DATE:
September 10, 2024
CATEGORY:
Consent
DEPT.:
Community Development
TITLE: California Farmers’ Markets
Temporary Use of Parking Lot 12
RECOMMENDATION
1. Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mountain View Authorizing Temporary Closure of Parking Lot 12 from 7:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. on S elect Sundays Occurring Between September 29, 2024 and January 26, 2025, Not to Exceed Eight Sundays, for Use by the California Farmers’ Market Association, to be read in title only, further reading waived (Attachment 1 to the Council report).
2. Authorize the City Manager or designee to amend an agreement with the California Farmers’ Markets Association for the temporary use of Parking Lot 12 for select Sundays occurring between September 29, 2024 and January 26, 2025, in an amount not to exceed eight Sundays.
BACKGROUND
Dating back to 2014, the City of Mountain View has allow ed the California Farmers’ Markets Association (CFMA) to temporarily relocate the Sunday Farmers’ Market from the downtown Mountain View Caltrain parking lot to the City-owned Parking Lot 12 located between California Street, Bryant Street, and Mercy Street (see Figure 1) on Sunday home games of the San Francisco 49ers football team. This relocation facilitates maximum utilization of the VTA light rail line by attendees of the 49ers game in Santa Clara.
The City Council has also authorized temporary relocation of the Sunday Farmers’ Market to Lot 12 in other instances . On February 27, 2024, the City Council approved the CFMA ’s temporary use of Parking Lot 12 for the Sunday Farmers’ Market resulting from Caltrain’s need for a bus bridge supporting testing of the new electrifi ed service on March 3, March 10, and March 17 , 2024. More recently, on April 19, 2024, Council approved the expansion of CFMA’s temporary use of Parking Lot 12 for up to 20 Sundays between April 14 and September 29, 2024 in anticipation of more testing of the new electrified service.
California Farmers’ Markets Temporary Use of Parking Lot 12 September 10, 2024
Figure 1: Parking Lot 12
The authorization requested in this report may potentially be the last temporary relocation of the Sunday Farmers’ Market to Lot 12. On April 25, 2022, the Community Development Director issued a ministerial approval of a Senate Bill ( SB) 35 application to redevelop Parking Lot 12 to include a new five-story, mixed-use building with 120 affordable deed-restricted rental units and 3,300 square feet of community-serving commercial and public gathering space. In consultation with Alta Housing and the Related Company, the project anticipates construction to start in Q1 2025 based upon a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit award anticipated in February 2025 .
Farmers’ Market use of Lot 12 is deemed interim and will not impact the development and construction on Parking Lot 12 as currently planned. However, subsequent relocations to Lot 12 beyond the identified end date in the current request (January 26, 2025) , if any, may have the potential to affect construction of the project and would need to be carefully evaluated by the City to avoid any such impacts.
California Farmers’ Markets Temporary Use of Parking Lot 12 September 10, 2024
ANALYSIS
On May 15, 2024, the San Francisco 49ers released their schedule of games for the 2024 -2025 season. There are currently six Sunday home games that re sult in conflict s with operating the Sunday Farmer’s Market at the Caltrain Lot:
• September 29, 2024
• October 6, 2024
• October 20, 2024
• October 27, 2024
• November 17, 2024
• December 8, 2024
There is the potential for two more Sunday home games in January 2025 that are not yet determined based on the possibility of a postseason playoff appearance by the team.
With the proposed development of Parking Lot 12 anticipated in 2025, staff is working with CFMA to identify an alternate location to temporarily relocate the Farmer’s Market on future select Sundays when Caltrain requires use of the station parking lot.
FISCAL IMPACT
A license agreement with the CFMA will result in the City receiving $430 per farmer’s market event at Lot 12.
Costs to set up the Farmers’ Market along with posting “N o Parking” signage are borne by the CFMA.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Deny the request and direct staff to identify alternative parking lots or locations to relocate the regularly scheduled Sunday Farmer’s Market.
2. Provide other direction to staff.
California Farmers’ Markets Temporary Use of Parking Lot 12 September 10, 2024
PUBLIC NOTICING
The Council meeting agenda and Council report were posted on the City’s website and announced on Channel 26 cable television. Email notifications were sent to the Downtown Committee, Downtown Business Association, and Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association.
Prepared by:
John Lang
Economic Vitality Manager
Approved by:
Christian Murdock
Community Development Director
Audrey Seymour Ramberg
Assistant City Manager
JL/4/CAM
819-09-10-24CR
204391
Attachment: 1. Resolution