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OMVNA Newsletter July, 2000 Ice Cream Social on Saturday, July 29 The Latest on Neighborhood Preservation OMVNA Seeks Nominations for Next Year's Steering Committee Light Rail Station at Evelyn & 85 Offers Long Term Parking ICE CREAM SOCIAL ON SATURDAY, JULY 29 Mark your calendar for Saturday, July 29, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. to socialize with your Old Mountain View Neighborhood friends and neighbors. It's fun! It's delicious! It's refreshing! It's free! Once again, your neighborhood gourmands will get out their trusty ice cream makers and dish out some rather fabulous homemade sorbet, ice cream and frozen yogurt. We'll provide the ice cold treats, assorted paper goods and musical entertainment! We'll look to you to bring your favorite toppings and/or delicious cookies to share. A guest speaker will talk to us about the Stevens Creek Trail.
The Downtown Beat Watch that spot! The southwest corner of Castro and California may continue to change radically over the summer. A firm design is making its way toward a City Council hearing on July 25. If you saw the first-draft model of a TishmanSpeyer building that was presented to OMVNA for comment, you will be very surprised at how much it has evolved, in response to community input. There is now nothing "towerish" about it; it is a single integrated building, with several vertical stepbacks of the facade as it rises so that the higher stories may be completely invisible as you stand near the retail entrances on the ground level. There is interesting horizontal articulation as well. The sixth story is so low-key that it does not contribute at all to the bulk of the structure. There is copious landscaping on all streetfronts and large "plazas" along Castro and California, retaining the two huge trees on Castro and adding many more. The shape and materials of the building should fit in nicely with older and smaller structures across California to the north, and provide a good transition to the larger buildings to the south. In other good news on the tall-building front, we can look forward to the non-window portions of the 440 Castro tower becoming a uniform light sand color, probably this month. We can't change the shape, but the new color should be a great improvement. The 400 Castro development will break new ground in another way: everyone working there will get a free EcoPass, and non-VTA public transit commuters can obtain a Commute Check transit subsidy. I believe this will be the first time that VTA has agreed to provide EcoPasses for a commercial building, rather than a single employer. It's a win-win-win situation: 1) the economic advantages for the developer, who will be allowed to build 5 percent fewer parking spaces than would otherwise be required, are stunning, 2) public transit users will get a free ride, and 3) there will be that many fewer cars coming into the downtown area. It is hoped and anticipated that the actual transit usage rate will be considerably more than 5 percent! Furthermore, a similar parking-requirement concession, in return for EcoPasses, has just been granted to the developer of a proposed much smaller three-story retail/office building at the southwest corner of Dana and Bryant, on the lot most recently occupied by Fogg's. In working their way through the permitting process for 400 Castro and the additional facilities needed to support the construction, TishmanSpeyer has also been trying to plan for the least possible impact on Bryant Street residents, who will be next to a large temporary parking lot and storage/staging areas. Strong neighborhood input at all stages has been tremendously useful in influencing the conditions put on the permits. Next, we will have an opportunity to make sure that the very clear rules work as they as supposed to. The Latest On Neighborhood Preservation The City Council has now approved an application process for getting a Neighborhood Design (ND) zone in place, a process that we hope to use to add some "teeth" to the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Preservation Plan. The same process may be used by groups of neighbors who want to apply for an "H" zone limiting house heights. On July 10, the OMVNA Steering Committee decided that the logical next step in implementing the Preservation Plan is to compile a detailed list of the most important unique characteristics that define our neighborhood's charm. These will be some of the things you don't even notice that are not mentioned in the residential building code, but contribute to the friendly feel of our neighborhood, such as a tendency toward single-width driveway cuts and garages set back from the front of the house. In line with the process approved by City Council, 50 percent of the homes in the area to be rezoned must already conform to the features proposed for preservation. In addition, a majority (51 percent of the property owners must sign the application. After the application is complete, the City will review it and hold a public hearing to gather more input on the proposed changes. The City will then send out ballots to all affected owners. In addition to considering other factors, the City Council will want to see at least 67 percent of responding owners showing support for the overlay zone. So it is imperative that we all work together as a neighborhood to make this happen. Over the next few weeks, we