News

The Mountain View City Council fell short of imposing an immediate parking restriction ban on oversized vehicles such as RVs at the council’s lengthy meeting that began Tuesday night (June 11) and went into early Wednesday morning.

 In a meeting that lasted until 3:23 a.m., council members directed staff to return in the fall with a modified ordinance addressing the immediate health and safety issues surrounding oversized vehicles. The fall ordinance could also include daytime restrictions in areas such as Eagle and Rengstorff parks and an overnight ban 2-6 a.m. that could take effect by January.

The controversial issue drew dozens of speakers, most opposing the ban. Protesters gathered outside city hall prior to the meeting. The ACLU protested such a move, deeming the ban unconstitutional. 

The new ordinance for consideration in the fall would address such factors as oversized vehicles parked near driveways, pedestrian crossings and key bike and pedestrian corridors. The council also directed staff to return with an update next March or April on the impacts of the new ordinance and for the council to consider adoption of a full RV ban effective July 1, 2020.

The council also asked staff to provide recommendations for temporary housing and emergency shelter expansion when the city declares an emergency shelter crisis and continue collaborating with county and regional service providers to increase the housing supply, shelter capacity and “permanent housing opportunities.”

For more on the council’s action, see the June 19 print edition.

After allegedly experiencing a parent’s nightmare in January, Doug and Danielle Lother of Mountain View filed a government tort claim against the city and Santa Clara County for what the family deems inappropriate actions by officers and a social worker, respectively. 

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office credits Los Altos Hills’ “diligently alert and aware community” for helping apprehend a potential burglar last week. 

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

DeAnza College students walk past the entrance to the Flint Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday morning. The Foothill-De Anza Community College Board of Trustees has voted to permanently close the 48-year-old facility.

It’s the end of an era. The Foothill-De Anza Community College Board of Trustees Monday night voted to permanently close the Flint Center for the Performing Arts at De Anza College. 

Town Crier File Photo
Officials with Lehigh Southwest Cement Co., pictured, are offering a new reclamation plan that proposes a new 60-acre mining pit.

Limestone quarry and cement processing operations in the foothills just south of Los Altos may intensify under a recently submitted draft plan that calls for Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. digging a new 60-acre pit along Monte Bello Ridge.

Lehigh is also hoping to import fill for its main pit, rather than using mining waste already on-site, as proposed in its 2012 reclamation plan. Importing fill, observers said, could result in hundreds of additional truck trips daily.

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
The El Camino Real-Grant Road intersection is among the most dangerous in Mountain View.

At least 169 traffic collisions took place in Mountain View during the first quarter of the year, a drop from the 187 tallied during the last quarter of 2018, according to the latest quarterly collision reports published on the police department’s website as part of a traffic safety awareness initiative that commenced in June 2018.

“We’re doubling the effort, for those who are interested in traffic data, to be able to access the information easily,” said Frank St. Clair, traffic lieutenant. “It is good public information to share, and as such, we wanted to make sure that our community (is) as informed as possible when they head out on the road.”