Mountain View YIMBY

Dear Mountain View City Council:

Dear Mayor Abe-Koga and the members of council, The Mountain View chapter of South Bay YIMBY appreciates the opportunity to comment on Agenda Item 3.1. Displacement Response Strategy Update.

We’ve read the Staff report and we support its recommendations. We find especially important the emphasis on Acquisition/Preservation Program. We encourage the City Council to award the grant for developing the options for sustainable funding for this program as soon as possible and to consider a wide range of funding sources.

The Staff report indicated that “COVID-19 could lower apartment property values and/or cause landlords to sell their properties due to financial distress. This may create an opportunity for the private sector to purchase apartment buildings now and redevelop them later, when the market recovers.” Can the city also use this opportunity for the Acquisition/Preservation Program? What would it take to do so?

The report acknowledged that “the redevelopment of CSFRA units into new rentals with SB 330 replacement and relocation requirements were highly infeasible unless there were very significant increases in density and and/or reductions to other development standards (e.g., lower parking requirements).” We expect that the acknowledgment of this issue, which was always our great concern, will be followed by developing policies that will significantly increase density and/or lower parking requirements. We urge the City Council to seize the opportunity to raise the profile of this issue.

Best Regards,

Michael Abramson

Mountain View YIMBY