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Residents barrage city council with questions
Many voice concerns over current renovation plans
By KEVIN FAYLE
The skies have darkened a bit over Hunter/Storm Properties' plans to renovate the Town Center across Torre Avenue from Cupertino City Hall.
Up until now, things had gone well for the project, with an enthusiastic reception from the city council, and a public library placed to crown the area's proposed civic park. But now, residents have appeared with complaints about the effect they believe the development will have on their quality of life.
Approximately 60 of those residents went before the Cupertino City Council on March 5, and several expressed their displeasure with tough questions posed to council members.
Residents spoke on matters ranging from quality-of-life concerns to worries over electricity and water supplies. Many argued they did not want a dense complex of tall buildings, which they feared would block their view of the surrounding mountains.
Residents expressed concerns about traffic, with many fearful of the increased activity they predict the development will bring. The speakers repeatedly stressed their wish that Cupertino retain its suburban feel, and not get swept up in a rush of urban development.
Speakers also complained that they had not heard anything about the project until resident Dennis Whittaker sent out a flyer with details on the development.
Residents suggested the fault lay with the city's notification procedure, which prescribes a notification radius of 300 feet around the area of a proposed development. Many at the meeting felt that this did not represent a sufficiently broad notification. "You can spit across 300 feet," said resident Donna Cotner.
Residents in attendance argued the city should expand the radius, especially for a project to create a civic focal point. Director of Community Development Steve Piasecki admitted during the meeting that the city "probably should [expand the radius] in this case."
Mayor Sandra James defended the city by listing the various publications that have featured information about the project, including the Cupertino Courier.
She added that the city has published details of the project at its website, www.cupertino.org, and that Deke Hunter and his associates presented conceptual plans to the city council during its Feb. 5 meeting, which the city's cable channel televised.
Whittaker said he believes the city should do more, however. "The city council seems to think that everyone should know about this, but they don't," Whittaker said.
He said he also worries that this development will adversely affect the fabric of life in Cupertino, by putting pressure on residents for the sake of developers and businesses. He stated that while he understands the need for more housing in the city, he thinks that this development represents a step away from the quality of life that he and his neighbors have grown accustomed to.
The comments from residents came during the oral communications portion of the agenda, as the issue did not appear on the council's published order of business. Many people who attended the meeting believed that the council would discuss the project at the meeting, but it had no plans for any decision or review at the March 5 meeting.
In fact, according to James, the council has not yet received any proposal for the development. Hunter/Storm has not yet submitted any set plans for the property, although the developer did request several amendments to the General Plan to allow for certain features of their conceptual plans.
Specifically, the developers requested that the city increase the allowed building height from 30-45 feet to 60 feet, and modify the plan so that they can include more office space and provide more residential density than currently prescribed for the heart of the city area.
According to city documents prepared for Hunter/Storm's proposal, the project will replace the 130,500-square-foot Town Center development with 223,338 square feet of corporate office space, 194 apartments and 31,690 square feet of retail/commercial space. Three medical buildings to the south of Town Center Lane will remain on the site during the first phase of development.
The addition of extra building space requires another exception to the General Plan, allowing a roughly one to one footprint/area ratio where the city usually requires a one to three footprint/area ratio.
The city council agreed to Hunter/Storm's request, but it added a few provisos of its own. The council attached a set of project conditions that Hunter/Storm must meet in order to receive the General Plan modifications. Many of these stipulations broach topics raised by citizens on March 5.
According to the city, the development must incorporate sufficient housing to accommodate the influx of employees caused by the additional office space. The developers must also analyze the effect on traffic that the project will have, and also provide "neighborhood calming measures" to lessen the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. The list of conditions makes no mention of what specific measures the developers should take, however. The site must also contain 180 parking spaces to serve city hall and the library.
These conditions arose out of two study sessions the council held with Hunter/Storm Properties on Nov. 7, 2000 and Jan. 19, 2001. Both sessions were open to the public. At the council meeting, James urged the crowd to remain involved in the process, stressing the willingness on the part of the council and the developers to listen to concerns from the public.
Whittaker said he takes a more cynical view of the process, though. "The fear from everyone I've talked to is that people can protest, but city hall will do what it wants to anyway," he said.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
