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Director's Report CITY OF CUPERTINO 10300 TORRE AVENUE, CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA 95014 DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Subject: Report of the Community Development Directo~ Planning Commission Agenda Date: Tuesday, May 23. 2006 The City Council met on May 16. 2006, and discussed the following items of interest to the Planning Commission: . 1. Request from the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) to amend the eligibility requirements for the Below Market Rate (BMR) program for teachers: The City Council voted to create a pilot program giving teachers working in schools located outside the Cupertino city limits 2 points to qualify for BMR units. The Council stipulated that the District and the benefiting teachers agree to reassignment to a suitable position in a school in the city limits, within 18 months of signing the deed for a BMR residence. The 2 point credit puts them on an equal footing with other public service employees who are currently working within the city limits. The program will sunset in 3 years with council review in 2.5 years. 2. Consider a reconsideration of the City Council's decision to approve the Toll Brothers application located on Stevens Creek Blvd. @ Finch Avenue. The petitioner is Keith Murphy: The City Council denied the reconsideration. 3. Consider Application Nos. U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, and EA-2006-06, Timothy Reeves (Public Storal1:e), 20565 Valley Green Drive: The Council concurred with the Commission recommendation but wanted greater architectural interest and incorporation of a trail connection from the Valley Green Apartments to the trail approved in with the Oak Park development. This item was removed from calendar for redesign and will be re-noticed more broadly when the application comes back to the City Council. MISCELLANEOUS 11 The General Plan is complete! The long awaited General Plan has been published and printed. City Council, Planning Commission and the General Plan Task Force will be receiving a paper copy along with the CD. Your copy is enclosed. The Community Development Department has copies for sale and a copy has been posted on the Cupertino website. Thanks again to everyone who worked hard on the General Plan! Dte-I Report of the Community Development Director Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Page 2 6} Affordable Housing Week Last week May 13 - 20, 2006, was officially Affordable Housing Week. On Tuesday May 16, there was an informational forum on financing affordable housing held at the Creekside Park community room. Councilwoman Sandoval provided introductory comments and the Chairman Miller attended the event (see attached flyer). Kathy Robinson helped organize the event in Cupertino. ill ABAG Housing Methodology Committee: I have been appointed to the ABAG Housing Methodology Committee to help develop the housing allocations for the next update of the Housing Element. I will be attending the first committee meeting at ABAG on May 25, 2006. The attached memo outlines the process. Note that Housing Element updates are due in June 2009. Ð American Planning Association, Northern Chapter Awards: I sit on a committee reviewing 16 nominations for planning awards for the Northern California Chapter of the American Planning Association. I will be attending the awards ceremony in June. Staff intends to submit the Cupertino General Plan for an award next year. Enclosures: Staff Reports ABAG memo Affordable Housing Week flyer Newspaper Articles G: \P lanning\ SteveP\ Director's Report\2006 \pd05-23-06.doc Dl¡¿~':( 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 777-3308 FAX (408) 777-3333 Community Development Department SUMMARY AGENDA NO.Jl AGENDA DATE May 16, 2006 SUMMARY: Request from the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) to amend the eligibility requirements for the Below Market Rate (BMR) program to give CUSD teachers points for working within the City of Cupertino limits, regardless of the city they are working in, as long as they are employed by CUSD. DISCUSSION: The Housing Commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday, May 11, 2006, to discuss this item. As such, the report is not available for today's packet. Staff will verbally report out the Commission's recommendation at Tuesday's Council meeting. The Commission will be considering whether the city should enter into a pilot program to give two-point credit to CUSD teachers working outside of Cupertino subject to the following provisions: 1) Any teacher working within the district can qualify for the two-point credit to qualify for an available BMR unit. 2) When it comes to allocating a unit to a qualified teacher, priority will first be given to teachers and other public service employees currently working within Cupertino. 3) Teachers working outside the city limits can qualify for the two point credit provided there are available units and the District and the teacher sign a letter of intent agreeing to accept reassignment to a suitable opening at a school within the city limits at the earliest opportunity and preferably within two years of occupying the housing unit. 4) The city will monitor this provision three years after implementation to determine if qualified teachers have been successfully reassigned to a school within the city. The goal will be that at least 2/3 of the affected teachers are successfully relocated or this provision within two years. If the pilot program fails to successfully reassign the þ/,¿ ~3 Request from the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) to amend the eligibility requirements for the Below Market Rate (BMR) May 10, 2006 Page 2 benefiting teachers then the pilot program will automatically sunset and no longer be available to teachers working outside of the city. Staff believes that trying a pilot program that tailors the BMR program in this manner fulfills the intent of accommodating public service employees working within the city and helps the district attract quality teachers. At the same time, the concept has the benefit of accommodating teachers that currently or will soon be employed within the community. It constitutes a form of" community building" as local teachers are encouraged to reside in and become familiar with the community in which their students live. Staff has run this pilot program past the city attorney who feels it does not conflict with the legal nexus requirements of the in-lieu fee program. Approved by: Steve Piasecki Director of Community Development ~~ David W. Knapp City Manager G.planning/miscell/housing commission item ÐIR.4 City of Cupertino 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 777-3308 Fax: (408) 777-3333 CUPEIQ1NO Community Development Department Summary Agenda Item No..1:1 Agenda Date: May 10, 2006 SUBJECT Consider a reconsideration of the City Council's decision to approve Application Nos. U-2005- 15, TM-2005-04, and EA-2005-17. The applicant is Kelly Snider (Toll Brothers). The project is located on Stevens Creek Blvd. at Finch Avenue, APN Nos. 316-20-074, 316-20-078, 316-20- 079, and 316-20-085. The petitioner is Keith Murphy, Resolution No. 06-098. RECOMMENDATION The City Council can take either of the following actions: 1) Grant the request for reconsideration by making required findings outlined by the Oty Attorney (reconsideration could either be heard at this or a future meeting) Or 2) Deny the request reconsideration by making required findings outlined, by the City Attorney. Environmental Assessment: Categorically Exempt BACKGROUND: On March 21, 2006, the City Council considered Toll Brother's applications and approved the project with 380 residential units (300 market rate and 80 low income senior apartments), 115,600 square foot commercial center and a 3.5 acre public park. Prior to the Council approval, the project was reviewed by the Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission and the Senior Commission. Toll Brothers also held two neighborhood meetings. The approved plans are enclosed (Exhibit C). :ZIR -8 U-2005-15, TM-2005-04, EA-2005-17 Page 2 Calabazas Place Reconsideration May 10, 2006 DISCUSSION: Applicants' Appeal: Specific grounds for reconsideration are provided in the Cupertino Municipal Code. The appellant's reasons for the reconsideration request are outlined in the appeal letters attached to the staff report (Exhibit D). The grounds for reconsideration are discussed in the attached findings, Exhibit B, as prepared by the City Attorney. The City Attorney recommends that the City Council deny the request for reconsideration, for the reasons stated in Exhibit B. A resolution for denial is enclosed (Exhibit A). ENCLOSURES Exhibit A: City Council Resolution Exhibit B: City Council Findings in Response to Petition for Reconsideration Exhibit C: City Council Approved Conditions and Plans, March 21, 2006 Exhibit D: Petition of Reconsideration Exhibit E: City Council Meeting Minutes, March 21, 2006 Prepared by: Gary Chao, Associate Planner Approved by: J)M David W. Knapp City Manager G:\PDREPORT\ CC\ Tollreconsideration.doc i , D¡e.-0 City of Cupertino 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 777-3308 Fax: (408) 777-3333 I CUPEIQ1NO Community Development Department Summary Agenda Item No._ Agenda Date: May 16, 2006 Application: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Applicant: Timothy Reeves, on behalf of Public Storage Owner: Public Storage, Inc. Location: 20565 Valley Green Drive, APN 326-10-044 Application Summary: . USE PERMIT AND ARCHITECTURAL & SITE APPROVAL to demolish an existing 53,890 square foot, single-story storage facility and construct a 155,253 square foot, three-story storage facility. . ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: Negative Declaration recommended. The project will have no significant, adverse environmental impacts with the proposed mitigation measures. RECOMMENDATION: The Planning Commission recommends that the City Council: 1. Approve the Negative declaration, file number EA-2006-06. 2. Approve the Use permit application, file number U-2006-03, in accordance with Resolution No. 6387. 