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Director's Report OFFICE OF COMMU�IITY DEVELOPMENT CITY HALL 10300 TORRE AVENl1E • CUPERTINO, CA 95014-3255 C U P E RT i N O (408) 777-3308 • FAX (408) 777-3333 • planning�cupertino.org Subject: Report of the Community Devel��pment Director � Planning Commission Agenda Date: Tues��ay, October 12, 2010 The City Council met on October 5, 2010 :�nd discussed the following item(s) of interest to the Planning Commission: 1. Metropolitan Mf TM/EXC - City Council: • Approved the Negative Declaration; • Approved a Modification to the Usf� Permit (M-2010-03), and an Exception to the Heart of the City Specific Plan (EXC-2010-03), with the following conditions: 1. Applicant may have 40% of the i�otal as non-retail, restricted to Building B; and 2. If the non-retail is going to be a�nedical office use, the applicant and City staff will work together to determine the correct parking count for surface level parking and underground parking. 2. GBO U,�date - City Council received t:ze update. Miscellaneous Items: 1. Re�ional Briefin� Flyer - Attached is the flyer for the California Redevelopment Association Regional Briefing. On Thu��sday, October 19th, a briefing will be presented at our Community Hall. 2. Don Burnett - Don Burnett's Celebration of Life Event is scheduled for somewhere between 3:00 and 9:00 p.m. on Monday, October 11 in the Cupertino Room at Quinlan Center. Nancy has a hold on that six hc�ur block and will be selecting the actual time in the near future. I'll let you know when the exact time is set. 3. Election Dav - The first Council meeting in November will be moved to Monday, November 1St because of Election Day ��n Tuesday, November 2na. Upcoming Dates: Oct. 27 Senator Joe Simitiari s Town Hall Meeting, Community Hall, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 Council meeting mov��d to Monday because of Nov. 2nd Election Day Enclosures: CRA's Regional Briefing Flyer News Article G: \ Planning� AartiS � Director's Report � pd10-12-10.doc C��►�iF����/�► f��D��`�L�3P'I���� ���C��f��i�i� � 2010 REGI�NAL BRIEFINGS Each year, CRA hoids free, members-only meetings throughout the state on redevelopment issues, legislation, and CRA activities. This year's briefings will take on added importance since they will also be an opportunity to discuss CRA's Strategic Plan for Redevelopment and continued threats to redevelopment. You are invited to join us for this year's briefings on the days and locations listed below. a.,- �:� Executive Director John Shirey will provide up-to-date details on CRA's appeal of its lawsuit against the State for taking local redevelopment funds. He will also update members on efforts to win approval of Proposition 22. Legislative Advocate David Jones will cover other legislation affecting redevelopment this year, including AB 2531 (Fuentes) which will give agencies new authority to assist businesses and grow California's green economy. The primary focus will be on strategies for how CRA, agencies, and organizations involved in redevelopment can respond to the State's assault on redevelopment. These meetings are also an opportunity for our members to give us input for future CRA-sponsored legislation, to raise concerns about regulations and laws, and to provide feedback on CRA services. We look forward to your joining us and your colleagues for these important sessions. Registration for these members-only meetings is FREE! Please check the location you plan on attending: �-� :���-- -w� -�� � _b, � . � .. . . ..'� �_. .. . � ��, - . :. . - ,. . . ... . . �. �. Central Region Southern Region a; � 3 Easy Ways to Register: � Merced � Poway 1. Online at www.calredevelop.org Monday, October 11 Tuesday, October 12 2. Complete registration form below 11:00 am — 2:00 pm 1:30 — 3:30 p.m. and fax to (916) 448 Merced City Hall Old Poway Park Sam Pipes Conference Room Templar's Hall 3. Call CRA Office at (916) 448-8760 678 West 18th Street 14134 Midland Road Northern Region � Burbank Name/Title: � Wednesda October 13 �' i � West Sacramento Y� Friday, October 8 9:00 — 11:00 a.m. ; 9:00 am — 11:00 am Community Services Building The Galleria Community Room .._._, ._..,..T..,.,..�.� _, ,.. � West Sacramento City Hall 150 North Third Street Agency/Organization 1110 West Capitol Avenue, 1 st Floor � Fontana �� � Cupertino Wednesday, October 13 Tuesday, October 19 1:30 — 3:30 p.m. �..__,..._�.,. _ 1:30 — 3:30 p. m. Center Stage Theater Phone: ��� s �� Cupertino Community Hall 8463 Sierra Avenue 10350 Torre Avenue � Anaheim � Vallejo Thursday, October 14 ..,,____. . . .. ._ . �-- _...._�_ Thursday, October 21 9:00 — 11:00 a.m. Email: 9:00 am — 11:00 am City Hall West Mare Island Conference Center Gordon Hoyt Conference Room 375 G Street, Mare Island 201 S. Anaheim Boulevard , ;;� >3� . ,. . '' � .,-�� Redevelopment. � Building Better Communities Questions? Call Randi Dixon at (916) 448-8760 or email ydixon@calredevelop.org. .��_--_--_ ��/� ������������� Residents near Lehigh will sooi� know if air is polluted By Matt Wilson mwilson@communitv-newspaaers.com Posted: 09/23/2010 08:02:43 PM PDT Cupertino residents in the Monta Vista neighborfiood may soon have an answer to whether the air they breathe is polluted. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District sE�t up a mobile air-monitoring station at Monta Vista Park on Sept. 1 and is working with the city to n�easure pollutants in the neighborhood, which is close to the Lehigh Southwest Cement facility ofF Stevens Creek Boulevard. The station is about 3 miles from the Lehigh facility. Officials from the air district and the city have b��en working on the station's placement since February in response to resident concerns about air quality in neighborhoods around Lehigh. The air-quality monitoring station will measure F�ollutants such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and various metals. Pollutant levels will t�e reported in real time to BAAQMD's website. Data will also be periodically analyzed in a laboratory every four months. Eric Stevenson, director of technical services for BAAQMD, said the station measures ambient air, which makes it difficult to determine the exact origin of any potential pollutants. The readings represent what a neighborhood is exposed to, b�at not where the pollutants are coming from, he said. The air quality testing will act more like a"snapshot" of what residents are breathing on a daily basis. The air district is the lead public agency that regulates stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties that make up the Bay Area. The Lehigh facility is the only cement plant in tha agency's jurisdiction, and BAAQMD routinely monitors the facility on site. Emission-monitoring devices at the Lehigh facility measure air quality much differently than the mobile station at Monta Vista, Stevenson said. The devices at Lehigh directly measure what the facility is putting into the air. Data gathered frorn the mobile station will instead have to account for known spikes in activity at the recreation center, including increased car traffic at the park, grass mown and dirt kicked up from the park's basebzll field. The mobile station includes a trailer with air- qu �lity monitoring instrumentation and a 30-foot-tall meteorological tower to collect atmospheric dat��. The city council unanimously voted in May to partner with the air district to set up a station in the parking lot near the recreation center at Monta `/ista Park, 22601 Voss Ave. The station will operate for a minimum of one year. BAAQMD is supplying and operating the monitoring station. Similar mobile stations have been used in Benicia and Berkeley to measure air quality n �ar a refinery and metal factor respectively, according to Stevenson. He added that the testing is done for a year to gather regional averages and account for seasonal variations in the air. He also said the device could be used for more than a year, pending data. The cement facility was a hot issue during the N��vember 2009 city council election, despite the fact that Lehigh operates outside city jurisdiction on anincorporated Santa Clara County land. Nonetheless, the city has been taking a more ac�=ive role in hearing resident concerns regarding the facility. The city has provided residents with forums and study sessions to learn more about how the facility operates. "We welcome it," said Tim Matz, corporate direcior of environmental affairs for all Lehigh facilities, about the city's increased interest in Lehigh operations. "We live in this community and we want to know if there are concerns, what those concerns are and how we can address them as best as we can. We welcome that air monitor as well. We lo�k forward to seeing the results in a year." This is the second time in less than two years th �t an effort was made to monitor ambient air outside the Lehigh facility. Last year Stevens CrE�ek Elementary School one of 62 schools selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to test and monitor air quality as part of a study on whether outdoor toxic air pollution poses health risks to students. Hexavalent chromium was the pollutant monitored in the area. The school on Ainsworth Drive is a short drive fr��m the Lehigh Permanente Cement plant at the edge of Stevens Creek Boulevard. The EPA's mo�iitoring from June through September 2009 found that levels of hexavalent chromium in the air at :he school were below levels of concern for short- term and long-term exposure. �« � C+t31vi .'b�fra�z��� ������t :�"r°r�x��z°.� Cupertino looks at life without Hewlett-Packard Posted on: Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:35:58 EDT Sep 30, 2010 (The Cupertino Courier - McClatchy-Tribune Irr ormation Services via COMTEX) -- High-tech giant Hewlett-Packard may not be pac�cing up and moving north to Palo Alto for another two years, but Cupertino is already preparing for life without one of its richest residents. On Sept. 21, the council unanimously gave city �taff direction to start working on possible ways to amend the city's General Plan to allow for more large-scale commercial retail in the city. The General Plan update could include rezoning enough land :o allow up to 500,000 square feet of commercial- retail space in the city. The push toward more retail space is part of a plan to attract stores on the scale of Lowe's Home Improvement, Fry's Electronics or Costco, which would help generate more tax dollars. The move comes almost a year after the council voted to allocate an additional 483,053 square feet of office space in the city's General Plan for majc r companies on the scale of Apple and HP. "It's time to be open to other ideas," said Aarti � hrivastava, Cupertino's director of community development. HP announced July 15 that it plans to consolidatE� its Cupertino site on Pruneridge Avenue with its Palo Alto headquarters. The city expects to lose :�1 million annually from the HP move. City treasurer Carol Atwood estimates that Cupertino could bring in $500,000 a year from a big-box retailer such as Lowe's. HP, along with Apple and Insight, generates more than half of Cupertino's revenues from the city's business-to-business sector. The city is looking to diversify its sales tax base �nd prevent dollars from moving from out of town so easily, according to Atwood. "If you look at our sales tax composition right nc�w, we are predominantly business-to-business sales tax," Atwood said. "Those offices are easy to move and relocate, so we can lose a million dollars easily, as we will when HP relocates. When you fiave retail, it is basically in the ground; it's harder to move that site. You don't have the risk of havinc something dissolve on you overnight or over a two- year period." The General Plan update would not specify wher� the added retail space would be allocated, but the plan could give the city flexibility to rezone the FIP campus to retail if someone with large commercial aspirations purchases