By Pete Borello
Mountain View may soon earn worldwide recognition for something other than being a hub for high-tech industry.
If the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee has its way, Mountain View will be home to the Olympic Village in 2012.
The BASOC’s nearly 700-page bid to bring the 2012 Summer Games to the Bay Area, announced June 6, includes building an Olympic Village at Mountain View’s Moffett Field.
The village would include approximately 3,000 units, according to BASOC communications director Tony Winnicker, and house between 10,000 and 11,000 Olympic athletes. It would be constructed on 75 acres located near Moffett’s main gate, where military housing stands today. The hangars would be used as media facilities.
The U.S. Navy vacated Moffett in 1994 and the airfield was transformed into the NASA Ames Research Center.
Although no one from NASA Ames would comment on the proposed Olympic Village, Winnicker said NASA and the military are “enthusiastic” about it.
Location played a big part in why the BASOC selected Moffett for the site of its village, according to Winnicker. It is near many of the venues, including the Game’s centerpiece, Stanford Stadium. Moffett is easily accessible by both the 280 and 101 freeways. It is also close to an array of public transportation, including Caltrain, light rail and buses.
Winnicker said some of the athletes may be transported to their events via public transportation, most likely Caltrain, which should help reduce traffic in the area.
And what about concerns that the Games will cause a traffic nightmare in the Bay Area?
“They thought the traffic was going to be horrible during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t a problem,” Winnicker said. “In L.A., people stayed off the roads and we’re hoping that will happen here.”
The Olympic Village would cost $800 million, “with some of the money coming from us and some from private developers interested in selling them after the games,” Winnicker said.
When he says, “us,” Winnicker means the BASOC. The group estimates it would need to raise $2.2 billion in private funds to host the games.
After the two-week Olympic Games are over, Winnicker said the units at Moffett would be sold as affordable housing to seniors, teachers and public safety officers.
“It will be one of the legacies the Games will leave behind,” he said. “It will also help with the housing needs in the area.”
And this won’t be standard housing, either.
“We want it to be a model of sustainable development that’s environmentally friendly,” Winnicker said. “It will use passive construction techniques, which minimize the need for artificial heating and cooling. It will actually contribute to the energy grid.”
The units would use solar power and feature cool-roof technology. Window placement and overhangs would limit the amount of direct sunlight inside the homes.
Of course, talk of such a village and the Olympic Games coming to the Bay Area from July 27 to Aug. 27, 2012, is all speculative at this point.
“This is only a bid, obviously, but we think we’re a strong contender,” Winnicker said. “A great group of people put this bid together.”
The United States Olympic Committee will decide in the fall which of the eight cities bidding for the 2012 Games will be the U.S. candidate. Other contenders include Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Tampa, Fla. and Washington D.C.
The USOC will then submit its choice to the International Olympic Committee, which won’t select a winner until 2005.