3. Approve the Architectural and site approval, file no. ASA-2006-05, in accordance with Resolution No. 6388. Project Data: General Plan Designation: Zoning Designation: Specific Plan; Site Area: Existing Building SF: Proposed Building SF: Industrial! Residential P (CG, ML, Res 4-10) North De Anza Boulevard Special Center 130,469 square feet (2.99 acres) 53,890 square feet (to be demolished) Building A: 74,511 square feet Buildine: B: 80,742 square feet Total Building SF: 155,253 square feet DIIG- 7 Applications: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Public Storage Page 2 Building Coverage: Floor Area Ratio: Building Height: Required Parking: Provided Parking: Hours of Operation (Storage): Hours of Operation (Office): Total Employees: Employees at anyone time: May 16, 2006 39.6% 1.19 43 feet maximum, 45 allowed N/A 80 spaces 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (same as existing hours) 9:00 a.m, - 5:00 p.m. (same as existing hours) 5 employees 2 employees ( Environmental Assessment: Negative Declaration BACKGROUND At its meeting of May 9, 2006, the Planning Commission voted (5-0) to recommend approval of the project to demolish all of the existing buildings on site and construct two new three-story storage buildings for Public Storage. The project site is accessed from Valley Green Drive by a 30-foot wide driveway easement and is surrounded by Interstate 280 to the north, existing two-story office buildings and Valley Green Drive to the south, a condominium development (Oak Park Village) under construction to the east and the Valley Green Apartment complex to the west. DISCUSSION The Planning Commission felt that the project provides a good community benefit and differed with staff's interpretation that the project would conflict with the intent of the General Plan's policy for the maintenance of cohesive commercial centers and office parks per Policy 2-44 of the Land UsejCommunity Design Element of the General Plan (See Exhibit q. The Commission's comments were: 1. The project fulfills a community need for storage facility uses for both businesses and residents and is an established use in the area. 2. The $10 million in property improvements is a substantial investment for the company and for the business community. Public Storage representatives stated that this project is the company's largest capital improvement project. 3. The buildings have been designed to architecturally match the adjacent Oak Park Village condominium development to be constructed and will blend in with the surrounding uses. 4. The building massingj scale is large and the buildings are very long. Some of the Commissioners asked if the building could be broken up into 3 buildings or if the height along portions of the east and west elevations of the buildings facing the residential developments could be lowered to a two-story height to lessen massing impacts onto adjacent properties. í \ D lit -10 Applications: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Public Storage Page 3 May 16, 2006 5. The adjacent two-story office buildings were built in the 60's and 70's and appear to be in need of redevelopment. There should be some thought as to whether the policies for maintaining cohesive office parks includes expanding older-style office buildings of this type. 6. It does not make sense to prevent Public Storage from developing a storage facility on the basis that there might be redevelopment of this site as offices. 7. Pervious pavers should be considered in lieu of asphalt paved driveways on site. 8. Landscaping should be enl~anced on site with additional trees on site and along the Interstate 280 right-of-way. 9. The City should investigate the possibility of developing a user fee for the storage units, similar to a TOT (Transient Oriented Tax) that is applied to hotel uses. The Commission also added additional conditions of approval to the project including: 1. Additional trees on site and on the Interstate 280 right-of-way. 2. Final landscaping plans to be reviewed and approved by the Design Review Committee. 3. Pervious pavers to be used in lieu of asphalt paved driveways on site, if in compliance with Fire Department regulations. Staff's Position on the Policy on Maintaining Cohesive Commercial Centers and Office Parks Staff believes that the project conflicts with intent of the General Plan policy to maintain cohesive commercial center and office parks because the mini-storage facility is a non- office use that would significantly intensify storage facility use on the property by nearly tripling the amount of storage building area, and thereby precluding future redevelopment of the expansion of the adjace,nt office park. Staff also believes that the project will offer very little public and community benefit as it is will generate only a minimal amount of retail sales tax from its incidental sales of packing/boxing supplies and it is substantially inconsistent with adjacent residential uses (Valley Green Apartment complex and the Oak Park Village condominiums). Development Allocation The project as a storage facility is a semi-industrial type of use and will require an allocation from the N. De Anza Boulevard Employment Center area. Since office square footage includes industrial uses, the project will use an allocation of the additional 101,363 net square feet of storage building area from the office square footage allocation. This leaves a remaining office balance of 116,822 square feet for future development in the N. De Anza area. The office balance should be reserved for fiscally positive commercial and office uses. I)I£-~ Applications: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Public Storage Page 4 May 16, 2006 Trail Access The policies for maintaining cohesive commercialj office parks provide for visible pedestrian connections and accessibility to parkj plaza or open space areas. Staff believes that a trail access could fulfill this policy and would enhance the project as a community benefit. The trail access could be created along the northern property line adjacent to the existing Santa Clara Valley Water District channel and along the Interstate 280 right-of-way. The trail could provide access to a possible future trail extension access to Valley Green Drive and also connect to the pedestrian walkway through the Oak Park Village project to De Anza Boulevard. AIthough this is a policy directive primarily for conversion of commercialj office parks to residential uses, staff believes this connection is appropriate since the use will be "locked in" for many years. Staff recommends that the applicant study the possibility of incorporating a trail access on site along the site's northern property line or working with the adjacent Santa Clara Valley Water District to determine the possibility for creating a trail access on the Water District side of the property line if Public Storage cannot be accommodate the trail on its property. Fiscal Impacts The Director of Administrative Services has determined that the estimated the property tax benefit to the City for the $10 million in building improvements will only be $4,450, based upon a total property tax each year of $111,410. The retail sales tax generation is also considered inconsequential because the site generates only a minimal amount of retail sales from packingjboxing supplies. Therefore, while a significant investment is being made by Public Storage, there is negligible fiscal benefit to the City from this use. The City Council could consider applying an in-lieu fee of $2j square foot to the project to offset the loss in future office area from the development allocation within the N. De Anza Boulevard area and to satisfy the intent of the cohesive office parks fiscal policy. The project will require a substantial allocation from office area in the N. De Anza Boulevard area as mentioned above. If the in-lieu fee were applied to the additional 101,363 net square footage of the development, the total fee applied to the project would be $202,726 annually. The applicant could recover this fee from the rental of the storage units. The project is proposing approximately 1,168 storage units. If the cost were applied to the rental fee of the storage units, the cost would translate to about $174jyear, or about $14.50jmonth additional to the rental fee of the storage units. The applicant should be asked the feasibility of incorporating this provision into their proposal. Adiacent Office Park The existing office buildings along Valley Green Drive to the south of the project site are two-story office buildings that were constructed in 1975. The one-story office buildings that Apple is occupying on the north and south sides of Valley Green Drive were also t>IR-/O Applications: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Public Storage Page 5 May 16, 2006 constructed around the same time. As mentioned by the Commission, these buildings have an older architectural style that appear to be in need of redevelopment. AIthough the Commission raised this point as a means to support the project, staff would like to also raise this point as a means to demonstrate how the project conflicts with the intent of the policies for cohesive commercialj office parks. If these buildings are in need of redevelopment and their respective properties have the potential for redeveloping in the future with new buildings, staff believes that the 3-acres of the Public Storage project site could even more likely be incorporated into future office park area, thereby expanding office uses in the area and meeting the objectives of the cohesive commercialj office park policies. Visibility, FAR and Architecture The 43-foot maximum height of the building will be prominently visible from the surrounding uses. The massing of the buildings is extensive due to the three-story height, and will be particularly noticeable due to the surrounding two-story buildings to the south (Apple offices) and west (Valley Green Apartments) and the lengthy 370 foot long façades along the north and south elevations of each building. Additionally, the site will be developed at a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 1.19 which further intensifies the visual massing of the buildings. Typical office developments have FARs under .40. The projeCt also includes a substantial amount of paved areas around the buildings for driveway access and parking, which leaves only the remaining perimeter of the site for landscaping to provide some visual softening of the buildings. The Commission asked if the length of the building could be broken up by having three separate buildings and if the building heights could be lowered to two-story heights for portions of the east and west elevations of the buildings facing the residential uses to help mitigate these massing and visibility issues. AIthough the Commission did not vote to require these changes, staff supports these comments and recommends further breaking up the building lengths by having four buildings. While the applicant has made good efforts to architecturally design the buildings, staff believes that additional architectural enhancements on the buildings could provide more superior architectural designs, which is in keeping with the goals of the cohesive commercialjoffice parks policy. The adjacent Oak Park Village condominium's design incorporates significant window area and proposes a substantially stucco exterior (See Exhibit D). Staff recommends that the buildings be redesigned to provide additional window area similar to the Oak Park Village condos and that a greater variety of building materials and base treatments be chosen that are more compatible to residential and office building uses, rather than industrial look of the split face concrete block. Greater variation in wall articulations than the five-foot offsets would also help to alleviate the massing issues. Dl ¡¿-II Applications: U-2006-03, ASA-2006-05, EA-2006-06 Public Storage Page 6 May 16, 2006 Staff Recommendation Staff believes that with additional enhancements and modifications, the project could provide additional public and community benefit that would make the project better meet the intent of the policy for maintaining cohesive commercialj office parks. Staff recommends that the City Council continue this item for two months to allow the applicant time to conduct studies and modify plans based upon the following recommendations by staff: 1. Break up the length and massing of the existing buildiI:lgs by developing 3 or 4 smaller size buildings in lieu of the 2 lengthy and large buildings. 