By Julia Cooper

The master planning process for the Cuesta Park Annex in Mountain View enters the preliminary stages this week as city officials gather public input through questionnaires and consultant interviews.

The future of the 12.5-acre open-space parcel of city-owned property adjacent to Cuesta Park is under debate among residents who have differing visions for use of the land. The Mountain View City Council agreed to limit the Annex to open space and recreational uses, and invite public participation in the planning process.

Nancy Vandenberg, youth resources manager for the city manager’s office, said Annex options have not been narrowed down yet.

“We are in the beginning stages right now,” Vandenberg said. “The planning process at this point is really just trying to get community input.”

Questionnaires requesting citizens’ ideas were made available July 18. The survey asks residents about their objectives and concerns for the future use of the Annex, strategies or actions to achieve objectives, and measures to judge the success of the planning process. The questionnaires are available at City Hall, the library, the Cuesta Tennis Center and on the city’s Web site at www.mountainview.gov, and should be completed and submitted in the cardboard boxes next to survey locations or to the Office of the City Manager by Monday.

Vandenberg said the city will collect a broad array of ideas from the public before reducing the options. Two community workshops are scheduled 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 29 and Aug. 19 at 500 Castro St., Mountain View, which Vandenberg encourages residents to attend.

Stakeholders who represent specific interests, including neighborhood associations and non-profit groups, will be interviewed this week about their desires for the site by HDR/LCA+Sargent Town Planning, the consultants the city hired to assist in the Annex planning process.

Residents’ suggestions so far have included preserving the Annex as open space, developing sports grounds and erecting a historical museum on the site.

Robert Schick of Save Open Space, a Mountain View community action group, said their objectives are to keep the site as a public and natural open space.

Wally Erichsen, Mountain View Historical Association committee member, said the MVHA’s concept for the land includes a heritage orchard, a barn and a museum that will emphasize “ethnic group contributions to Mountain View’s history and recording and celebrating diversity.”

“We’re trying to build a sense of community through individual and group accomplishments,” Erichsen said.

For more information about the Cuesta Park Annex master planning process, contact Deputy City Manager Linda Forsberg at 903-6301 or via e-mail at city.mgr@mountainview.gov.