In 2018, the Los Altos School District and the City of Mountain View entered into an innovative partnership to create a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program that would benefit the citizens, parents, and students of the City of Mountain View in several ways. To help fund the acquisition of a site and development of a new school in Mountain View, the District is authorized to sell 610,000 sq. ft. of the school site's development rights to third-party developers with receiving sites in one of the City's "Change Areas" identified in the General Plan. These receiving sites can use the TDR to exceed otherwise applicable floor area ratio (FAR). In addition, the TDR program allows developers priority access for their project via the City's Gatekeeper authorization process.
The TDR program was developed to benefit the Mountain View and Los Altos School District communities by providing much-needed funds to build a new school, a new two-acre City park, and state of the art recreational facilities that will be available to students and the surrounding community. LASD purchased the former shopping mall and parking lot site and the City of Mountain View allowed LASD to sell 610,000 sq. ft. of development rights to third-party developers to offset the costs of the site acquisition and the construction of these future community assets.
The program facilitates smart development throughout the City by allowing developers, with City Council approval, to build larger projects than the normal development standards allow if they purchase development rights from the District. Development projects that utilize this option enjoy priority consideration by the City to receive Gatekeeper authorization and submit a full application more quickly.
To date, the Mountain View City Council has approved the following projects that include excess development rights transferred from the Los Altos School District:
A residential project at 400 Logue that includes 42,000 square feet of TDR
An office project at 465 Fairfield Drive that includes 80,000 square feet of TDR
An office project at 189 N. Bernardo that includes 28,000 square feet of TDR
Additional projects using TDR purchased from the District are under review by the City.
Currently, more than 100,000 square feet of development rights are available for purchase and transfer through the program.
The Los Altos School District is happy to answer questions and provide additional information about the TDR program. Please contact LASD Assistant Superintendent Erik Walukiewicz at ewalukiewicz@lasdschools.org.
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