2, Lower the height of the buildings to 2-story heights, particularly along the east and west property lines adjacent to the residential complexes. 3. Provide substantial architectural enhancements, including greater wall articulations and building offsets, additional window areas, use of a greater variety of building materials and base treatments that are more compatible to the surrounding office and residential buildings, rather than the industrial look of split face concrete block. 4. Apply a $2j square foot annual in-lieu fee based upon the total square footage of the project. 5. Create a trail access along the northern property line to connect to the pedestrian walkway through Oak Park Village to De Anza Boulevard and provide access to a possible future trail to Valley Green Drive. ENCLOSURES Planning Commission Resolutions Nos. 6387 and 6388 Exhibit A: Planning Commission Staff Report dated May 9,2006 Exhibit B: Letter submitted by Pion Brothers Exhibit C: Policy on Maintaining Cohesive Commercial Centers and Office Parks Exhibit D: Elevation comparison between Public Storage and Oak Park Village condos Plan Set Prepared by: Aki Honda, Senior Planner Approved by: Steve Piasecki Director, Community Development D1I DavidW. Knapp City Manager G:\Planning\PDREPORT\ CC\ U-2006-03 CC Report, Public Storage.doc D If<. -It( Supporters Aim to Increase Housing Concerns With 'Affordable Housing Week' Events supporting and promoting efforts for affordable homes in Santa Clara County San Jose, April 13, 2006 - In response to intense concerns of Santa Clara Valley residents about elevating housing costs, a broad coalition of non-profits and individuals have been working together to advocate practical solutions to the issues of affordable housing. Local housing advocates along with sponsor, Citibank have announced the third annual Affordable Housing Week (AHW) from May 13th - 20th. Each year AHW attracts considerable press coverage as well as attention from elected officials and key decision makers. Over 700 people have actively participated in the events for 2006. State legislators and local policymakers are also making an appearance in these events, including Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez who will open the Wall Raising Ceremony on Saturday, May 13th. Events are mostly free, open to the public and cover the full range of housing issues in our Valley from homelessness to first-time home ownership. Key events for 2006 include the tour of affordable housing developments in East San Jose, the celebration of the City of San Jose's 10,000 affordable unit, a best practices seminar on financing affordable housing, an affordable housing fair at Berryessa Flea Market, and the San Jose's Mayor's Candidate Forum. Come celebrate and create awareness about Affordable Housing Week this year. Our activities are taking place all over the Bay Area, to educate and motivate citizens around the crucial issue of housing affordability. For more information you can visit www.affordablehousinqweek.orq. Santa Clara County's events are organized by a broad consortium of organizations Including the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the Santa Clara County Collaborative on Affordable Housing and Homeless Issues, Silicon Valley Citizens for Affordable Homes, the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, the Affordable Housing Network, Charities Housing Development, South County Housing, Community Homeless Alliance Ministry, Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley, Bay Area Housing Corp., EHC LifeBuilders, Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley, League of Women Voters of Cupertino-Sunnyvale, Advocates for a Better Cupertino, Cupertino Community Services, Catholic Charities, Prudential California Realty, First Community Housing, the South County Collaborative, the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara, the County of Santa Clara, and the Cities of San Jose, Morgan Hill, and Gilroy. CONTACTS: Hien Tran, Operations Manager, Charities Housing 408-282-1133. htran@charitieshousing,org Vanessa Cooper, Director of Operations, Charities Housing 408-282-1133, vcooper@charitieshousing.org PIt2-1?> ASSOCIATION OF BAY AREA GOVERNMENTS Representing City and County Governments of the San Francisco Bay Area o ABAG MEMORANDUM To: City Managers/County Administrators & Planning Directors FR: Paul Fassinger Kenneth K. Moy RE: Subregional Allocations DT: May 2, 2006 Summary and Requested Action The deadline for creating subregions within the RHNA process (RHNA subregion) Is August 31, 2006. Creation of a RHNA subregion requires a resolution by each city council or board of supervisors. If your jurisdiction Is Interested, please send a representative to an informational! organizational meeting at the Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) offices on June 16, 10 a.m. to Noon.. Discussion Changes to the Housing Element law enacted In 2004 provide an opportunity for local jurisdictions In the San Francisco Bay Area to create subregions that are empowered to perform housing need allocations at the subregional level. Subregions will be responsible for conducting the subregional allocations In parallel with the ABAG's regional allocation. ABAG has not previously conducted a RHNA with RHNA subregions In place. The statute provides a broad framework for how to proceed (see over). In addition, In September 2005, ABAG secured from the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) an extension for RHNA and for local jurisdictions to amend their housing elements. As a condition of the extension, HCD and ABAG agreed to a more specific tlmellne than provided by statute. Major events on the tlmellne are: Date August 31, 2006 December 31, 2006 March 30, 2007 June 29, 2007 February-April 2008 Event Deadline for creating subregions RHNA subregions Issue proposed subregional methodology RHNA subregions adopt the final subregional methodology RHNA subregions Issue draft subregional allocations RHNA subregions Issue final subregional allocations RHNA subregions and ABAG will need to work closely to ensure timely completion of all tasks and coordination of the allocation effort. Therefore, we are asking Interested jurisdictions to meet, discuss and, as appropriate, agree on a course of action around the following Issues: · What are the RHNA subregions? · What are their expectations? · What role does ABAG expect to play In the RHNA subregional process? · How will problems be Identified and resolved? Please emall your Intent to attend the meeting, questions and any suggestions for discussion at the meeting to Cheryl Adsit chervlata>abao,ca.aov. The appropriate staff will respond to Inquiries and suggestions. ABAG Is compiling a list of staff housing contacts for each jurisdiction In the region, Please Identify one for your jurisdiction. cc: . Current housing contact list Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2050 Oekland. California 94604-2050 (510) 464-7900 Fax: (510) 464-7970 info@babag.ca.gov Josaph p, Bart MatroCantar 101 Eighth Slreat Oakland, Califomia 94607-4756 DI£-/4- Page 2 RHNA (4TH CYCLE) - SUBREGIONS - FAQ - What is a subregion? Revisions to the Housing Element Law provide an opportunity for the formation of one or more "subregions" that will have the responsibility for distributing the housing need for a subregion among the members of a subregion.' Who can be in a subregion? · Two or more cities in a county and that county can form a subregion or · Any combination of geographically contiguous local governments,2 How do you form a subregion? The policy bodies of each member of the subregion must adopt a resolution authorizing Its Inclusion in the subregion and notify ABAG by August 31, 2006.' ABAG must adopt a resolution approving the subregion. How does a subregion make decisions? All decisions of the subregion . shall be approved by vote as provided for in rules adopted by the local governments comprising the subregion or · shall be approved by vote of the county or counties, if any, and the majority of the cities with the majority of population within a county or counties.' How is the subregion's housing need determined? ABAG Is required to determine the subregion's housing need "In a proportion consistent with the distribution of households assumed for the comparable time period of the applicable regional transportation plan." 5 ABAG will hold a public hearing and consider proposals to revise the subregional need. How does a subregion dlstril~ute the subregional housing need to Its members? · Subregions must fOllow the same substantive and procedural rules and guidelines that govern how ABAG develops its methodology for allocating the regional need and for the actual allocation. For a general outline, please see attached RHNA tlmellne." · In addition, each subregion and ABAG "shall enter Into an agreement that sets forth the process, timing, and other terms and conditions of the delegation of responsibility by the council of governments to the subregion." 7 What is the timing for the subregions' RHNA process? · HCD has agreed to provide the region's housing need to ABAG by March 1, 2007. This was done In order to shift the pertinent portions of the RHNA process to earlier points In time. This, In turn, relieves the time pressures caused by two processes that could occur towards the end: (1) statutory appeals of the final RHNA allocation and (2) ABAG needing to perform subregional allocation if a subregion falls to do so.· · HCD has committed to providing the regional housing need to ABAG by March 1, 2007. ABAG intends to Issue the subregional need(s) within 21 days after receipt of the regional need from HCD · ABAG has established deadlines of March 30, 2007 for adoption of a methodology and June 30, 2007 for Issuance of draft regional allocations, ABAG expects that Its delegation agreement with each subregion will include the same timellnes for the equivalent subregional task, , Govt. C. Sec. 655S4.03 2 Govt. C, Sec. 65584,03(a) , Govt, C, Sec. 655S4.03(a) for resolution requirement, Deadline date set after discussions between ABAG and HCD taking Into account (a) the statute required formation 'at least 2S months prior" to June 30, 2009, I,e. April 30, 2007, (b) nominal and probable timing for release of regional housing need by HCD, and (c) the effort required to complete the subregional process. , Govt, C, Sec. 655S4.03(a) , Govt. C, Sec. 65584.03(c) · More specific Information may be located in Govt. C. Sees. 655S4.04 and 65584,05. 