With all the talk about providing low-cost housing, would the city approve this project? If so, displaced tenants could find themselves living in their vehicles like RV dwellers parked on Mountain View streets. Oops, I forgot. On 85 percent of the streets in Mountain View, that's unlawful. Oh well...

So, ask any economist if rent control works and the answer is no. All it does is protect the current tenants. And now, a developer wants to add nearly 100 additional units over an existing apartment building and there's a debate? This should be a no-brainer, rubber-stamp, get this thing going now project.

@Tim did you read the details? The number of affordable units offered and 3 1/2 years of rent subsidy to cover the difference between existing and new rent. Our city needs affordable housing and ownership housing. Condos are more affordable for the first time homeowner. A first step to being able to own a home. Maybe not in Los Altos or Atherton. I would encourage council to go ahead with this project!

How are we continually approving housing projects with MORE units when we cannot even support the housing we do have with resources like WATER. Realistically how will we support all these new developments???? I want people to have affordable places to live, but what’s that worth if there’s no water to drink?

I live in the area of this project ~ this project does not fit in the neighborhood, working class neighborhood. There are way too many units with inadequate parking for units. Street parking is not available even now.
We are in a drought….no water issues addressed. This drought could continue off and on for years.
Traffic issues not addressed…..Escuela is a small two lane road with school backup traffic three times a day and a fast drive thru between El Camino n California. This many units would add to the traffic issues. If built, where would the construction workers park? How would the large trucks/equipment bring in the materials without impacting traffic?
There seem to be many VACANT apartments/condo along El Camino, why add more?
So many issues with this project!

Yes, the water crisis is awful. The city may have to stop irrigating its golf course.

Is the article correct that its 29 apartments being razed will be replaced with 29 affordable units with in 121 new units, if that's correct, then, not only are the same number of affordable housing units being retained, but 92 additional units are being created, which also helps with the housing crisis. Are these 29 units permanently affordable or just temporary?

If correct as reported, then this is far better than past projects that either reduced the amount of affordable housing or simply 1-1 swapped older affordable units for newer pricer units.

Earlier comments on water shortages shouldn't apply. Housing demand didn't create new people: living closer to work, densification, and reducing suburban sprawl reduces water usage. If you want to reduce growth, slow down the number of new jobs in Mountain View. A homeowner watering their yard uses far more water than a yardless condo. Web Link If you allow jobs to come to MV, then it's a human right to find ways to house these people. Forcing workers to have to commute far or live unhoused is either more environmentally costly or more costly in social determinants.

I have said repeatedly over the years, Mountain View DOES NOT need more rental units, and proposals for yet more rental units should be disapproved. Rubber stamp, DENIED, done. Mountain View needs more homes that residents can OWN. Condos, townhouses, regular homes.

The scarcity of own-able homes is one of the factors that keeps prices so high. Put more homes people can own on the market, and remove the upward pressure on home prices.

As someone who has rented different apartments in this particular Mountain View neighborhood for two decades, and is part of the service industry, I wonder if all the people who think this is a good idea are home owners? You don’t have to deal with the traffic, noise, pollution & lack of parking. The giant buildings that are going up all around my neighborhood are not only pushing people out, but they are tearing up heritage trees and displacing wildlife for luxury condos. Water and electricity should also be a concern. Anyone who lives in the area near this new proposed development has experienced many random power outages and surges over the years.
The latest development across the street from me took over 2 1/2 years to build, 6 days a week, starting at 7 am. Besides the constant noise and air pollution, a 700 sq ft. apartment is currently going for $4,000+/ mo!! Soon all Mountain View residents will be in tech, since essential workers who’ve managed to survive thus far, mostly thanks to rent control, will be forced to leave. Good luck getting a decent meal at a restaurant when there are no more workers left here to feed and serve you.

Ask any renter if the unregulated rental market works. You get a raise, but your rent goes up by even more. Demoralizing. Why do only those rich enough to buy a home get stable housing costs, thanks to prop13 and a fixed rate mortgage? If our society supports stable housing cost for the rich, then why not also stable housing cost for the working class? That is what rent control provides.
The "affordable ownership opportunity" that is being offered may work out - but there are a lot of questions. Will banks give working families a loan?

I don't understand the Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning (MVCSP) complaint if, as the article states, "The project will have 29 affordable units, and tenants who lived in the apartments will still get the first right of refusal for the newly constructed units at an affordable price -- a cost that's based on the tenants' income." Unless there's some hidden flaw not articulated in the article, that is certainly sounding like affordable housing.

Mountain View's problems are best solved by refusing further employment, denying further development of office buildings, and realizing that the economical and utilitarian value of 60+ year old apartments have run their course. Between city requirements for soft-story seismic retrofitting, plumbing upgrades, electrical upgrades, rent control and a generally hostile attitude toward landlords, is it any wonder these dominoes continue to fall?

Mountain View, and the region as a whole, doesn't need, want or support an influx of more people, more jobs or more housing. There are affordable areas to live and work in many metropolitan areas outside of the Bay Area and state. Employers, please move there. Recent arrivals, please move there. Builders/developers, please invest there.

Big surprise, increased density AND increased prices
People use most of their water for eating actually, so having a yard is a marginal increase and also a necessity to avoid cancer and other diseases
A human being uses a tremendous amount of water. Adding anything but affordable homes in the name of "humanitarianism" is a thinly veiled joke. I'm sure everyone would love a few hundred off their rent, too bad the environment is dying and your pathetic attempts to justify density are ill conceived.