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desk item ,��,,�. � Arie and Hanna Bash ` �:� � / c� PO Box 2747 Sunnyvale CA 94087 Tel: (408) 31 5301 January 6, 2012 Mr. Gary Chao, Mr. George Schroeder, Assistant Planner City of Cupertino Planning Division 10300 Torre Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014 garyc@cupertino.org georges@cupertino.org CC: Aarti Shrivastava aartis@cupertino.org Re: Saich Wav Station Dear Gary/George: Thank you for informing Eric and myself of the proposed project at 20803 Stevens Creek Blvd at the corner of Saich Way("Saich Way Station") and requesting our input for its development. We have been patiently waiting, since the unfortunate fire at the site, for the owner to rebuild and are excited to see movement in that direction. That said, we have some serious concerns regarding the potential impact the proposed development will have on our business, as well as, neighboring businesses and residences that use Saich Way as their main access route. These concerns are as follows: 1. AccessNVidth of Saich Way Over 95% of our clients use Saich Way as their access route to our Happy Days School. The proposed angled parking will reduce the width of the street to a mere 24 feet—the width of a parking lot drive aisle. (For the sake of comparison, the main drive aisle within the Target parking lot is 35 feet.) Under the proposed plan, Saich Way, which serves Happy Days, Target, the YMCA, the residential neighborhood along Alves Street, and the proposed Saich Way Station, will be narrower than the main drive aisle within the Target parking lot. This traffic restriction will negatively impact our daily Child Care operation and will have an adverse affect on our business and the property value. As such, we find it imperative that Saich Way remain in its full 40 foot width. 2. Reduction in Parking & Gridlock Reduction in the number of parking spaces on Saich Way According to our count, there are currently 29 parallel parking spaces along Saich Way, accounting for the bus layover and various curb cuts. The proposed angled parking scheme, along Saich Way Station, will yield only 22 spaces for a net loss of 7 parallel parking spaces. User Specific Parking While the angled parking creates 6 additional user specific parking spaces for Saich Way Station, it eliminates 6 overflow street parking spaces across the street. Further, the design gives the impression that the angled parking spaces are dedicated to Saich Way Station and will discourage general overflow parking. Angled parking will create gridlock and a source for accidents Since the vast majority of future patrons to Saich Way Station will reach the development via the intersection of Saich Way and Stevens Creek Boulevard, the 16 angled spaces, so called "Teaser" spaces, will require future patrons approaching from Stevens Creek to make a near-U-turn in order to enter said parking. This unusual maneuvering will be done across a lane of incoming traffic, within a 24 foot wide street. This will create traffic gridlock and will be a source for potential accidents. To prevent the problems identified above, the project should be required to maintain the parallel parking as it currently exists on Saich Way. 3. Setbacks The proposed plan indicates that the restaurants and shops along Saich Way will have a setback of between a zero and a two-foot. This is not acceptable per the Development Standards and Design Guidelines — Heart of the City Specific Plan. Specifically, per Section 1.01.030 (C), the minimum Side Setback must be "One half (1/2) the height of the building, or ten (10)feet, whichever is greater." In other words, the minimum setback required by the City Standards is no less than a 10 foot setback from the property line along Saich Way. Alternatively, if the setback requirement falls under 1.01.030 (B)(2), as it might, the setback required is even greater. Thus, the current proposal needs to be corrected to comply with the City Standard Guidelines, and provide a 10 foot setback along Saich Way, minimum. Furthermore, in addition to non-compliance with the Development Standards, the zero property line setback moves a portion of the development directly into the existing public right of way. To compensate for the reduced public right of way, the developers pushed the public right of way into the street, significantly reducing the portion of the road used for vehicular access. This reduction of vehicular access will negatively impact the vehicular access and traffic flow to adjacent properties. Accordingly, the existing parallel parking spaces on Saich Way should be used for any and all "teaser parking." 4. Traffic Flow Along Saich Way and Truck Parking While at times, but not regularly, we have noticed some people traveling quickly down Saich Way, we are of the opinion that such a problem would be better addressed by speed bumps rather than by turning Saich Way into a parking lot drive aisle. Likewise, the issue of truck parking, if undesirable, could be better addressed by restricting the weight of vehicles allowed on Saich Way, limiting the duration of parking, or prohibiting vehicular parking over a certain length or size. 5. Bus Layover Relocation The current version of the proposal suggests the relocation of the bus layover further north on Saich Way, along the Target parking lot, across from Happy Days. This location is very close to the intersection with Alves Street, the entry to the Target parking lot and the entry to the Happy Days parking lot. Further, the existing street spaces are needed for the increased burden of overflow parking from the YMCA. Thus, this proposed location for the bus layover is far from ideal. The bus layover should remain in its current location, or be relocated to another street altogether. Finally, due to the nature of our business and clientele (families with young children under the age of six), we ask that during construction dirt, dust and noise be minimized, and use of toxic materials be minimized. Overall, the proposed development appears to be great project, however, we ask that the City make the necessary adjustments to the proposed development to resolve our deep concerns, so that the project complies with the City Standard Guidelines and minimizes the impact on neighboring properties, their patrons, and the residents. Thank you in advance for your help in addressing these issues. Eric Bash 10115 Saich Way Property Owner Ty Bash Operations Manager Happy Day Child Development Center .,�.