7 Govt, C. Sec. 655S4.03(b) · See Gov!. C, Sees. 655B4.05(f)-(h) and 65584.03(d). V)¡ e-/s ABAG Regional Housing Needs Allocation Schedule for August 31 December 31 Deadline for creating subregional entities [65584.03(a): The subregion develops e proposed me)hodology [65584.04(aH Start of 60-day public comment period ebout methodology [65584,04(h)l must Include at least one public hearing [65584,04(c)] [65584.04(h) />BI'ß requests Information tem jJrisdlctions fer developing methodology [65584.04(b )(1)] />BI'ß develops a proposed methodology [65584.04(a)]. Start of 6O-day public comment period about methodology [65584.04(h)~ must Include at least one public hearing [65584.04(c) June 30 December 31 />BAG detarmlnation of housing need assigned to each subregion. M.least one public hearing must be held prior to allocation [65584.03(c)~ Subregion Issues DRAFT RHNAs [65584.05(a)~ May1 detarmination of regional housing need [65584.02(a)(1 HCD March Prior to June 30 Issues DRAFT RHNA [65584.05(aH />BI'ß Prior to June 30 ÞBAG completes aHocation process for affected jJrisdictions f noncomplan~ />BI'ß reviews DRAFT RHNAs of subregions for cempliance Wilh Gov. Code See. 65584.03(d); Prier to June 30 Local jJrisdlctions may request revisions to DRAFT allocation [65584,05(b)] 60 days of submittal requests (Y.ithin Subregion responds [65584.05(c)] Local jJrisdlctions may appeal DRAFT RHNA to revision Prior to August 3' Prier to October 3' December - February Local jJrisdictions may request revisioos to DRAFT allocation [65584.05(b)] ÞBAG responds to revision requests ('h'ithin 60 days of submittal) [65584.05(c)] Local jJrisdlctions may appeal DRAFT RHNA (60 day period) Prier to August 31 Prior to October 31 (60 day period) December - February filing ~ Continuation of 60 days for Local jJrisdlctions to appeal DRAFT RHNA for Subregioo public hearing on appeals (YJithin 60 days after deadline appeal) [65584,05(e)~ Subregion issues FINAL RHNA proposal (Wilhln appeals period) [65584.05(f)~ Contini jJrisclictia1s />BAG public hearing on appeals (Within 60 days after deadline fer filing appeal) [65584.05(e)~ />BAG Issues FINAL RHNA proposal (";lhln 45 days of end of 60-day appeals period) [65584.05(f)~ />BI'ß public hearing to adopt FINAL allocation (";thln 45 days of Issuing final allocation) [65584.05(h)], Submit adoptad Final Allocation to HCD. January - April February - April end of 6O-day Subregion public hearing to adopt FINAL allocation (Wilhln 45 days of issuing final allocation) [65584.05(h)], Subregions submit FINAL allocations to />BAG days of 45 February - April February - March (prior to />BAG's) February - June August HCD cempletes review afFINAL RHNA [65584.05(hH Notes: Thü task schedule suµrcedes the due dates that would be ap¡iicable ¡fihe ¡rocess were to be im¡iemented ¡ursuanl to Section 65584 raJher than ~rsuan1 /0 Section 65584.02. The ¡Janning [Eriod þr the Iwusingelemen! upfotes will be July I, 2009 through June 30, 2014. The allocation [Eriod þr the regionallwusing need þr the ABAG region will be Jonuary I, 2006 through June 30, 2014; these dates re ¡resent the date þr which the mQst current estimates 0 j10cal housing stock wi/I be available 10m the De ¡nrtmenJ 0 fFinance (00 F). and the end Q flhe panning ¡zriod, res¡zctively. í7 (1:, .l. ~ I"IUUUIIIY U II: 1I/i:lII\t:l . . ..",. ... ., Oracle Corp. dumping former Siebel Systeme offiCeõ'epaee:in'San"Matep coUhi)..>. . -- -, ':~- -,~'; !~: '. i~ : :,.,.,:-: ,':;. :,.;' . . .....aB .... ø 1J'R!.2UlOl ,,"" J,!,mlUlLEY/SAllJOSE , "1BUS.~SSJOUII!fA1 . 'anJ...biIou""""- -., '.,'. 1..1." ... " ,...~ 1'1'1·'···""'" ~"". '. .. , .'J,...., ," :,' Cupertino citizens' 'group aims to halt new housing projects' housing projects proposed for property near the town's struggling ValIeo FashIon Park mall. The City Council approved both developments within a day of one another tn late March. Together they Involve conslruction olmore than 500 Dew con· domInlums, 118,000 square feet of Dew shops, and a 3.5-acre public park. At IS8ue for the citizens' group is preservation of the town's suburban character. concerns about BY SHARON SlMINSON IIlmlllllG'f@bfljtumølu.", Increased traffic, and fear that the cUy's well·re- garded schools will be diminished by too many new students, according to the eee Web site. Eighty ofthe proposed condos are intended as be- low-market senior housing and presumably would not house any "hool·aged chlldren~ No one directly affutated with the signature- SetCUPERTINO,PaOl-31 A Cupertino citizens' group opposed to high-density Levelopment in the town of54,ooO is at it again. Concerned Citizens of Cupertino, the same group :hat successfully petitioned to -have three low- {rowth initiatives P\lt on the ballot last year, is now tathering voter signatures to try t6 stop two new CUPEmNO: City has approved construction of 800 new condos near Vallco in the past 18 months cønnEØFRU_PAØE23 voter· driven efforts to modify lOVern- ment action, a referendum is aimed at overtumin, an uisting ordinance whDe an inItiative seeks to create law. According to Cupertino City Clerk Kimberly Smith, to petition the refer- endums, the group has onlY 30 calen- dar days - or untll the third week In Aprll - to gather signatures from ·10 percent of the town's registered vot· ers, or about 2-,500 people. She then has 80 working days to review the signatures to ensure they are valid. If after that time, she finds that they are, she wiD certify the petition at a regular meeting of the City Council. The cauncll th&n must suspend the effective dates of the two ordinances and eJth9l' repeal them or put them before the town's voters. The councD haa broad discretion in deciding when the votu might be, raneing from later this year to as1ate as November 2:007. City Attorney Chuck K.i111an says there is no"legal way that either of the developments could break ground be· fore the issues are resolved. Despite the short window to gather the signatures, Mayor Lowentha1says he expects the citizens' group to suc- ceed. He accttpts that the proceøs is part of what Iø laid ant for California gbvernment, thongh he concedes it is not easy to govern in such an environ- ment. He also says that in some ways he believes that democracy is being thwarted. "When the signatures "are gathered, all that will be disclosed are the down· sides ofthe potential development," he says. Nothing is likely to be said about the below-market senior housing, the large new pUblic park or the millions In add1tional revenue to the city. "Yet If you collect 8,000 signatures. you can have a severe impact on the projects," he says. lHAIOR 1III000000N corers 1UI'$tall fill 11M BuØlaI JunaL R_ her.1 (408) 299-1853. gathering efI'ortreturned caUs or an e. mail seeking more information about the protest. But Dennis Whittaker, a cee founder who spearheaded last year's initiative drive but is only pe- ripherally involved In the new move· ment, says the City Counell seems already to have forgotten the message that voters sent just last November. All three of the cce in1tiatives falled in that election, but two of them only narrowly. Together the three were an attempt to amend the city's 'master- planning document to limit new build- ing hel8ht and housing density, and to require what could be described as suburban setbacks from city roads. A hallmark of urban development is bullding cloae to streets.. By approving these' twø. housing "ptojecte åsweU as several othets be- . fore' tbem. the councll isn't giving the community enough time to' di- gest: change and to monitor its effects, Mr. Whittaker says. "Even after -the (November) -eleCt!,OD, the City Council isn't chanemg," he laments. . With the two contest.ed projects, the CUpertino City Council has approved conatruct1on of about -800 new condo- miniums near Valleo -In the' last 18 months or so. Both of ·the disputed· developments- - one proposed by- housing developer Toll Bros., the -second by the part- n.tabip ·redeveloping VallC9..... are intended. to'bolster the mall's chances for commerc1a1suècess by bringing residents - andpotent1ally'frequent shoppers' -- nearby,,·'(Øght now, the mall produces .$];2 milllon:in· annual sales tax revenue for Cupertino. After. the nOD mllHon re-construction, the city· estimates it will receive $4.6 mU- lion a year. That increase is important to the city's long-term fiscal 'health, Cuper- tino Mayor Richard Lowenthal says. vaUco General· Manager· Mike Ro- hde says he 1s :aware of the citizen elIort, ooncerned about its effects, but still pUshing forward. "We are just trying to bulld a mall," he says. ~'We thinkthe-beneftts of our proJect· for; Cupertino· far' ,outweigh any Issues !hat cce is brineiilg·up.~ ToU 81:0s. Northern California Pres- Ident Rick Nelson did r,.otret1U'n a call for comment. Technioa1.ly, the citizens' group Is seeking to have two referendums on the two ordinances that the councll approved to allow' the 'houdn'g proJ- ects' construction. While- both are D/R-~Il PAlE 23 ~Z1,2008 Iil.lCÐNVAillY I SAllJOSE . BÛSINESS JOURNAl . aanj,...bl1j'umoll.,om Flooding the market . Oracle Corp. dumping former Siebet Systems office· space in $an Mateo CountY. . p... at loDe IES Home buyers· pay a premium in top school districts BY__ .MII.Obbjlllrn*.IIIIII Did you send your child to school today weIl·prepared and rested? Ifso. you may have taken a tiny step toward enhanclngthe value of your home. Forget showy curbside flowers and the latest borne fashiOns. A growing body of BCAt'lpmi,. research, Includ· Ing anew study of2005 S!l1con Valley home sales, shows tbat students' scademlc perfonnance st locsl publJc schools plays a surprislngJy strong role In determlnlng the value ofhomes. In Cupertino, a town renowned for its students' ex- cellent state test scores, the differenœ in home prices in the poorest-performing high school's catchment area versus those in the best-performing high school's area is $250,000, according to research from Palo Alto's Movoto IDe. . Home buyers were willlngto pay a whopping $378,000 more to ensure their children attended Los Gates HIgh School versus Leigh High Schoo! In the Campbell Union HIgh School DJstrlct last year, sccordIng to on Movoto snaJysis of comparable home sa1es on either side of the distrlcts' dlvldtug line. Student performsnce scores were 15 percent higher for the Los Gatos high school than Leigh on the state's Academic Performance Index for the 20()4.2005 school year. The same kind ofprem1um exists for homes in Moun- tain View's Miramonte area, where some homes feed -.