Mountain View passes visionary El Camino Real Precise Plan

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Nov 26

Great news from Mountain View! At the final study session for the El Camino Real Precise Plan, City Council voted to approve the plan with several changes suggested by the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC). The final version of the plan contains details for bicycle access that seemed like a non-starter a year ago, when SVBC first started our campaign on this issue. The plan now explicitly outlines a vision for buffered or separated bike lanes along the corridor, as development and land use changes permit the removal of on-street parking. Additionally, the plan specifically calls for bike infrastructure between Calderon Avenue and the Sunnyvale border, as well as a gap closure that would allow people to travel safely by bike on El Camino Real through offset intersections "such as where El Monte Avenue and Escuela Avenue intersect with El Camino Real." Following a recommendation from the EPC, original language suggesting that bicycle improvements should be implemented "gradually, over time," will be struck from the final plan. Other bicycle accommodations in the plan include bicycle parking, encouragement of Bay Area Bike Share expansion along the corridor, and a parallel bike boulevard along Church and Latham Streets.Also included in the plan are significant improvements for pedestrian comfort and safety. These include widened sidewalks, improved landscaping, additional crosswalks, curb bulbouts, better lighting, and improved access to transit. SVBC conducted our advocacy campaign in close partnership with other community organizations. What originally began in late 2013 as a collaboration between us, Greenbelt Alliance, and Peninsula Interfaith Action (now known as SFOP/PIA), eventually grew to include four other local organizations: Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning, Safe Mountain View, Great Streets Mountain View, and Friends of Caltrain. Our co-authored letter with comments on the final draft of the Precise Plan can be found here.In addition to our goals for active transportation, our coalition of community groups was pushing hard for a clear and ambitious goal for affordable housing in the plan. Though we fell short of having a 25% affordable housing goal explicitly called out, the plan does now list affordable housing as one of its guiding principles, and lists it as a priority community benefit that developers can contribute to in exchange for increased density.Thanks so much to our partners on this project, as well as the Great Communities Collaborative, under whose leadership we were able to work. A special thanks from me to the many SVBC members who kept up with this issue, attended countless meetings, spread the word, got neighbors involved, talked with city staff and council members, and blogged. It's no exaggeration to say we would not have been successful without your involvement!The next step for SVBC is to work with Mountain View staff as they prepare an El Camino Real bicycle facility study, as called for in the plan's Implementation Actions section. Stay tuned!