Commissioners press staff to favor native palette in Charleston Park recycled‑water reservoir design

Salman Hosseini, associate civil engineer in Mountain View Public Works, presented a conceptual design for a buried recycled‑water reservoir and booster pump station at Charleston Park, part of the city’s North Bayshore recycled‑water build‑out. The council previously selected Charleston Park as the site; staff said the buried design minimizes visual impacts, places pumps into the hillside with a maximum above‑grade element of 4 feet to comply with the burrowing‑owl Habitat Overlay Zone (HOZ), and uses existing topography to blend the facility into the park.

Hosseini said the project footprint will remove the existing water feature (due to operations/maintenance costs) and create a central plaza with ADA pathways, seating, decorative pavers, more resilient canopy trees and native landscaping. He reported that the current design would remove about 42 non‑heritage California buckeyes around the fountain; arborist review suggests most cannot be transplanted and about 35 would be replaced on a 1:1 basis with larger caliper, adapted native or drought‑tolerant species. Conceptual plans show adding 64 additional trees across the park (99 new trees total) while ensuring no net increase in impervious surface within the HOZ.

Public commenters and multiple commissioners strongly urged that the final planting palette align with the North Bayshore Precise Plan and the city’s Biodiversity & Urban Forest Master Plan and favored native species over proposed non‑native specimens (several speakers specifically criticized use of ginkgo and non‑native shrubs). Commissioners also questioned the number and placement of radiating pathways through the plaza, whether the new design would preserve areas used for pickup sports and large gatherings (e.g., July 4 viewing), and how Google’s suggested bike/pedestrian alignments would affect landscaping. Staff noted Google has been a coordination partner and has submitted comments proposing direct bicycle and pedestrian connections between the Googleplex and Gradient Canopy, but emphasized the park remains public and paths designated for bicycles are still open to everyone.

Several commissioners praised the decision to use a fully buried reservoir (small incremental cost vs. semi‑buried) and asked staff to engage a landscape architect with strong native‑plant expertise to rework plant palette, massing and plaza programming. The commission did not vote on the design (agenda item was for review and comment), but staff recorded clear direction to return with revised planting options that prioritize natives, revisit path density and programming of the central plaza, and balance HOZ constraints with public‑use needs. Design completion is expected in 2026.

Quotes from the meeting capture the tenor of the discussion: “This has to be native,” one commissioner said during discussion of the planting palette, and a public commenter said replacing native buckeyes with non‑natives would run counter to the city’s biodiversity goals.