- IWI-.IIW.IIIII.._ _..,. La _... _..n.. II,,", 1III....d.....1IIIr p.bß, schøøl,llOt, I...... _..... It,.,... II III... ... ........... Into the Los Altos elementary and junIor-hlgh school dIetrIct and others Into MountaIn View's. MJremonie home buyers on avorage spent on sddIttonel $142,000 . last yeer to buy a home tbatled Into the Los Altos]ower schools, where etudent perIbnnence scores were 18 per. cent higher. MIddle school and high school scores do not dIffiIr tbat much. . Matthew Swenson, e Los Gstos Realtor who works for AlaIn PInel, says the magnitude of the $378,000 pre- mium for Los Gstos HIgh does not 8\ll'1!1se him et all. "School dletrlcts are big for buyers In Los Getos. Family Is Importent. ond parents went to ¡¡tve their kids everything," he soys. "If you spend $i.5 rnIlllon on a house, you wont to give them what you believe is the best opportunity." Even buyers who don't have kids are often keyed into the strong relationship between school quallty ond a bome's re-sale value,he and other agents say. Swenson says, "I had a conversation with a buyer today. He said, 'I don't care about schools. but I know it's important because when a doWn market comes, the value of a good.locatlon Is going to kick In. If the market becomes a buyer's market. the seller with the premier home In the premier location Is going to fare the best and that includes schools·... In the Los Getos onsJysis, .. In all probes of school quality and·its relationship with house prices, peeling out factors other than schools 8uch as disparate house size and neighborhoods that conhibute to housing velne Is the most dIft'Icult ond Important precursor. It's fairly evident. for Instonce, that emong S1Itcou Valley's socIalJy aware a Los Galos address carries a cachet that . Campbell or Son Jose address does not, adding an unquantlllabJe price premium to Los Gatos homes relative to those locations that is not directly _ to schools. In addition. the Los Gatos situation illustrates what Mr. Swenson and others interviewed for this story ~ con be the dIIDculty of sorting out which factor comes first: the good. schools or the experutlve homes and weIl-educated, weIl·to-do parents that typically come with them. Such parents generally put a premium on education, sendlng to schools chlldren poised to learn and perform well on standardized tests. The Business Journal worked with Movoto, a Palo Alto Internet start-up ab.d brokerage. to reach its con- clusions regarding the dollar preniiums attached to Silicon Valley born.. In districts with hIgh·scorlng schools on state performance exams. Movoto reviewed the sale of 334 Silicon Valley single-family houses in 2005 in nearly a dozen towns and school districts stretching from Merna Park to San Jose. Fewer than five early 2006 sales were also included. Movoto speciallzes in providing prospective home buyers with detalled information on homes, schools, crime rates, resident demographics and local home- Sel8CllIIOtS,""''' D;/Z-Itò IRNAL sanjose.bizjoumals.com APRIL 21, 200S . SCHOOLS: Buyers pay premium CONnNUED fROM PAGE 23 sales data based on the regional multiple listing service· and public iIûormation drawntrom such sources as the U.S. Census BureaU and the state of CalIfornia's Department of Education. Dan Lorimer, a company co-founder and site architect ofMo- voto, perfonned much of the analysis. His findings were basèd on the relationship between home prices based on actual saJes and the state's academic performance Index, or API, for the various schools. API scores range from a low of200 to a high of 1,000. The state's goal for all schools Is to score at least 000. Movoto ánalyzed the data exclusively for the Business Jour- nal In part because It, too, wants to better understand how to quantify the Importance of school quality to home prices. In some cases the analysis did not yield clear enough results to reach any conclusion, as In the case of Palo Alto and Menlo Park-Atherton schools. Palo Alto High School's 2004 API score Is more than 200 points higher than that for Menlo Park-Ather- ton High School, yet the price per square foot of comparably sized tbree-bedrooll1, two-bath homes was v1r!nalIy the same at $732 In Palo Alto and $729 In Atherton. "To me It would seem that you would see more of an effect" In the home prices between the different high schools, Mr. LorImer says. "It maybe that (the lower high-schoOl API score) doesn't affect Atherton prices as much because so many people send their kids to private schools." In addition, he says, the homes In the two high schools' catchment areas are not nearly as comparable as those In, say, Cupertino, which clouds any conclusions further. Nonetheless, the relationship between home prices andschool quality has been fairly sIrongly established In multiple aca- demic studies by researchers In locations as disparate as Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Connecticut and Reading, Rngl.nñ Invariably, they fInd that the ,better quality the,local schools, ' the higher priced the homé. ' "School quality Is the most Important cause of the variation In ... house P.rices," concludes a 1996 study by David Brasington, an economist at Louisiana State unIVersity In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and his then-dlssertation advisor, Donald R. Haurln In the Departments of Economics and Flnimce at Ohio State Unlverslt}1: The study looked at slngle·famiIy homes In 134 STRDR& CORRElATION: AI ","""mi. porlarm.... .... 01111... five high schouls, so did hom. prl.... school districts In six metropolitan areas. In an Interview, Mr. Brasington says his studies of Ohio schools have shown that !f school quality Improves by 10 percent as measured. on a student profIcIPT'r.y test, then home prices In Its catel1mpnt area rISe by 2 percent. Other studies looking at FlorIda schools have found house price Increases of nearly 3 percent In similar clrcumstanœs and as much as a 5 percent Increase In a study of Connecticut home values.· A study of home prices In RngJ.nñ by two profussors at the London School ofEconomJcs and PoIltlcaI ScIence and WJlliams College In Massachusetts found, among other things, that a home well-sulted for raIsJng a family carries an even higher price ~!flt Is In the catchment area ofa good school.' The same study found that expectations about l\rtUre school quality also atJected prk:es, with home buyers mscounting for rIst If they found too much variability )II past ~ool perfor- mance test scores. They also found that home buyers really paid price premiums ouly to get Into the very best schools, and that home prices In mediocre or even poor, schools were not mirterlally different. - . SHARON SIMONSON cove.. me! .stat. for the Business Journal R.acl1 her at (408) 299-1B53. . D I R.-¡(i ,,~ . SAN ANToNIO EXPRESS-NEWS SUNDAY APRIL 23, 2006 SECTION K Inter YouThI videos : moretl PAGE 31 Whole Foods feeding on its success Now a corporate giant, its hippie roots haven't e.ntirely disappeared, . , Sn!VII QuINN SOCIAUOPftES5 AUSTIN - Without a hint of -etense, John Mackey recently id this to shareholders of his mpany; Whole Foods Market c.: "There aren't many big cor- lrations that we look 'at and y we want to be Jilte that l1en we grow up. I think we e grown up, ft'ankl)!" That might be an understate- ent ð:om the oo-founder and 1ef executive, say analysts 10 marvel at the grocery store ain's annual double-digit reve· Ie. boost in an industry in 11ch sales are relatively flat They also like how the com- ny melds idealism - selling ganic food and making envi- rnnentally conscious business cislons - with a focus on the' ttom lirie and drive for àggres- re growth. Whole Foods accomplishes is undaunted by the emer- Ilea of smaller, yet fonnidable, mpeUtors such as Trader e's or Wal·Mart Stores' steady \18ion of organic foods into its x:erymix. 'What matters is if you take a strategy or a philosophy; In create an environment that IOnates wIth your conswner, ll'll win," sald. Canaccord lams analyst Scott Van Win· ~ "What they have found is !ir 'customers care about the ne things they consider im· rtant" Whole Fbods closed its fiscal IT in September with $4.7 bU- n in sales and a $136 million )ß.t It has stated goals of $12 lion in sales by 2010. 3egun in late 1900 as a quaint tstill neighborhood marltet th a hippie image, Whole Dds now has 181 stores scat· 'ed throughout the United lies. Canada and the· United tlgdom. San. Antonio has one II'e at the Alamo QuarTY Mar· L The' company went public 1991 when it had just 10 Jl"eS.. about 1.100 employees and a stock selling at $4.25 a share. Toda)r, it has 181 stores, nearly 40,000 employees and a stock price tradb1g in the $65 range. . More tban 25 years after the first store opened, the company is still unafraid to be different . It awards stock options to store employees, not just senior executives. That may be just a . few options a year, hut it comes at a time when grocerY compa- nies are closing stores, pulling out of markets and, In. some cases, are at odds with wúons over wages and benefIts. _ It has a salary cap. Macltey malœa no more than 14 times the average company sa1ar}I ex· cluding stock awards and op. tlOl1s. This meant foñeiting $46,000 of his bonus last. yeat: Some CEDs earn as much as 600 times the company's average salary, says Paul Hodgson of The Corporate Libral1! _The company provides au· tonomy to the store managers. Rather than take out national or regional ads, Whole Fbods pro- vides a $150,000 marketing bud- get to the store manager; who can spend it without corporate oversight The decentralized structure and the employee perks are es- sential towant Whole Fbods' em- powennent phDosoph:¡: and ulti· mately the ltind of success that generates as much as $1 million in weekly sales per store, said Chief Operating omcer Walter Robb. ''] liked coming to. work he- cause it was never boring - never boring - and I was bored being reti.rod," said 6O-:¡''e8r-old butcher A.J. Kutach. He worked in the company's ðrst market and recently came out of retire- ment to work in the company's ßaBShip, which opened last year in dOWJ;ltown Austin, a few blocks from where the original store stood. . The flrst thing that reelly strikes you upon entering the Austþ1 store may not be the highly publicized size of the building - 80,(0) square feet.- or its fœ.employee work force. Rather it's the scents compet. . ing for. your attention: CItrus See GROCER/4K HARRY CABLUCK/A5S00ATED PRES5 Customer-turned-employee Virginia Healer dips strawberries into a fountain of flowing chocolate at her confections island at Whole Foods' flagship store in Austin. Grocer blends idealism with bottom-line focus CONTINUED FROM 1K from the produce section, laven· der trom Ihe adjacent floral sec- tion, and roasting pecans and walnuts. The store also has islands, much like- those found in kitch- ens, for shoppers to sit down and enjoY a salad, seafood, or a barbecue sandwich and a draft beet Shopper Ann Skok, who spends about 90 minutes per visit, barely got out of the pro- duce section before sitting down to ènjoy a beel salad with shrimp. . "I had to· have lunch, too, you Imow; so here I am," she said, wiping her mouth after the final bite, then washing It down with the last sip of white wine. "Whole Foods has a niche in the supennarket space that hasn't been addressed- by con- ventional operators," said Mor· nu,gslar analyst Mitch Corwin. "Grocery stores have histori- . cally been fairly boring and not a fun place to' shop, but now Whole Foods turned that Image on its side." Whole Foods is expanding three ways: buying smaller companies such as seven Wild & Fresh stores It bought in the United Kingdom two years ago; expanding existing stores and building new ones, By next year, the company plans to open as many as 25 stores a year, in· cluding its Iaq¡est,most elabo- rate offering to come in London. But the Idnd of growth and change found throughout the Austin store must be done judi· cioust~ said BB&T Capital Mar- kets analyst Andrew Wolf, "So far they've done a good job of maldng sure they don't expand into bad locations," Wolf said. "As you accelerate growth, you want to make sure you're not diluting the quality of the stores Of the people you hire." For now, Whole Foods has no peer, but the company must not "Grocery stores have historically been fairly boring and not a fun place to shop, but now Whole Foods turned that image on its side." MITCH CORWIN industry analyst become complacent, or it could be looking eye to eye with a competitor one day, analysts said. Wal·Marl is already in the middle of a hard push to stock organic foods. And smaller, somewhat regional operators such as Trader Joe's; Wegman Fbod ·Markets and Wild Oats Markets remain undsunted by Whole Fbods' enonnous stores. Trader Joe's just opened its fIrst New York store in the city's Union Square last month - almost one year to the day that Whole Foods arrived with its third Manhattan store, two blocks awB.)