will be putting together a list of the most important neighborhood characteristics and then survey the neighborhood to determine existing conformance. We need your input and help to make neighborhood preservation a reality in Old Mountain View. If you want to have your voice heard and participate in this effort, please call Julie Lovins at 964-0368. We will need a lot of help surveying the neighborhood (looking at each house and checking off a list). It's a great summer job -- set your own hours, get exercise, get to know your neighborhood better and influence public policy! Teens are strongly encouraged to participate, as well as adults. OMVNA Seeks Nominations for Next Year's Steering Committee We are currently seeking Old Mountain View residents to fill a number of positions on next year's Steering Committee. This is a great way to get involved and make a difference in the quality of life here in Old Mountain View. Plus, you get to work with some truly dynamic and tremendously talented individuals. You too can become an Old Mountain View "insider"! Light Rail Station at Evelyn & 85 Offers Long Term Parking A couple of months ago, I took Amtrak to Sacramento for a two-day business trip. The price was right ($20 each way), and I could avoid driving during the afternoon commute. To make my journey even more memorable, I decided to use public transit to get to the train. I had two choices: I could take Caltrain to the San Jose Diridon station and transfer at the only station that serves both Caltrain and Amtrak. My other choice was to take light rail to the Lick Mill station near Great America and walk about 1/3 mile to the Santa Clara/Great America "station." This is just off Tasman; it's a long, bare platform with no facilities. I chose light rail as my link to Amtrak because I was going to be getting home around 8 p.m. At that time of night, light rail runs every 15 to 30 minutes, compared to every 60 to 90 minutes for Caltrain. My next challenge was to figure out whether I could use my car to get to the light rail station. While I knew that the station at Evelyn and Hope didn't offer long-term parking, I didn't know that the light rail station at Evelyn and Highway 85 has free parking for up to 7 days in specially designated rows. Not wanting to risk having my car towed, I opted for the ultra-low-pollution approach, and walked 3/4 mile from my house to light rail, rolling my suitcase along behind me. All in all, I was pleased with the trip. The train to Sacramento offered beautiful views of the bay and delta. It was uncrowded and had first-class legroom. The trip took just over 3 hours. Thumbs up to the VTA for providing long-term parking for light rail riders. I hope Caltrain will soon follow suit. Carfree to SJC Getting out of town without fighting traffic has been getting much easier around here. We can now take Caltrain or light rail to Amtrak (see Bruce Karney's article) or to San Jose International Airport (SJC), or we can take the train to SFO. Though the trains and LRT do not actually go all the way to the airports at this time, local transit agencies have set up frequent free shuttles to complete the connections. They work great, but there are a few things to keep in mind before setting out. First, a once-over of the main points: Time and timing: Caltrain is faster if it's running on time. For some time to come, there will be continuing trackwork on weekends, throwing the schedule off by unpredictable amounts. Light rail is more reliable if you're traveling on a weekend. The other advantage of light rail comes if you have to drive to the station and park your car for a couple of days. There are 12 VTA Park-and-Ride lots serving light rail that allow 7-day parking, including Evelyn Station. Cost: Light rail is slightly cheaper ($1.25 vs. $2). Weather: All light rail stations have shelters; don't count on it if you're waiting for a train. Baggage: There is no special area for baggage on either the trains or in light rail cars. (There is such an area on the Airport Flyer bus, however.) Caltrain cars are higher off the platform than light rail cars, and it can be quite difficult to get baggage up their steps, especially if they're heavy. Wheeled luggage is highly recommended; separate folding luggage carts are not, because of the logistics of transferring between trains and buses. We did a test run getting to SJC on the train and then returning by light rail. The roundtrip on a Saturday took a little over one and half-hours. After a 13-minute ride to Santa Clara Station on Caltrain, we walked straight from the track-side to the street side of the station, and across the street a blue #10 Airport Flyer bus was waiting near a large bus shelter. Fifteen minutes later, we were at Terminal A, and two minutes after that, at Terminal C. Warning: the shuttle buses that take airport employees around are blue also, so make sure your bus says Airport Flyer.) There is no shelter at any of the airport shuttle stops; just look for the number 10 sign. For specific schedules, as you plan your trip and allow for transfer times, consult the paper schedules or, for Caltrain, 800-660-4287 or www.caltrain.com; for LRT, 408-321-2300 or www.vta.org; for the Airport Flyer shuttle, a.k.a. the #10 bus, again VTA. . There's partially obsolete but still worthwhile info especially at www.vta.org/rails_to_wings.pdf
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Last updated: 8/4//00