Mountain View City Council Regular Meeting and Closed Session – August 25, 2026
Mountain View City Council Regular Meeting and Closed Session – August 25, 2026
The Mountain View City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, beginning at 5:03 p.m. The meeting consisted of public oral communications on non-agendized items, a closed session announcement, public comment on closed session items, and a recess to closed session. No consent calendar or regular discussion items were on the agenda.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Multiple residents living near Sylvan Park, at the corner of Sullivan Drive and Glenborough Drive, objected to the recent replacement of turf with coarse black mulch, saying the area had been used for 40 years for Fourth of July celebrations, community gatherings, children's play, yoga, tai chi, picnics, and walking. Speakers expressed support for the city's water conservation and biodiversity goals but argued the selected area was functional, not non-functional turf under AB 1572, and requested restoration of functional turf and better community engagement before decisions.
- Rod Seeger, reading the end of a neighbor's letter, noted that at an August 5 meeting residents were told no changes would be made and that staff proceeded with plans. He summarized neighborhood asks: restore functional turf at the Sullivan/Glenborough corner of Sylvan Park; more, not less, functional park space is needed as density increases.
- Ronald Yin said he lived at 547 Sullivan Drive for over 40 years; he nearly twisted his ankle walking on the new mulch and described the area as "a veritable lawsuit waiting to happen." He also noted that the "cool kids' block" neighborhood disaster-preparedness group used the corner for meetings.
- Tongun Sun, a resident of Jamine Avenue, asked the council to consider excluding Jamine Avenue from streets where oversized vehicles can park, citing vehicles staying longer than 72 hours, safety risks, engine idling, and repairs occurring in front of homes; police reportedly said no ordinance exists.
- April Webster spoke about the future Chief Transportation Officer role, encouraging a multidisciplinary, human-centered approach and citing Caltrans' Complete Streets team as an example. She also urged council to reaffirm 2023 direction for the Ringstorf Green Complete Streets project, delivering on both green and complete streets elements.
- During the closed session comment period, April Webster also praised staff for advancing the biodiversity plan, parks plan, and active transportation plan, and urged more transparent and earlier community engagement as a normalized city practice rather than dependent on specific individuals.
Closed Session Announcement
- Interim City Attorney Jannie L. Quinn announced the council would recess to closed session for Item 3.1, public employee performance evaluations (California Government Code §54957(b)(1)) for City Clerk and City Manager, with attendees including City Clerk Heather Glaser, City Manager Kimbra McCarthy, and Nelson Fiallo of RPMG.
- Item 3.2 was a conference with labor negotiators (California Government Code §54957.6(a)); Vice Mayor Chris Clark was the agency designated representative for unrepresented employees City Clerk and City Manager. No announcements were anticipated after closed session.
Key Outcomes
- No formal council votes or decisions were made during open session.
- Mayor Emily Ann Ramos stated that staff would follow up with neighbors about the Sylvan Park turf issue and hold a neighborhood meeting.
- The council recessed to closed session and did not return to open session for adjournment.
Meeting Transcript
All right, I will call this meeting to order at five. Oh three PM. We're going to begin with oral communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within City Council subject matter jurisdiction for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the council from acting on non-agendized items. If you would like to speak on this item or the next item in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk now. Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person? Is there no roll call? No roll call yet. Okay. Um if anyone if any member of the public would like to join us virtually or in person, like to provide us a comment on this item. If so, please so uh please click the raise hand button in Zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. We and our neighbors had never been notified that this idea was even being considered. The parks representative apologized for this lack of communications during the project planning phase. The area of concern is at the corner of Glenborough Drive and Sullivan Drive. For the past 40 years, this area has been used as a gathering point for neighborhood parties, holiday celebrations, yoga tai chi and small small children's games, et cetera. Assembly Bill 1572, which was quoted to us by the Parks Department, is a proactive measure to safeguard California's vital drinking water supplies. In it, non-functional turf is defined defined as grass that serves no practical purpose for human activity or recreation. Quote, areas that are not regularly used for sports play or social gathering. This is not the case for the area selected. Last week, the entire area was covered with six to twelve inches of coarse black mulch, making it completely unusable, unstable to walk on, and as well as unsightly. It now looks like the waste from a coal mine. I completely support the city's water saving and biodiversity plans, but I think the area selected is completely wrong. With new housing, the city's population is rapidly growing, and thus the need for usable park space will be ever more important. I would be happy to discuss other areas of the park that we'd be less utilized in accordance with the city's plan. During this time when the nation is so polarized, we need to keep community green spaces where we can come together and feel connected to each other. I would like to invite the city council members to come and view the area, an area that was once beautiful and a community community gathering point is become unsightly and unusable. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Next we have uh Joel Tarod and uh then Sue Tarot. If you guys could line up so uh you can just go right after another. That would be great. Thank you very much. And I my wife and family have lived here for 40 years. We've enjoyed every bit. You've done a fantastic job with our city, and we're so happy that we live here. And I want to say to today, we just heard less than a week ago what was happening to our park. Uh we live at Sulvent Dillar Sullivan Drive, right across, not across the street, but Kitty Corner from that area, and see it frequently being used by people who live nearby and partially by. We would have been happy to be part of an organization or part of a group that was going to get together and talk about where the park is going and how it's going to be used in the future. And it's been a wonderful place for our grandchildren and children as well to be a participant in what takes place in that park area. So I thank you again. And our mayor, who's done a fantastic, even in our main street down here in Mountain View in the town itself for places for uh nourishment and uh places to go eat at night. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next we have Sue Tarot. Thank you so much, Council. I appreciate you taking us uh tonight.
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