Trustees review staff-housing documents, hear residentsconcerns as experts urge time to adjust plan

Mountain View Whisman School District trustees spent the bulk of their meeting reviewing a library of contracts and amendments tied to the district's off-site staff housing project and heard sustained public criticism about rising construction costs, a $1.9 million annual ground lease and the project's effect on Measure T-funded capital priorities.

District legal counsel Phil Henderson and consultants walked trustees through a chronology of documents — beginning with the original 2019 development agreement and subsequent reimbursement and construction agreements — that underpinned the project's financing and delivery. Dominic Dutra, an affordable housing consultant working with the district, and Peter Ingram, a development consultant the district has engaged, addressed trustees and public commenters about next steps.

The project is now physically complete and leasing, but the board and the public focused on financing and affordability. Interim Superintendent Baer told trustees the housing development contains 144 units, that the district has leased 36 units so far and that 23 staff members have moved in; staff said leasing activity was meeting early projections through April 30 and the housing budget assumes 90% occupancy (about 130 units) by Aug. 1. Trustees and commenters discussed a ground lease payment the district will owe (referred to repeatedly in public comment as $1,900,000 per year with annual escalators of 2% to 4%) and noted there are outstanding construction-related obligations reportedly due soon.

Why costs rose: Henderson explained the package of agreements and several amendments that increased the project construction budget from an early developer estimate of about $56 million to roughly $85 million by 2022. He attributed the…