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Published on 08/31/1998 All articles from this issue

LASD concerned over student impacts from massive MV housing plan

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

The proposed construction of twin 10-story apartment towers along El Camino Real in Mountain View had parents and officials from the Los Altos School District up in arms last week at a public hearing at Mountain View City Hall.

About 30 residents, mostly from Los Altos, attended the Sept. 2 meeting - the seventh public hearing since developers from Bay Apartment Communities proposed the twin towers late last year.

Los Altos residents criticized the proposal, saying the project could bring more children into the school district, causing overcrowding at the schools, particularly Almond School. The project, if approved, will be located within the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High and the Los Altos School districts.

Plans for the two structures, at 2400 El Camino West between Ortega Avenue and Showers Drive, include 127 one-bedroom units, 95 two-bedroom units and 16 three-bedroom units. They will range in size from 850 to 2,000 square feet.

School officials say the towers could bring in as many as 142 new students to the elementary district and add about eight to the high school district.

"I think that number could be up to 100, but we just don't know," said Marge Gratiot, superintendent of the Los Altos School District.

Developer Dan Murphy said he expects the project to attract few families.

"Our experience suggests that there will be no tremendous amount of students from this style (of apartments)," Murphy said. "This project is simply not family-style."

In the city's report, studies show the impact of the project on the school districts as "not significant."

According to state law, the elementary district can collect $1.23 per residential square foot and the high school district can collect 51 cents per square foot in one-time school-impact fees from the developer. This amount is intended to offset the project's potential impacts on the public school system.

Officials from the Los Altos School District said they don't expect the standard impact fees authorized under state law to be adequate enough to mitigate the potential school impacts.

Shelly Emerson, senior assistant attorney for the city of Mountain View, said the city's ability to require additional fees is restricted under state law.

The city can deny the project or impose the standard impact fees, but it can not raise the fees unless a school district can make a finding that overcrowding exists, she said.

"The ball is the school district's court," Emerson said.

Gratiot said under state law, the district must prove over-crowding at each of its schools. Because Covington School is not open, the district can not prove overcrowding, she said.

"That doesn't mean Almond will not be overcrowded," she said. Gratiot said in the past the district has asked developers for additional voluntary fees and for the council to deny or alter projects.

The Mountain View City Council was scheduled to look at the city planner's recommendations during last Tuesday's regular meeting, which was to include scaled-down alternatives.