! The store is about one-third the size of Whole Foods, reIlea 01'1 more private-label goods and is less expensive that Whole Foods, which still tries to shed the "Whole Paycheck" ùuage. "Usuall~ yoU have somebody get in your face with competi· tion, but they don't have tha!," Wolf said. "No matter what, you always, always have to keep an eye on Wal-Mart - alwaYs. Even Whole Fbods has 10:' COO Robb says a letdown is not going· to happen, "If you don't evolve, you will get yourself into a pile of also- rims," he said. "Nobody gives you credit for what. you did yes· terday. . "That's why there is no com- placency here and no aITOgance going on.. AI the end of the da~ I we'll let our performance and our stores do the talking." Dirt <QO ~ '~edn~,April26,2006 Renowned urban activist Jane Jacobs dies at 89 ~ II She created a new vision of what ,Cities could be By HIWL ITAUE ASSOCIATED PRESS ,'. NEW YORK - Jane Jacobs, ¡ãn author 'and community activ- list of singular influence whose classic The Death and Life of ; ¡Great 'American Cities trans- formed ideas about urban plan- ~ning, died Tuesday, her pub- ~lisher said. Jacobs, a longtime uesident of Toronto, was 89. Jacobs died in her sleep Tues- ' day morning at a Toronto hospi- tal, which she entered a few "days ago, said Random House publicist Sally Marvin. Jacobs' ' son, James, was w;th her at the time. The author, who would ¡have turned 90 on May 4, had ¡been in poor health. I A native of Scranton, Pa., Ja- cobs lived for many years in .New York before moving to Tor- ¡onto in the late 1960s. She and ¡her husband, architect Robert Jacobs Jr., were unhappy that their taxes supported the Viet- nam War and made Canada their permanent home. Robert Jacobs died in 1996. Jacobs, who based her fmd- ings on deep, eclectic reading and firsthand observation, chal- lenged assumptions that she thought damaged modern cities - that neighborhoods shou1d be isolated from each other, that an emptý street was safer than a rowded one, that the car repre- sented progress over the pedes- trian. , Her priorities were for inte- grated, manageable communi- 'I, I ** CANADIAN PRESS FILE ACTIVIST: Jane Jácòbs and her husband, Robert. moved to Canada because of their opposition to the Vietnam War, ties, for diversity of people, transportation, arch,itecture and commerce. She also be- lieved that economies need to be self-sustaining and self- renew;ng, relying on local ini- tiative instead of centralized bu- reaucracies. . "She inspired a kind of quiet revolution," her longtime edi- tor, Jacob Epstein, said Tues· day. "Every time yot¡ see people rise up and oppose a developei:, you think of Jane Jacobs." ' Death and Life, published in 1961, evolved froin opposing the standards of the'time to becom- ing a standard' itself. It was HOUSTON CHRONICLE AU - ,1 ~IÌ taught in urban studies classes 'throughout North America and, sold more than half a million copies, City planners in New York and Toronto were among those who cited its importance and her book became an essen- tial text for "New Urban" com- munities such as Hercules, Ca- lif., and Civano; Ariz. Jacobs also received a num- ber of prizes, including a life- time achievement award in 2000 from the National BUÌ1d- ing Foundation in Washington, D.C. Jacobs was, a dedicated, even iconic activist. In the 1950s, her loyalty was questioned by the U,S. govetiunent, and in the 1960s, she was arrested for pro- testing Vietnam. She successfully oppose,d a Toronto highway project not long after moving there and was a distinctive presence at public hearings. "You sort of fell in love w;th Jane when you met her," Ep- stein said. ' "She was exuberant, ori- ginal, stróng-minded and a very \ kind woman." {)jR -.:II PAGE 17 fEBAlJARY24,2006 SAlCON VAUEV f SAN JOSE BUSINESS JOURNAL sanjose.bizjournals.com ·...........tJ.... ....UUILU .. New regional MlS behemoth collects first $1 million to fund ils startup Charting ¡tout . TheCupertlnocømmunltylslrying loprqløcllheci(y's8ulstandng schoDJlbyllll'lIÜlgnewhDulJng IIIdnIWstudeøtt. Cupertino home buyers pay well . 200 4111 6111 8111 1000 THOUWlDS ........prlceaf.Ølgløfamllyhome Cooo1iooIo1229,OOO""tIJo¡SM'. 811 CpmIyIf...... :Undo comparison I ....... 18 ~-;:, "!:"\:-,,,., IIEI -,- r.. BrtUlen ..... II buill 3111 4I\nnl '-I._I, . part II1II . .,... ..... .. 21 acn. In CqIIrthII awned .., IIIwIeft..hcklrd CI. ç...¡ty røIdenb 111 Wltchilg ..,..". THDDWlDS IIIBIIIIIprlceøf.condDhCupertinør. l18f)'_the~InIheClUlty, BY 8IAR. SlIIIIIION ulmllllllll@bIzØII1IlI/I.com New home construction in Cupertino - not an easy proposition in the past - 1s likely to become even more expensive and d1tI1ClÙt 8S a vocal cadre of residents contin- ue to fight to protect their excellent schools, often by opposing new housing. The resistance Is manifesting 1tseIf1n mar· athon publlc hearlnga -... the c1ty conncll and the planning comm1ss1on. putting the city and its five connell people In the mid. dle, canght between developers and property owners, regional affordable-housing advo· cates and constituents who fear an influx of yonngsters will degrade their schools. The contention follows a tense 200S for the town of 64,000 and is a continuation of a bItter pol1tJca] fight over three ballot initiatives that polarized residents and com· mercla1 property owners last year. Resi· dents supporting the initiatives sought to l1m1t new development to largely suburban standards, citing the need to protect their schools from overcrowding. The quality of Cupertino schools is seen as a key compo· nent in homes' values. While they lost in November, the residents won a new respect from policy makers, some of whom were shocked by the strength of 3OOIICf:rAIITActMACOUITTIJSOCIATlIJIIDF REAlTORS lree proposals 1~"_Io""""IIn. .,...... I1IIt_1mv 611 .. om! homa. IIIIJItCHITYOFGl/P£RI:WO their support. Now some of the same activ- ists who carried the initiative flags are con· tinning to pnah their agenda. The pressure, reflectéd by a rising asser. tiveness at the Fremont Union High School DIsIrIct, Is pushing the council close to the conIInes of state law. Except nuder certain, rare clrcunistances, CalJfornla forbids its cities and counties from denying new home projects because of unwanted impact on local schools. Yet the city and its distrIcts have joined for the first time this year to hire Schoolhouse Services Consulting In Redwood City to help them to evaluate just those effects. At a recent councll meeting to consider a development that includes 380 new condo- miniums-some suitable for famllles - CIty Attorney Chnck Kilian was forced to rein In council members after they urged Pennsyl· vania deve10per Toll Brothers Ine. several times to make "vo1nntary" conlrihntlons to local schools above state-mandated amounts. The suggeStion "does not sound. voluntary to me." Mr. Kilian cautioned the board. "City councU has no authority to deny honslng projects on the baals of school 1m. pacts," Mr. KWan saId. "School impacts are not the business of planning. I don't agree with it, but that is the law. To require anything over and above what the state law prOVides violates state law." The tension in Cupertino between new home developers and existing residents' in· terests in maintaIning the status quo is almost certainly the strongest in Silicon Valley. Cupertino existing-home buyers fork over a substantial premium to ensure their chIldren are enrolled In Cupertino dtslrlcl schools, which are recogßized nationally and even internatkfnally for their quality. In January, the median price of a single-family home sold In Cupertino was $229,000 above that of the county's median of $740,000, according to the Santa Clara County As- sociation of Realtors. The median price of a Cupertino condominium or townhouse, at $675,000, was $175,000 above the countywide bar. It is also the highest median price for a condo for any market in the county. In an ironic c1rcle of events, the housing premium, driven by the schools' reputation, draws developers to the town's doors. At the same tltne, resident resistance to new homes, caused by a desire to protect the schools, in turn limits new supply, further' forcing up home prices and whetting devel- opers' appetites even more. In some ways the frictIon in Cupertino arises from the simple fact that the town SeoCUPEJlTll,....... Dr.e- 6?~ III Ut:Jllll 22 THE BUSINESS JOURNAL aanjol..bizloumal..com FEBRUARY 24, 2006 CUPERTINO: Good schools make city a magnet for development, which threatens school quality CONDIIUEU fROM PAGE 17 has available land for new homes as well as obvious redevelopment sites such 88 aging industrial buildings - wreck· ing-ball candidates valleywtde as the economy move farther and farther from even prototype manufacturing. In comparison, valley cities such as Los Altos or Los Altos Hills, which also share good schools, generally lack obvI- ous places to build new homes and have almost no industrial base to convert. Geoffrey Kiehl, chief business offi- cer for the Fremont Union High School District for the past 16 months, says his employer is adopting aggressive new programs to protect its schQOls and man· age their growth. The current capacity of its five sites - includIng the vaunted. Monta Vista, Lynbrook and Cupertino high schools - is 10,400 students. While the district has 9,917 kids enrolled to- day, in the next nine years, it expects to add another 1,200 students based. on pro- posed housing· and the data it receives from its two feeder school districts. The high school -district includes not only CuPertino, but also parts of Sunnyvale and even some of San Jose. Last spring, Fremont Union began a "big push" to keep students who are not residents from its classrooms, Mr. Kiehl says. The campaign, which so far has sent 300 kids back to their proper districts, includes semi-annual residen· cy veriflcatlon. In cases where there Is doubt.. the Cupertino district Is even pursuing "bed checks" - district visits to student homes and even bedrooms to ensure those bedrooms have the appro· priate teenage veneer. Fremont Union receives almost no state funding to support its operations, deriving nearly all of its revenue from property taxes. It estimates that each student costs the district $7,800 a year to educate, excludIng capItaJ or facili· ties costs. With the increased vigilance surrounding residency, the district es- timates it will save $2.5 million a year previously spent educating children IIDt properly in its district, Mr. Kiehl says. For the first time ever, the district bas hired external statisticians to project stQ..dent head,coW1ts into the next de- cade, including monitoring plans for new home construction likely to affect them. It expects to revisit its projections every year to determine how accurate they are, Mr. Kiehl says. The district accepts the historic stu- dent·generation rates as established by Schoolhouse Services, he says. But it is concerned that