Mountain View Breaks Rank—Approves Large Amount of New Residential Land Uses

According to a new plan approved by the city of Mountain View, developers could now add a large amount of dense housing on the doorstep of Google's headquarters.

1 minute read

March 8, 2016, 8:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"Last week the city council in Mountain View, California, took a significant step toward addressing Silicon Valley's housing affordability crisis," reports Timothy B. Lee. "The city approved a new planning document [pdf] for its North Bayshore district that envisions the creation of up to 10,250 units of high-density housing. Mountain View only has about 32,000 households total, so that would be a substantial 32 percent increase."

Lee describes the decision as a victory for Google and good news for the Silicon Valley housing crisis. The question remains, however, "whether this represents an isolated victory for housing advocates or whether it's the start of a trend toward denser development in Silicon Valley more broadly."

Monday, March 7, 2016 in Vox

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