MVCSP comments on 7.1 Mixed-Use Project at 749 West El Camino Real to City of Mountain View City Council
Mountain View MVCSP
Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning
c/o Aaron Grossman
817 Montgomery Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
November 18, 2025
City of Mountain View City Council
City Hall, 500 Castro Street
PO Box 7540
Mountain View, CA 94039-7540
Re: 7.1 Mixed-Use Project at 749 West El Camino Real
Dear Mayor Kamei and City Council members:
The Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning (MVCSP) appreciates the opportunity to comment on this agenda item you will be discussing at your meeting on tonight. We have reviewed the agenda item materials, and we have the following comments we would like to share with you.
The Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning (MVCSP) would like to voice our strong support for the mixed use project at 749 West El Camino Real in Mountain View.
We have had several presentations with the developer, where they also responded to our questions, comments, and concerns. Our members have been highly supportive of the project as it provides additional housing options for Mountain View, including affordable options. And it provides good infrastructure for those walking, biking, and using transit through the area, and includes impressive design elements, with attention to reuse of elements from the current buildings. It also will take full advantage of the bikeway improvements recently implemented by Caltrans with extensive collaboration with the City of Mountain View.
We do encourage the development team to do all that they can to activate the front plaza areas, with sufficient natural shade, water fountains, and the least amount of hardscaping possible. All four corners of the intersection are insufficiently activated at the present time. We also encourage the developer to install no artificial turf at the project site. This material is environmentally damaging, exacerbates the increasing heat island effect, and is just not aesthetically pleasing. We feel that not using this material should be a condition for development approval.
We will likely have comments on how credit for community benefits are being calculated, but I will plan on addressing this during verbal public comments at the meeting.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
Bruce England
for the Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning
cc:
Margaret Netto, Senior Planner
Christian Murdock, Community Development Director
Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager
Heather Glaser, City Clerk
Kathy Thibodeaux, KM Thibodeaux Consulting LLC
Dan Deibel, Greystar
About Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning
The Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning is a local volunteer-based organization dedicated to making Mountain View as beautiful, economically healthy, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian accessible, and affordable as possible. MVCSP member interest and expertise covers areas such as housing, transportation, the environment, the economy, and beyond!
For more information, see http://www.mvcsp.org.
To contact us, send email to mvcsp...@gmail.co