demographic changes in its community will create change. Right now, SchooJhouse says the district gets one new student for every 10 new homes. Residents speaking at pubHc hearings voclferously contest that finding. "Even a tenth of a percent change in srudent-generation rates, we will raise our eyebrows," Mr. Kiehl says. Already, Fremont Union is asking housing developers to give it enough money to expand its facilities as though the counts were off by substantial mar- gins. In the case of one developer, TayJor Woodrow Homes, Fremont Union and the Cupertino Union School District suc· ceeded in gatntng an additional $1.5 mil- lion in comnùtments above the $500,000 required. by state law for a 94-home plan. The homes are projected to put 20 new students into Manta Vista High School and 61 new kids into the elementary and middle schools. Taylor Woodrow's contributions gar- nered praise from the city council and were behind the cOW1cil's bald requests from Toll Brothers for like contributions. Rightnow, the districts assess $2.24 per square foot for every new home and 36 cents a square foot for new conunercial and industrial development. The money is to pay fur capital investments - such as classrooms - related to rising enroll· ment. Property taxes are supposed to pay for increased operational costs. Union contracts prohibit using property taxes for capital expenses at Fremont Union, Mr. Kiehl says, even though projections for some developments have shown the annual property taxes will be well above the increased costs. Mr. Kiehl says his dtstrictdoesnotwant to l1m1t the community's growth. noting that an increasing and healthy property tax base Is essential to the dlstrlct's well- being too. What it does want to do is pro- tect 1tself!\'om unexpected change. "Some would say we are holding proj- eets hostage by being opposed to them, but th.at's not true," he says. "We are sImp]y trying to defend our Interesls and our students' interests. "Our community likes tt," he sßYS. "We are not looking to the state or the federal governments to solve our problems. We are managing our ,resources; we are get. tIng tough about who Is getting Into our schools; and we are heIn¡¡ tough wtth developers and not rollingover 80 weare not caught short down the roacL" Since the turn ofthe year, the pressure on the city of Cupertino to approve new housing projects has been particularly etrong hecause new-development app11- catlOJlS generally stalled last year as developers and. city ofl1clals ewelted the November vote on the three resident- sponsored initlatives. Taylor Woodrow gave more than $10,000 and Grosvenor, a British real es- tate company, gave at least $20,000 to the campaign to keep the measures off the clty's books. Various Taylor Woodrow SnCUPflßlllJ,""" D/R ,,23 CUPERTINO: Council is feeling the pressure COIll1IUED fROM PAIIE !2 executives aIso coughed up money. Toll Brothers gave $5,000, and at least one of its executives also contributed. Hewlett· packarð. Co. forked over $5.000. Th.e then-Cupertino City CouncU fought the 1n1t1atives, too, and the new mayor, Richard Lowenthal thenacoun- c1l member, penned checks fur thou· sands of dollars for the·same crusade. Now. Taylor Woodrow wants to bulld its 94-unit housing development on land owned by Grosvenor. Ton Broth- ers Is seeking permission to build a more than 300·home complex on about 30 acres owned by HP. vaUco FashIon Park's owners. who also contributed. to the campaign, want to build an addi· tIonal137 condos In addition to the 204 that _ have been approved. Throughout the fight, initiative back· ers pointed to potential damage to Cu· pertIno schooJB tfhouslng development was not kept in check. Across the state, city and county elected leaders generalJy were relieved to be rid of the sometimes contentious lssue of school impact fees on new housing when current Cal1ftJrnia Jaw became effective in 1998 taking ciUes and counties out of the school-impact business. says Sacramento attorney Wllllam Abbott. In practice. however. polltlcs often pushes them right back into thef'ray because constituents don't accept what they see as a false d1vI8ion of labor. Mr. Abbott is the editor and co-author of the book "Exactions and Impact Fees In CaJ1ftJrn1a. It He wrote the chapter on school f8cllltIes. Some cltles. like CuPertino, are sym· pathetic to constituents' demands that developers pay schools what the øchools belleve they -. regard!eoo of the 11m. Its ofstate law. "[ am oonvlnced that there is an un· written and unexpressed pressure to make side deals with schoot districts 10 make the school districts happy," Mr, Abbott says. "I have seen communities were the electeds strongly support the schoo1 districts, and there are Jots of reasons they can rmd to deny a develop- ment" About two-thJrds of Mr. Abhott's cl~ ents are developers; the rest are cities and counties. In his experience, the biggest issue fur housing developers Is ensuring that they don't find themselves at competi· tlve disadvantage because they've paid more In school·impact fees than a rival down the road. he says. In the near term. the slowing housing market Is llkeJy to put school Impact fees under a greater microscope than ever, as developers battle to keep costs In check because they can no longer pass Increased costs to buyers as easily as they once could. Longer term. he expects schools wlll succeed in persuading the legislature that the current impact-ftte structure produces insufficient revenUe and must be changed. Currently, the state makes up the difference between the cost ofnew construction and developer fees by borrowing money, he says. But ultimately, he notes, "The state bas llmited bonding capacity." SHARI. SlMDNlGH cowers rial eatab'Dr Ihl 0...... JuumIl Rnch "" 'I (108)119-1853. D¡ ¡¿ -;:;+ OPINION - ~--_. -- r----·~- 1-------,.- -'-- -.- ~-- .......- y..............-....... .._....a"...~'&...........:T community members the building blocks of a working with both town speaks to an issue. complaining about the civilization, they attempt council members and have I I especially liked the liberal bias being to instruct students based found both to be very - caricature representations APRIL 19, 2006 LOS GATOS WEEKLY-TIMES 17 .. page16 Council meetings and whose occasional unruly behavior has resulted in his ejection from many meetings by many different mayors, most recendy Mayor Diane McNutt on April 3. Davis is the only resident Wassennan ever asked to leave a council meeting. Concern over town's land-use restrictions As a real estate owner and resident in Los Gatos, I am very much concerned about the Swanson Ford car dealership situation, whereby the town council may arbitrarily prevent the owner from selling to a highly reputable and well- known developer. The other three corners at this intersection are obviously not compatible with a œr dealership. The inconsistency of this type of planning is not in the better interest of overall town development. It's incredible to imagine another car dealership pl!~~~!I!~~~~?! this~ the town of Los Gatos would disregard its commercial pioneers such :Q ~ ~ l!J BL 1 IITERPIISE CUE'E:RTINO COMMUNITY DEV 10300 TORRE AVE. CU~ERTINO CA 95014-3202 R~ -q"-"ED !lAY 1 'J !:ICd V '¡I. :., 2006 1.1 FuU content at 2 . . ... . our Web site, JO MAY.12, 2006 VOL 24, NO.2 $1.50 Startup helps bring health care, schools to Baja tribes, Pages 41-45 96 N. ThirdSl SWte 100 San J.... CA 95112 sanJose.bizJournals.com i~ i W'mners all Meet 36 of the bést and blightest in our annuaf celebration of women at the executive level, ..... 17-40 '·worst' updates at market news Downtown office Top paid? Our lists rank the ' highest paid women executives and /he largest women-owned businesses. "'- t'- Vacancy rate approaching 25% BY SIIAIION SIMONSON ssimonsIJI@1i¡joom¡Is,cgn Richard Kincaid, chief executive for Eq- uity Office Properties Trust, the largest office owner in the United States. says downtown San Jose's performance in the last year ranks it dead last in his company's portfolio. With EOP's 615 office buUdings in 22 metro- politan markets. thitt is saying something. "There are nice buildings in downtown. There have been lots of things done in down- town to make it a nice place to be," Mr. Kin- caid says, "But it·s just never been a primary Silicon Valley location, and it's not getting a lot of the market's typical space Users - tech- nology companies, You would think with the recovery and the nice product that it would be turning around." In fact, according to the most exhaustive survey of downtown office vacancy rates. by the valley's Ritchie Commercial, at the end of the year's fIrst quarter. downtown's office buildings were emptier than they were nine !i':....nmr.¡: D......I:ß Q it> ~ IS' CHRIS.lJQHIISOIf STAUED: A shutterod buDding at Park Annuo and Almadon Boulonn! .as supposod tø bo tho silo of II\t tallnt resi- donUal tUWlr In Sa. J.... but tho b.iIdor. Torren.. J. Roso Inc., basn't mod do.umonts with tha oily. bJ-'~ I t1JJ;id¿ fMI in class with Dallas, data shows rate of nearly'25 percent puts downtown market Vacancy OfFICE: Valley companies, particularly technology fmns, don't understand dow'1tm'.'11. The three-building plaza. which has just more than 400.000 square feet, is undergoing a $7.5 million renovation. At quarter's end, it was about 30 perc~rlt yace.nt, acc.ording to the Ritchie survey. "To be able to park your car, then walk to lunch, do your errands, go to a Sharks (hockey) game -'-' you just don't have t..'1ose amenities unless you are in a central bllsiness district," Mr, Rbsendin says, "Once a company COlnes. they never leave. ~ Indeed, misperceptioh kept insurance company founder and principal Dan Bozzuto and his company, dbinsurance,com, out of downtown for a long time. The company's executives feared the còmmute would be onerous for themselves and their workers, and they war. ried that their workers wouldn't like the change. But a competitive offer from Almaden Financial Plaza turned their heads, Mr, Bozzuto says, and once he œgan investigating the option, including getting feedback from his 25 employees, his feeli1igs entirely changed. "Many of our employees are extremely happy that we are doing it," he says. Moreover, he thinks it's also going to be good for busi. ness as many of his customers are already doWntown and his competitors are largely out of the picture. estate for tfI. Business Journ.L R"éh her SHAROl1I SIMONSON cov.rs re.1 at (4118) 299-1853. downtown parking costs push the area's rents about a third above those of comparable buildings near the San Jose airport. At least. so far. downtown's "coolness factor'~,is not great enough inmost tenants' minds to justif'y the added expense, he says. "Downtown is cool, but it's still not 24·hour, 'm.d its coolness is not concentrated enough to outweigh tbi?t 33 percent parking premium," he. says. He believes downtown's day will come, however. But parking is not the only troubie, Mr. Kincaid and Mr, Scott concur. Tech companies that eschewed down- town when he was at EOP said that it was too far !i.