Residents voiced their concerns once again about the plan's building height guidelines and the level of density. Only two spoke in favor of the plan.

Although city planners had scaled down the project to address residents' concerns, in the end, city council members voted that evening to delay the project until the city completes its General Plan update in four to six months.

Councilman Patrick Kwok, who supported the delay, said, "Let's wait for the General Plan amendment. Let's get more community input. Let's work on something that everyone can support. The residents are the ones that will have to live with whatever is going to be built. So let's continue working on this until we achieve some consensus."

The Crossroads Plan, which began more than a year ago after the city council expressed an interest in creating a visible shopping district in the city, calls for a vibrant and pedestrian-friendly retail area on Stevens Creek Boulevard between De Anza Boulevard and Stelling Road.

The controversy originated from several elements that city planners have incorporated into the plan design, such as creating a 20-foot-wide sidewalk and increasing maximum building height for structures lining the busy thoroughfare to 55 feet.

Although the Cupertino Planning Commission did not approve the 10-foot height increase when it approved the project on Feb. 10, opponents' concerns over height and density persisted.

Resident Charles Taubman, who has lived in Cupertino since 1975, said, "My family and I moved here for the schools, city services, open space and mountain views. If we wanted to live in a high-energy urban center, we would have stayed in my native Los Angeles or moved to San Francisco. ... Under this Crossroads Plan, building heights are increasing and setbacks are diminishing. Why the sudden urge for a downtown? Why do we have to emulate other cities? Why can't Cupertino simply be Cupertino? Let's preserve the wonderful qualities of Cupertino, which are its quality of education, green open space and mountain views."

Taubman's arguments, which represent some of the residents' main concerns, are not new, and city planners have taken these concerns into consideration when revising the Crossroads Plan on numerous occasions. At the March 3 meeting, planners offered up another recommendation, called option C.

According to Senior Planner Aarti Shrivastava, the project manager, option C would increase the width of the sidewalks from 20 to 25 feet and reduce building front heights at the setback line from 36 to 25 feet.

Shrivastava believes this recommendation, which is consistent with the General Plan, would address residents' major concerns.

Besides option C, council members that night had the option of approving the project as recommended by the planning commission or delaying the plan until the completion of the General Plan amendment.

Council members Richard Lowenthal and Dolly Sandoval supported option C. The rest of the city council supported the second option, which is delaying the project until the city completes the General Plan update process in four to six months.

Lowenthal said to the audience, "If you care about issues such as building heights, you need to participate in the General Plan amendment process, because that's what's going to change them and the other issues you talked about tonight."

Vice Mayor Sandra James said, "The whole process needs a lot more community input. I think the Crossroads Plan and the General Plan belong together, not separate entities. We need to continue the community input process."