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ORDINANCE NO.
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE FILING, ACCEPTANCE, PROCESSING, OR
APPROVAL OF APPLICATIONS FOR, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OR OPERATION OF, DETENTION
OR CUSTODIAL DETENTION FACILITIES AND CUSTODIAL PROCESSING FACILITIES PENDING
STUDY OF APPROPRIATE ZONING AND LAND USE REGULATIONS
WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative” directive dated February 13, 2026, outlined the acquisition and development of eight large-scale detention centers, sixteen processing sites, and the acquisition of ten turnkey facilities; the directive asserted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) intended to have all facilities active by November 30, 2026; and
WHEREAS, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stated that California detention centers are “crucial to ICE’s detention network on the West Coast,” and recently acquired two facilities in California, the Otay Mesa and California City facilities; and WHEREAS, Santa Clara County and the State of California have filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the Department of Homeland Security from constructing a detention or custodial detention facility outside of Gilroy that could hold up to 150 detainees, citing significant environmental impacts, improper zoning, and failure to cooperate with state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued a preliminary injunction halting construction while the litigation proceeds, which may increase pressure on federal agencies and their contractors to identify additional or alternative sites elsewhere in the region; and
WHEREAS, detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities may generate traffic associated with employees, service providers, transportation operations, visitors, intake, transfer, and release activities and may require local traffic management, emergency response, crowd management, or other municipal services during demonstrations, public gatherings, or facility-related incidents; and
WHEREAS, local municipalities have not been afforded the opportunity to evaluate issues surrounding detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities and provide input, resulting in some local jurisdictions turning to litigation after development activity was already underway; and
WHEREAS, the City's existing zoning regulations do not comprehensively address potential impacts of detention and custodial facilities, especially those constructed on an accelerated timeline; and
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WHEREAS, the City of Mountain View needs time to analyze and determine how best to revise its Zoning Code and accompanying regulations to address the potential establishment or operation of detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities; and WHEREAS, because the City’s existing zoning regulations do not currently define detention and facilities and custodial processing facilities or contain development and operational standards for detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities, an application could be submitted and asserted to fall within an existing permitted land use classification before the City completes its study; the processing or approval of such an application could establish or authorize a use without standards addressing its security, emergency-response, circulation, intake, release, transfer, infrastructure, access, and land-use compatibility characteristics; and
WHEREAS, the City Council directs City staff to study contemplated amendments to the City’s zoning regulations addressing detention or custodial detention facilities and custodial processing facilities, including possible definitions, use classifications, locational standards, development and operational standards, discretionary review requirements, or a citywide prohibition, and intends that this study be completed within a reasonable time; and WHEREAS, Government Code Section 65858 authorizes a city, by a four-fifths vote, to adopt a 45-day interim urgency ordinance prohibiting uses that may conflict with a zoning proposal the City is studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; and WHEREAS, Mountain View City Charter Section 514 authorizes the City Council to adopt ordinances on an emergency basis by at least five affirmative votes if such emergency ordinance contains a statement of the reasons for its urgency; and WHEREAS, Mountain View City Code Section 36.58.05 defines urgency to include an ordinance which may be needed to control such uses or structures that compromise the community's health, safety or welfare; and
WHEREAS, the City Council intends this interim urgency ordinance only to preserve the status quo during the study period and not to determine the substance of the permanent regulations, if any, that may later be considered through the ordinary public review process; now therefore,
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Findings and Declarations.
The City Council finds, pursuant to Government Code Section 65858, City Charter Section 514, and Zoning Code Section 36.58.05 that the facts set forth in the recitals establish a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, and that without a moratorium prohibiting use of private property as a detention or custodial detention facility or custodial processing facility while these issues and concerns are being examined and appropriate 3 of 5
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regulations are being developed, there remains a current and immediate threat that the use of private property as a detention or custodial detention facility or custodial processing facility will result in the public health, safety and welfare harms described herein.
Section 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this Ordinance, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed thereto:
1. “Covered Use” means any detention or custodial detention facility or custodial processing facility, whether proposed as a principal, accessory, temporary, intermittent, or component use, regardless of its formal designation or characterization.
2. “Custodial processing facility” means any building, structure, portion of a building or structure, property, or land used or intended to be used primarily for one or more of the following activities:
a. Receiving, admitting, booking, registering, fingerprinting, photographing, searching, screening, interviewing, evaluating, or classifying persons who are in custody or are being taken into custody;
b. Determining the detention, release, transfer, placement, transportation, removal, or custodial status of persons;
c. Temporarily holding, staging, assembling, or maintaining custody of persons before or after transport, transfer, release, adjudication, or placement; or d. Coordinating, directing, dispatching, or administering custodial intake, detention, confinement, transportation, transfer, or release operations from the premises.
