is a nicer and newer 24-hour fitness, much better than the old gym that’s over closer to Trader Joe’s. I presume this building would also be gone. Too bad!

"The city of Mountain View is playing a huge role in the district's acquisition plans. Along with the $23 million in park fees, the city is permitting the school district to build a school and "sell" developers the unused building density allowed on the site. District officials plan to sell 610,000 square feet of density rights to developers across the city for a total of $79.3 million." So, exactly how will that adversely affect space for large playgrounds and adequate parking for staff and visitors?

This deal stinks to high heaven. It looks like another high density "affordable" housing development disguised as a public school with very little land left over for the students' recreation and to use as buffer space from the 5 story block houses. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.

Folks you're jumping to conclusions. I don't know how some can say what they say.

All retail businesses will be accommodated in the immediate area and will only be lost at their choosing because three are not doing all that well. LASD provides a way out of their leases.

Others are simply postulating to get as much as they can based on an assortment of "rights."

I'm very glad that there will be fields and park space there. I don't think it's any worse place for school than Castro, which is working out well enough. It will be nice to break up that horrible stretch of strip malls and I won't miss Kohl's and their crappy polyester clothes one bit.

What a stupid idea- building a school on a commercially-zoned lot? The traffic in this location is not pedestrian friendly and more than likely some kid on a bicycle or crossing the street could get hit.

Schools are supposed to be surrounded by residential-zoned areas where the traffic is much slower and more "neighborhood friendly". Having the school in this particular area is going to invite the wrong type of crowd. It will also not be bus-friendly and the traffic for picking up kids mixed with consumer traffic will be a nightmare.

If Kohl's is going, then that means Luu Noodle house as well as Gamestop will be gone as well. I will be pissed if that ever happens. The Noodle house feeds the surrounding community with fast and affordable food. It's the only unique place that offers this type of food and if they're gone, they will never recover because that means trying to find another location that's going to command an even higher lease, which will also mean higher costs of meals.

There is too much GENTRIFICATION going on in this community- it's causing an imbalance of services and people who offer those types of services to be pushed out of the community. Not everyone is a Google employee commanding a six-figure salary and driving around Tesla's not for the benefit of the environment but just to satisfy the stupid status quo.

Are most of these comments from the Bullis Charter School crowd? The comments seem out of place and not germain to the issue of open space plus a school. We want the 11-acres of open space and the school format is of less importance.

Traffic is what it is and we already live here, so...what's with all the negativity?

Many object that the site is to close to commercial and multiple story residential. Sorry folks, there's no other big vacant properties in your ideal location. Welcome to the 21st century.
Others object to losing those businesses. Again sorry, but those will be lost anyway in whatever change of ownership eventually happens. On the plus side, the city has shown it can be responsive to requests to keep displaced businesses nearby.
Others are concerned about kids having to cross busy streets to get home. Do they know how many streets are crossed today by kids returning home from their current schools to this neighborhood.
My impression is that the school district has been searching for a new site for more than five years. My conclusion is that beggars can't be choosers.

People who live in that area are the ones who want Los Altos schools but cannot afford the Los Altos living. If they all congregate in one school, it will be just another MV school - not as bad as Castro (though it might get some Castro kids, dangerously close to it and to the aprtmebt rows of California and Latham) but not nearly as good as Santa Rita.

That is the Santa Clara Superior Court case number for the lawsuit announced at the 12-11-2018 City Council meeting by representatives of the plaintiff "J. Cyril Johnson Family Limited Partnership" (filed 5-11-2018). The Plaintiff alleges it is the successor to agreements going back to 1962 that give it the authority to allow or block uses of parcels at the shopping center. If true, the plaintiff wpuld need to be PAID OFF or another site for the school would need to be obtained. But don't tell anyone. The lawsuit is a SECRET.

Funny seeing all the complaints about building a new school after seeing people complain that we can't build more housing without the requisite infrastructure. At least people like Elena are willing to cut straight to it and say that views of the mountains are more important than housing for humans.

Every other school in the district and city is in a peaceful environment with large outdoor areas, trees, gardens, etc. Then you have this proposed school surrounded by Walmart, speeding traffic, and drug dealers. Which school do you want to send your kid to?

Eminent Domain trumps all property rights including Johnson's.

If Johnson prevails, which I doubt because there is no public record of approving the Merlone Geier development or anything else, then the market value is split differently among these various holders of different rights but the total remains the same.

Even when property interests are taken by EMINENT DOMAIN, the public entity must pay the reasonanle value. But you are saying that the total value of the property interests involved does not change and it is just a question of who gets how much. I'll have to consider that claim further. Two points are clear (1) eminent domain is an extra step that takes extra time and attorney fees, and (2) evidently neither the City nor the LASD advised the press or their constituents about the lawsuit.

It the Los Altos School District really the best organization - to take care of Development Right transfers into Mountain View neighborhoods? That is what the TDR will do, give the stupids in LASD the right to set the development in MV. If LASD wants to Build Expensive Offices (gets more dollars per square foot of Transferred Development Rights) then - BRING THEM OFFICES ON!

'Cause- wherever the new office space is - the managers will live up in Los Altos, and the Mountain View residents, can deal with the future UNPLANNED consequences. HA, HA HA (all the way to the bank - paid for by MOUNTAIN VIEW's Development Rights!)

You are incorrect. The TDRs allow for increased density/development that is administered through City of Mountain View Community Development Department just like any other project. LASD only receives the funds, and has no administration or authority over these TDRs or the projects that use these TDRs.

As a previous blogger stated, much of what is being said in this blog is significantly over stated to the point of being hypothetical or just plain incorrect.

Give us another soccer field, please. The sport is going through the roof in MV and Los Altos.

As for a school... if we had a regional K-12 MVLA school district would we still need this school? Seems we’d just build a pedestrian bridge to Monta Loma and use the excess capacity there...

I think this plan sounds great! Community spaces like schools and parks that serve the neighborhood are always a welcome addition. What better use of land could there be?

Let's just make sure that we take care of bike and pedestrian safety -- that was a big problem with "San Antonio Phase 1" (around the Walmart and Trader Joe's).

And keep upzoning the nearby housing so that more people can walk or bike their kids to school as well as those shops and restaurants.

Why is the whining about building school close to a shopping mall? What is wrong with these people?

It is a perfect location! Parents can easily run errands to pick up take-out dinner. I wish all schools are close to restaurants and groceries.

@badlyneededparkspace and your comment re kohl’s Polyester clothes I don’t think you have been for a while - I know the range improved substantially from when It first opened. Lots of great clothes and homewares - such a shame will now need to get in a car to Macy’s Sunnyvale for a department store experience - more people in traffic on 101.
I will miss having it at San Antonio.