The Cupertino Courier

News

Cupertino planners seek land for parks and trails

By Cody Kraatz

Cupertino's plans to build a park and trail at its eastern boundary with San Jose moved forward Feb. 13 when the planning commission approved a pre-zoning of 13.5 acres that aren't currently in Cupertino. The zoning change would not take effect until the land is annexed by the city.

Included in the pre-zoning are two Santa Clara County-owned lots near Archbishop Mitty High School that total 7.7 acres. The lots are sandwiched between Saratoga Creek and Lawrence Expressway, from Chelmsford Drive to Interstate 280, and would come under Cupertino's parks regulations.

Currently, one lot north of Barnhart Avenue serves as a county storage area for road-resurfacing materials. The city is leasing the other lot south of Barnhart Avenue and has built a trail there already that stretches from Barnhart Avenue to Bollinger Road.

"At the very least, the idea would be to extend the trail that ends at Barnhart at least up to a usable or functional park-like area, and then longer -term, we would hope that we can continue it on," said Steve Piasecki, Cupertino's director of community development.

The commission also approved pre-zoning 5.8 acres of Lawrence Expressway, up to the middle of the street between Bollinger Road and Interstate 280. This county-owned land would fall under Cupertino's transportation regulations, but the county would still pay for maintenance.

The city also wants to buy a water company lot at Barnhart Avenue and Sterling Boulevard for a small trailhead. That lot, like the lots in the pre-zoning, is designated as parkland under Cupertino's General Plan, said senior planner Colin Jung.

The pre-zoned land is currently under San Jose's jurisdiction. After annexation, Cupertino council members Dolly Sandoval and Richard Lowenthal said they would work with the county to relocate the storage site so the city can begin building a park.

But some residents voiced concerns.

"If you're going to have a park now, a larger park, where are people going to be parking?" said nearby resident Leon Liebster, who complained of people parking illegally on his street, Ashbourne Court.

Piasecki said these are valid concerns that would be taken into consideration when the park is designed.

Rancho Rinconada resident Jennifer Griffin was pleased with the possibility of a new park in the park-deficient neighborhood, but was concerned about security and how the parks would be patrolled.

"I would say security is an issue," said David Kaneda, the newest planning commissioner, who also felt security would improve when the city takes over the land.

The city is already working to obtain San Jose City Council consent to realign the boundaries, and then will have to get approval from the county's Local Agency Formation Commission before annexation.

"To me this seems like a no-brainer that we would want to go forward ," said Kaneda.