A custodial processing facility includes a facility that conducts the described activities even if persons are held only temporarily, the facility does not provide overnight accommodations, or the operator characterizes the facility as an office, administrative office, field office, intake center, processing center, reporting center, transfer center, transportation center, or other similar use.
3. “Detention or custodial detention facility” means any building, structure, portion of a building or structure, property, or land used or intended to be used to confine, detain, hold, house, maintain custody of, or otherwise restrict the freedom of movement of one or more persons under governmental authority or pursuant to a contract or other arrangement with a governmental entity, whether on a temporary, short-term, overnight, or longer-term basis. A detention or custodial detention facility includes, but is not limited to, a jail, prison, detention center, detention facility, holding facility, confinement facility, correctional facility, civil detention facility, immigration detention facility, juvenile detention facility, temporary holding facility, or other substantially similar use, regardless of the name or terminology used to describe the facility.
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4. “Operator” means any public agency, private person, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, nonprofit organization, contractor, subcontractor, or other entity that owns, leases, manages, controls, staffs, funds, contracts for, or operates a detention or custodial detention facility or custodial processing facility.
5. “Person in custody” means a person whose freedom of movement is restrained under actual or asserted governmental authority, including a person who is detained, confined, arrested, transported under restraint, required to remain at a facility, or not free to leave the facility without authorization.
SECTION 3. Temporary Moratorium. During the effective period of this interim urgency ordinance:
1. No application, request, or other submittal for a covered use shall be filed with or accepted by the City.
2. The City shall not process, deem complete, review, act upon, approve, conditionally approve, or issue any building permit, certificate of occupancy, business license, administrative approval, similar-use determination, or other permit, approval, license, or land use entitlement for a covered use.
3. No person or entity shall establish, commence, locate, convert property to, expand, or operate a covered use within the City.
4. No covered use shall be treated as a governmental office, professional office, administrative office, public or quasi-public use, institutional use, emergency facility, transportation use, or other broader use classification for purposes of avoiding this moratorium.
SECTION 4. Limited Exclusions. This interim urgency ordinance does not apply to: (1) temporary restraint or custody by the Mountain View Police Department incidental to an arrest, investigation, emergency response, transportation, or transfer; (2) a licensed hospital, medical facility, residential care facility, or behavioral health facility that temporarily limits a patient's movement as authorized by law and incidental to care; (3) ordinary supervision by a school, childcare facility, or residential care facility; (4) a judicial or administrative hearing location without a detention or custodial detention facility, holding, intake, or custodial processing component; (5) a general governmental, legal, social-service, or professional office that does not conduct custodial detention, holding, intake, transfer, staging, or processing; or (6) transportation through the City when no person is received, detained, held, processed, staged, transferred, or released at a location within the City.
SECTION 5. Study of Zoning and Land Use Regulations.
City staff is directed to study and develop options for an appropriate zoning and land use response to covered uses, which may include definitions, use classifications, locational standards, development and operational standards, discretionary review requirements, or a citywide prohibition. Any permanent regulation shall be considered separately in accordance with 5 of 5
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applicable notice, hearing, and environmental review requirements. No language in this interim urgency ordinance commits the City Council to adopt a particular permanent regulation.
SECTION 6. CEQA. Pursuant to California Code of Regulations section 15061(b)(3), this urgency ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) because it can be seen with certainty that the temporary moratorium, which preserves the status quo and does not authorize construction or development, has no possibility of causing a significant effect on the environment.
SECTION 7. Term and Effective Date. This interim urgency ordinance shall take effect immediately upon adoption pursuant to Government Code Sections 65858(a), Mountain View City Charter Section 514, and Government Code Section 36937(b) and shall remain in effect for 45 days from the date of adoption, unless repealed or extended by the City Council in accordance with Government Code Section 65858.
SECTION 8. Ordinance not codified. This Ordinance shall not be codified in the Mountain View City Code.
SECTION 9. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the other remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared unconstitutional.
SECTION 10. Publication. Pursuant to Mountain View City Charter section 522, as soon as is reasonably practicable, but in no event after the fifteenth (15th) day after its adoption, the City Clerk shall publish the ordinance in the City’s official newspaper. – – – – – – – – – – –