Sunnyvale Approves Moffett Park Plan With 20K Housing Units

Sunnyvale has adopted a new 20-year development plan for a 1,300-acre parcel in the northern part of the city known as Moffett Park that allows for the construction of up to 20,000 housing units in the area, which previously was not zoned for housing.

The Moffett Park Specific Plan, adopted this month by the City Council, would create about 20% of the future housing units planned for the San Jose suburb, Silicon Valley.com reported.

According to the plan, at least 15% of the units built at Moffett Park must be affordable.

The 20-year plan also creates an Ecological Combining District to expand and enhance emergent wetlands, as well as an innovation district to foster collaboration among tech companies, startups and research institutions.

Sustainable design practices are required in the plan, including energy-efficient buildings, green spaces, bike lanes, “bird-safe” designs, and enhancement of natural landscape.

Enhanced transportation infrastructure would include expanded roadways, public transit systems and pedestrian friendly pathways.

“As an ecological innovation district, Moffett Park combines the tenets of sustainable, ecological, and resilient practices with a leading-edge, technologically driven cluster of businesses. Anchor businesses combine with new spaces for start-ups, housing, and retail in a walkable and transit-accessible environment,” the plan states.

The plan defines ecological development as an integrated approach to implementing sustainable practices across geographic scales and a diverse mix of land uses.

The plan describes Moffett Park as a natural extension of the City’s built landscape, providing residents, workers, and visitors an integrated and cohesive connection between the San Francisco Bay (which sits to the north of Moffett Park) and the wider neighborhoods of Sunnyvale.

The plan identifies opportunities to increase system resilience throughout Moffett Park, including increasing detention capacity and using green infrastructure to remove pollutants and reduce runoff volumes entering the storm water system.

The plan  establishes performance targets for the open space and urban tree canopy to mitigate and adapt to climate change through carbon sequestration, urban heat island reduction, air pollution filtration, and storm water retention.

These targets are implemented through the open space and urban ecology framework, street design standards, and landscaping and site design standards for new development.