�� +l'�f I'� �G STEVENS CREEK CUPERTINO ASSOCIATES January 7, 2013 Mr. Gary Chao City Planner City of Cupertino Planning Division gar cv @cupertino.org Re: Saich Way Station Project Dear Gary: Thank you for the staff report and supplemental information regarding the entitlements for the Saich Way Station project. My partner and I have reviewed the information in the report and find additional exhibits and a third party project evaluation which we didn't receive in the previous distribution from you and for which give is more concern regarding certain aspects of the development. As stated previously we are pleased to see this development final come to fruition after many years of neglect. Our concerns generally remain the same. One is that there be sufficient parking and loading on site to support the project and two, that the angled parking option not be approved. Ultimately and the Saich Way Station project design, parking, truck loading, density and driveways do not cause our property to become the source for and compromised layout. In the first instance we note from the third party evaluation prepared by Fehr and Peers that the Summary and Recommendations in that report don't appear to have been addressed in the current site plan endorsed by Planning Staff. Substandard parking stall dimensions, the absence of a dedicated truck loading area are onsite and a concern that large delivery trucks will find it extremely difficult to maneuver through the constrained drive aisles all will result in an inefficient and underutilized parking lot leading to overflow parking onto the street and into our development across the street on Saich. Small tenants will not be able to control delivery schedules for their merchandise as suggested, which will result in trucks attempting to accomplish deliveries during normal operating hours. An inability to easily Gary Chao January 7, 2013 Page 2 maneuver within the site and park out of operating drive aisles will be difficult and drivers will avoid the parking lot in favor of parking on the street to make deliveries. This same report suggests that the parking provided does not meet the City's parking code. We derive from the report that the project as designed could be as much as ten to fifteen stalls under parked or deficient. Our second and even greater concern is the reconfiguration of street parking to introduce angled off site parking in close proximity to the Saich Way Station development. We were disappointed to see that the third party review of the project did not address the street parking issue. The is no evaluation of the existing turning movements and traffic loads on Saich, no evaluation of sufficient stack at the intersection with Stevens Creek Boulevard and no evaluation of the net lose of 14- 15 parking stalls along the street with the angled parking option. Our Target center is approximately ten times the size of the Station Project and has at least ten times the daily trips attributable to it. The Target Center has three primary driveways, one each on Bandley, Stevens Creek and Saich. All Patrons to the west of our development use Saich Way as their access point into our development and we believe a full third of all patron trips to the project enter and exit on Saich. The angled parking is situated directly across the street from the main driveway across the front of the Target store and patrons exiting the site will encounter vehicles attempting to exit the angled stalls into the path of these turning movements. The conflicts will be enormous. Furthermore there are exhibits in this new package that illustrate fire equipment maneuvering into and out of the Station Project. Interesting, none of these exhibits shows the existing driveways on the opposite side of the street. We have prepared the attached exhibit, which illustrates those same required maneuvers of fire apparatus on our side of the street, and you can see that the angled parking negates those existing maneuvers from our primary Saich Way driveway. For these reasons we wish to reiterate our opposition to the introduction of the angled parking option on Saich Way and further ask that the Planning staff affirm that the appropriate number and sufficiently sized on site parking requirements be met and not burdening our property with overflow parking. Gary Chao January 7, 2013 Page 3 We would ask that you present this to the City Planning Commission for their consideration. As you know we intend to be present at the Planning Commission hearing and speak in opposition to these aspects of the development. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Barry Watkins Managing Member Stevens Creek Cupertino Associates, LLC • �� ANVdWO�1N3W1S3ANI Ill3?l09 � ' � , 3 �`s N {��j� � .�?^', p2NA31f108 H33Z1�SN3A31S£OSOZ g � ? z� �_ 'd. tf s �q b a':`" � �a7 J P a a �iep<.7� F R = ,r f1�7�'7 � • `0. U ;��i�PI �j `,Yas��e ^ . W ' � �, �It/132! 2lO�Jldl �°p�#(� .7� � { �Q e L � LL !9 lS3dS17o I :i � ; R �� 1 � _ i,9'LLl ''... � g U� ��I� /7 // �I , e I ,!r f t i,��.:' .�'.. —— - I � 1 \ L�` 1 � � �.a�� r� '�� i ` 1 � � � � � �__�__=�� o; `� W .� �`— i ' �I � �� -�{� m LL - `' � � � �Y , � . � � '� �r a � � % �° � — �� -- �, �'� � � t� � �� .� � �- , I p.._ � �;� ��: -----or---�� % �-�"' ' `� � % j y —T m � � �� Q �� i �LL CI � 1= � ��_ _� , , �� p - � � r ,� �o �� \ ' °' � �' . �� \ ii�- g� `� �� Q� m� , � �' _�.� i 'I i� %� , o: _.. 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