-om their customers, vendors and employees, Mr, Scott says, North First Street was oftèn the preferred local6. Broker Mark Ritchie, who owns downtown property, specializes in downtown leasing and is currently rede- veloping a historic downtown structure, says the core's ups and downs reflect the larger community's uncer- tainty about its stature as suburb versus city. "Downtown is a 40-year work in progress, yet we continually build the Valley Fairs and Santana Rows," he says. Both undermine downtown's renewal by siphoning potential shoppers and residents away from the tradi- tional core, he says, while admitting that Santana Row has clearly been a phenomenal success; . Mike Rosendin, a Colliers International broker who is working to lease Almaden Financial Plaza, says Silicoii CfJNllllUED AlUM PAGE months ago, Of'ti1e area's 8,13 million square feet, just shy of 25 percent -1.9 million sc¡uar~ feet- are avail- able for lease. . .That compares to vacancy rates ofless than 10 percent in the valley's hottest office mal'kets such as Palo Alto, Cupertino and even West S"-n Joss, and to overall valley office vacancy rates of 12.6 percent as of March 31,' ac- cording to NAl BT Commercial. EOP's assessment of the downtown lnarket mirrors that of Torto Wheaton Research, a commercial real estate investment-services fIrm. By Torto Wheaton's measurements, downtowil San Jose is on par· with the vacancy rate in the nation's worst office market, Dallas. That city ranks last· among 56 metropolitan markets Torto Wheaton tracks nationwide with a vacancy rate of23.3 percent at the end of last year. EOP's Mr. Kincaid, like many others who watch the valley's ofÏ1œ market, says he's not quite sure what ails the urban core of the lOth·largest city in the wuntry. "I'm a little perplexed by it," he says. The.perenniaI explanation for downtown's struggles is the added cost for parking for tenants and their em- ployees. A parking stall at a downtown parking garage run by the city, for exampfu, leaseS for $100 a month. Dick Scott, the former vice president of leasing for EOP who is now at San Jose's Pelio Associates, says that ().!r.:bdv fJ"ØV d. ~ ~ " 52 ~ ~ ~ IJI- :r ......-...--... -..---...--------- -.,--- . - Some college grads now find it difficult to afford a home ... pago 18 The West Valley's Hometown Classified Advertising Section " or pago 27 The 50th anniversary prompts memories for former students ... page 10 "s J r' Cupertino ;"11 ., Volume 59, Number 17 . May 17. 2006· Cupertino, CA· Est. 1947· www.cupertinocourier.com :0 Affordable? Housing Many wait in vain for homes and apartments they can afford in expensive Cupertino þ.tin" Lrch }"" By JASON GOLDMAN-HALL Photographs by DANIEL SATO 9..'::: ,rig" ·ard· the. I. . :e Dn-,,<- but· ledJ,' Ift}. ¿cf"' in fact for the people who work in supermarkets or hard- ware stores. the places that provide services that our com- munity needs.·' When the federal minimum wage wasereated in 1938, the goal was to make sure that even the lowest-paid employees could make enough to live OD. In Santa Qara County, a minimum wage employee makes $14,040 a year. That's barely two-thirds of what is considered "extremely low income," and not enough to afford a single- bedroom apartment in an area where the average rent on those writs is around $1,200 a month, according to CCS' counterpart Sunnyvale Commwrity Services. As a result, county homeless shelters are full. affordable housing is missing its funding mark by $2.4 billion dollars, and an estimated 50,000 people are playing what could be a decades-long waiting game for subsidized housing. Cupertino,like San Jose and the rest of Santa Oara County, is caught in a tug-of-war between demand for low-cost hous- ing for needy families and the potential profits developers can make by selling full-price homes in a high-demand area. Section 8 hOpefuls During the week of April 24, hundreds of local residents turned out at the NOVA When the affordable apartment com¡>lex Esther Desantiago lived in was converted mtq condo- miniums, she thought it meant she and her daughter Charissa Lopez would have to move out of Cupertino. . That would have meant leaving the community she grew up in and pulling her daughter out of Etan Elementary School. But thanks to Cupertino Community Services' own affordable apartments, Desantiago and her daughter are still Cupertino residents, enjoying all the city has to offer. "The whole reason why I'm living in Cupertino is for the school district for my daughter:' Desantiago said. Desantiago--a Santa Cara leasing consultant who makes around $40,000 annually-lives in one of the 24 affordable housing units in VIsta Village, adjacent to and run by Cupertino Community Services. She and her daughter are among the lucky ones. "Because I'm in the industry, I see a lot of people hav- ing to leave the area because of housing," she said. For thousands of other Santa Oara County residents, rent--even for many "affordable" housing units--can be out of reach. The growing need for shelter is rapidly out- pacing the supply. . "Housing is very important," said Cupertino Community Services Housing Services program director Jacquey Carey. "It's critical Housing: Demand exceeds supply I I I I I I Con/in~ed from page 1 CONNECrI office in Sunnyvale to get Section 8 applications or sign up online to get on the waiting list for subsidized housing. VICtoria Bell was already standing In line at 8 8.m. with more than 25 other people when the office opened its doors. BeU-a. recovering addict proud of four clean years-is hoping to use part of hel" $549.05 monthly earnings for rent, but in an area where" the average rent is more than $l,OOO,me won't be able to do it without generous govenunent help. A Section 8 voucher, she said, "would help me in a lot of ways. It would help me get stable and get custody of my kids." Section,.8.is one of the best chances for low-inœme residents. After accept- ed participants pay one-third of their monthly IDcome as rent, the county pays tbe rest using federal HousiJ;1g and Urban Development funds. The waiting list has not been open since 1999. "I think it's a good thing that they opened the list back up, because it gives people a chance to get themselves sta- ble. to get off the streets, and people reaDy need that," Bell said. "I'm just praying that I get picked." I But without enough funding and houses, Section 8 and the myriad other I affordable housing and subsidy proM grams can't hope to match the present demand. According to Housing Authority executive director Alex Sanchez. 59,644 II people signed up online by the April 28 deadline, and another 15,000 mail-in applications were received by May 1. I More applications postmark~d by the -- _ deadline were expected to corrie-in, raisM '16 TIlE CUPERTINO COURIER MAY 17, 2006 security depo-:irt. rent andfood. leave the area. 'We're aU in this together; we're all dependent on each other," Carey said. Carey ,aid CCS is lucky it', ablo to provide 12,000 square feet of affordable housing for the community, because it puts people in di.cect contact with their services. ·'It's helped me get on my feot" Desantiago said. "As soon as I get all ~y bll18 paid off, I'm going to start savinI anq,aYbe buy my own place." ~ f1I~ solutions In addition to providing its own affOrdM able houaing, Cupertinó Community Services also works with the city to administer the belowMmarket rate housM ~ requires 15 percent of the homes built in new developments to be sold. ~Iow market rate, w&ich can help families with moderate incomc-80 PCCM cent to 120 percent of the area median incom~urch8Be homes. The W81ting list to get BMR units is con~ained in a twoMinch thick binder on one of Carey's office desks. The binder-packed with blue and pink appHcatlon&--is filled with applicatioDs from people wbo hope to get one of the 60 new BMR. units being built in· the next year in Cupertino. But with CUpertino and Santa Clara County's 'continued growth, those homes-which do not serve the low: very low or extremely low incom~ brackets, are not enough to meet the demand. 10 meet that demand, Carey said the Pbocopaph courtuy EIther Daantlqo Esther Desantiago and her daughter; Charissa Lope~ wen!" able to find an apartment Desantiago could qlford thanks to Cupertino Conununity Services' housing program. many groupa workins on the housing problem need tp: comè together. ~I'd like to see more partnershipa between nonprofits to provide more home ownership opportunities," she said. There are a number of hurdles that must be oV«91'~me for affordable hous· in; the total to more than 75,000 appliM cants in Santa aara County alone. The Housing Authority estimates 100 voucherS turn over every month, 80 it can help about 1,200 new fàmilies every year. At that rate, it will take 'more than 62 years to serve the people who signed up. The stiff housing market and general lack of funding in Santa Clara County has left the poor and homeless with pre· cious few housing units. And until politM ical and social priorities change, those close to the rroblem say it's unlikely that trend wil change. Dlss.ctlng a dllomma Carey said one of the problems is the huge gap between the income of a minM imum wage worker-as many of her clients are-and the median income in the area. ing to be built anywhere in Santa aara County; mon~ is just the biggest. But in addition to serving a needy population, more affordable housing can save money for cashMstrapped cities. MlUjorie Matthews,' director of the Santa Oars County Office of Affordable" Housin¡, ,aid it costs approximately $16,000 a year to house a homel08S per- eon, but it can cost a city more than $60,000 to provide the "medical and incarceration fees someone can accumu- late livinS on the streets. HIf we can't appeal to people on the bB8Îs of ending bwnan suffering. we try to appeal to them on the basis of not wastM ing taxpayer doUars," Matthews said. In addition to money, Matthews says adequate affordable housing would require blgbMdensity construction in urban areas because of the cloøe ProXM imity to health services. transportation and jobs. But many local governments avoid high-density buildings in deferM ence to constituents who dislike the idea of crowded city centers. "It's loing to take political courage on tbe part of elected officials who have power over zoning." Matthews said. Matthews said she is bopeful things can chango for the better, given enough time, city participation and political pressure. Asencies around Santa Clara County are watching the process as anxiously as she is. . HIn any crisis-and I would call housM log a crisis in the state of California-you need to keep working at the problem and keep plugging away," Carey said. :, For a person making the federal min- imum wage of $6.75 an hour for 2,080 bours of work-40Mhour weeks for S2 weeks-that's just $14,040 before taxes. Even for trained, experienced work- ers who make more than mInimum \'I(age, the high cost of housing- $600,000 or more for most homes in the area-makes "affordable" housing unaffordable. Even the affordable housing offered by Cupertino Community Services is $825 a month for a single-bedroom home, and $975 for a two-bedroom unit. Carey said the high cost of housing is a problem for Cupertino because the very things that make the city attractive to business-quality schools. strong communities, access to services-rely on wOrking people to provide, and as bousing gets unaffordable, tbose people ~ fJM¡ d1). ",-.,';",.,:.' ~o' ~>O ~ '2,' ~ 0it '. 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