the land. The HP campus is located in the city's North Vall�o area, which is one of the city's major employment centers. It is bounded by Homestez�d Road, Wolfe Road, I-280 and Tantau Avenue. The 240-acre area includes the 95-acre HP campus, the approximately 60-acre Apple campus, as well as Cupertino Village retail center, a hotel, two apar:ment complexes and additional office and residential properties. Currently, the HP campus is zoned for industrial, and the city said it has no desire to allow housing in the area. The General Plan includes a policy tc retain the North Vallco Area as an employment area with predominantly office and light industri<il uses. Only 4 percent of the city's area is zoned for industrial land, according to a city staff report. However, according to city staff, North Vallco coiald do well with large format retail, given its geographically central location in Silicon Valley, ��isibility and close location to busy highways. The city is currently zoned to allow approximately 80,000 square feet of commercial space, which city staff said is not enough for even one large-fc�rmat retail development. A typical large retail development requires about 250,000 square fee1:. Shrivastava said HP told the city that it is curren�ly working on options for the site and will keep the city informed as things develop. City staff will report back to the council in three �nonths on the status of the General Plan update. Residents will be invited to a series of public meE�tings. City staff estimates that rezoning and conductinc� an environmental review needed to amend the General Plan would take approximately six to 10 months and cost $90,000 to $120,000, depending on how much environmental review is done. The city is also exploring mid-year adjustments 1:0 offset future budget loses from HP's move. In January or February, the council will look at deferring some minor projects to add to the city's budget reserves. City manager David Knapp saic he will present the council with a status report and breakdown of current and planned projects at a meeting. To see more of the Cupertino Courier, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mercurynews.com/cupertino. Copyright (c) 2010, The Cupertino Courier,Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information SE rvices. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Informatic�n Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-`.�210 (outside the United States,call +1 312-222- 4544). �������1����� State recognizes Cupertino voliinteers as 'leaders of the block' By Matt Wilson mwilsonCalcommunity-newspapers.com Posted: 09/30/2010 08:00:27 PM PDT After eight years of existence and 350 recruits, the city of Cupertino's block leader program is at last getting some statewide recognition. In mid-September the program received a 2010 Heler� Putnam Award from the League of California Cities. The block leader program is a group of volunteers wh�� help organize neighborhoods and distribute city information. The loose collection of citizens rallies neic�hborhoods for block parties, creates rosters of neighborhood residents, sets up e-mail lists, forms Neighborhood Watch groups and generally works to foster a more social atmosphere in a city of about 55,000 resi�ients. Cupertino won the award in the Enhancing Public Trust, Ethics, and Community Involvement category. The program was up against nine other programs and citiE�s from around the state, The program was honored with the award in part bec��use it aims to create a closer, more connected community in a highly diverse city. The league selected Cupertinc because the civic engagement program helps residents improve communication, increase public safety and bridge cultural divides at the neighborhood level. The program tackles neighborliness from a social and safety-first outlook. "The program really acquaints neighbors with each ot ier and aquatints them with the harsh fact of reality that in a major event or in any kind of emergency, the firs: responder is the person who lives next door. You can wait for the city to come pick you up and help you oui, but that is going to take a while," said city manager David Knapp, during a Sept. 21 city council meeting. The block leader program also earned high marks for its ability to get residents to address common issues and have low-stress access to city services. "The strength of this submission was the level to which they were able to engage a number of different folks in the city and engage folks about different things going on within the city. I think communication and community involvement were the strongest part of this submission," said Michael Egan, public affairs fundraiser for the League of California Cities. The Helen Putnam Award for Excellence program was founded In 1982 and recognizes cities that deliver high- quality services to resident in an efficient manner. Pu1:nam awards are given annually in 11 categories. The city applied for the award earlier this year. Progr��m coordinator Laura Domondon Lee said she overheard many city officials stating that they would like to see 3 similar program in their cities. The city received the award during the league's annual conference at the S3n Diego Convention Center. Lee said five block leaders made the trip down for the convention, and Lee said 1 hey helped staff Cupertino's booth there. "To have the block leaders there to actually talk abou: and explain the program was really great. You could see the enthusiasm when they talked to city representati��es and explained what it is they do in the city," Lee said. A luau-themed celebration was held for all current blcck leaders and their families at Quinlan Community Center on Sept. 30. Lee said that if anyone wants to join the program and become a block leader themselves, there will be an orientation and training session Oct. 21 beciinning at 6 p.m. at Cupertino Community Hall, 10300 Torre Ave. There is no cost to a resident to become a block leader.