By Town Crier Staff Report

The message sent by Mountain View City councilmembers regarding the 12.5-acre Cuesta Park Annex seems to be: leave it alone. Keeping the annex free of any development was the clear sentiment of the council and residents attending an Oct. 25 study session on the large plot.

The annex is bordered by Cuesta Park and located near the El Camino YMCA and El Camino Hospital. The remaining questions over land use focus on the best use of the open space. Based on council directive, staff aims to develop a framework for a master plan for the site.

The annex includes 3.5 acres the city purchased in 1973 and 9 acres purchased from the Mountain View School District in 1988. The 9 acres made up for open-space land in Shoreline Park targeted for a conference center, which was never built.

The “park land dedication in-lieu fee fund” used to purchase the acreage comes with a stipulation that the annex land be limited to outdoor open space/park uses.

A resident group, Save Open Space in Mountain View, has pushed to keep the annex as open space and wants to “highlight the agricultural heritage of this landmark.” The group notes that the annex contains one of the last remaining prune orchards in Santa Clara County.