After five years of planning, the Moffett Park Specific Plan (MPSP or the Plan) is headed to Sunnyvale City Council for adoption Tuesday, July 11th! 

MPSP covers 1,275 acres located along the San Francisco Bay in north Sunnyvale. Once approved, the area will have the capacity to build an Ecological-Innovation District with 20,000 new homes, including a target of 3,000 to 4,000 (15 to 20 percent of all units) affordable homes. SV@Home has been involved in this multi-year planning process and we are pleased to see a timeline pushing for adoption in July. 

We think the City, the Sunnyvale community, and stakeholders have crafted a robust plan and have all worked hard to ensure Moffett Park is accessible to everyone. The Plan is conscious of environmental issues — protecting the local ecology, maximizing infill development, building homes near transit, and more. It is a tremendous effort — we’re excited about how Staff and City Council have been committed to ensuring everyone in Sunnyvale will have access to all these necessary qualities the Plan offers.

As we near the end of this planning process, we’re tying up loose ends and finding final ways to strengthen the Plan. We have focused on three simple recommendations we believe support our shared goals, to make sure Moffett Park does not unintendedly become an exclusive place only wealthier people can afford to live. Click here to read the full breadth of our most recent comments, which provide more context to the following suggestions we have for the City:

• Supporting a community benefits prioritization structure by establishing a process for City Council input before development agreements are finalized.
• Establishing the expectation that 50% of Housing Mitigation Fees collected within the plan area will be dedicated to more and deeper levels of affordable housing in Moffett Park.
• Removing in-lieu fees and off-site affordable development outside the plan area as alternative compliance options for meeting the Inclusionary Below Market Rate (BMR) Rental Housing Ordinance requirements.

We are working hard to ensure that the MPSP has all the policy tools in place to realize its affordable housing goals. We want to increase the confidence that the Plan will live up to its promise as an Eco-Innovation District where everyone can work, live, and play 

Click here for SV@Home’s most recent letter to the City Council. Click here to read SV@Home’s letter from early 2023 and both here and here for joint coalition letters we sent with our partner organizations to the City also earlier in 2023.

We are reaching the end of this long-range planning process, and we are going to need everyone’s help to make sure Moffett Park has a robust plan that is equitable and accessible for everyone. We are inviting housers to voice support for SV@Home’s recommendations at the  7:00 pm Tuesday, July 11th Sunnyvale City Council public hearing — meeting details and sample talking points are below:

• In-Person – Bay Conference Room (Room 145), City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086
• Virtual – https://sunnyvale-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/96111580540
• Meeting Details – https://sunnyvaleca.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx 

Sample talking points for public comment (expected between 60 to 90 seconds)

Good evening, my name is ___. I am here to support this plan and ask you to include the affordable housing recommendations from SV@Home’s letter to ensure that everyone has access to the 20,000 new homes and opportunities envisioned for the area.

(PICK 2-3 FROM THE POINTS BELOW)

• The community benefits program is critical to getting more affordable housing. It needs to be clear how this is kept a priority. 
• Affordable homes required as part of market-rate developments in Moffett Park simply need to be built to reach the 15% affordable housing goal in the Plan. Please make sure there are no in-lieu fee options or off-site developments outside of Moffett Park for affordable housing.
• 100% affordable developments are the key to reaching the 20% affordable housing goal for the Plan. This is going to mean local investment. We need a clear expectation that the majority of affordable housing fees from office development will be used to build more affordable housing within Moffett Park.

The plan has a clear commitment to making the area a great place for everyone. We need to ensure that the promise of housing people can afford is foolproof. The last thing we want is for Moffett Park to become another exclusive area where even people who work there can’t afford to live there. There are going to be so many opportunities in Moffett Park, I ask for your leadership in making sure all of Sunnyvale can enjoy them.