CC 02-26-2017CUPERTINO
1. ROLL CALL
APPROVED MINUTES
CUPERTINO CITY COUNCIL
Sunday, February 26, 2017
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
At 8:07 a.m. Mayor Savita Vaidhyanathan called the Special City Council meeting to
order in the Aloft Hotel, Tactic I Room, 10165 N De Anza Boulevard.
Present: Mayor Savita Vaidhyanathan, Vice Mayor Darcy Paul, and Councilmembers
Barry Chang, Steven Scharf, and Rod Sinks.
2. MAYOR'S OPENING REMARKS
Mayor Vaidhyanathan explained that the primary focus of the meeting was for Council
to set goals for the year and introduced the workshop facilitator Minh Le, President of
The Wilfred Jarvis Institute.
3. GOAL SETTING
Mayor Vaidhyanathan opened public comment and the following individuals spoke.
Joe Katz talked about the City's initiative on firearm safety and draft ordinance, and
was concerned about staff research and the preemption of state law.
Dave Truslow, on behalf of the Pink Pistols, talked about gun safety and the potential
impacts of a firearm safety ordinance, and his current public records act requests with
the City (distributed written comments).
David Fung, speaking as a resident and not as a Planning Commissioner, talked about
seeking common ground and compromise, and managing growth and traffic in the
future.
Alan Takahashi, speaking as a resident and not as a Planning Commissioner, talked
about community division over Valko and working towards a solution with
City Council MINUTES February 26 , 2017
stakeholders to reach a majority compromise.
Geoff Paulson, speaking as a resident and not as a Planning Commissioner, talked
about measurable progress on the Valko Specific Plan, the land purchase for the
Stevens Creek Trail, and planting trees at developer's expense.
Jennifer Griffin talked about the evolution of Main Street, a lack of retail and gas station
locations in Cupertino, and the Stocklmeir house as a history house.
Lisa Warren talked about public involvement and a system of getting community input,
and regional communication with neighboring cities.
Mayor Vaidhyanathan closed public comment. She explained that the annual Council
retreat was being held in a smaller space in order to create a less formal atmosphere
and because the prior year's location in the City Hall EOC was not available.
Minh Le led the goal setting process and asked each Councilmember to talk about the
top three items each would like to see accomplished this year on the City Council.
Vice Mayor Paul talked about: 1. Building Lawrence-Mitty Park in Rancho Rinconada
by the end of 2018; 2. Affordable housing, not including Market Rate Housing, how to
position Cupertino as a community with incentives to make units owner occupied and
pushing back on inclusionary zoning; 3. Creating a Technology Innovation Space,
including incubator start-up space and opportunities for Main Street.
Councilmember Chang talked about: 1. Lehigh pollution and emissions issues; 2. Traffic
congestion on the roads; 3. Climate change issues that are not covered in the Silicon
Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) program and which are tied into numbers 1 & 2.
Councilmember Sinks talked about: 1. Fixing Mobility : a. Working for Measure B
funding, including a Highway 280/Wolfe Road interchange and transportation on
Highway 85, and equitable funding for walkways and bikeways for the Bike Plan
implementation; b. Consideration of dedicated staffing to manage transit and mobility,
including seeking new revenue sources and continuing discussions with neighboring
cities for a potential 2018 ballot measure; c. Organized carpooling by means of a closed
platform for on-demand rides to schools by partnering with the school districts, not
including Uber or Lyft; 2. Affordable housing, including Market Rate Housing by
collecting BMR fees to apply to development or by incorporating fees via inclusionary
housing inside a project; 3. Driving a process on Valko which would be commissioned
by the City Manager and extended to Measure C and D group advocates and retail
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specialists tasked to bring back a set of recommendations.
Councilmember Scharf talked about: 1. BMR for-sale housing to help schools and parcel
taxes and to build community, including low-income mixed with market rate and
owner occupied for-sale; 2. Distributing the housing and office space throughout the
City to share the additional traffic and congestion; 3. Office hours for Councilmembers
to resolve concerns outside of the meetings and to lessen long hours on Oral
Communications at meetings.
Mayor Vaidhyanathan talked about: 1. Encouraging the youth community with an
innovation hub/incubator space; 2. Affordable housing/BMR focusing on senior housing
with a transit-oriented development option, including inclusionary housing transit-
oriented and encouraging bus routes; 3. Regional and domestic transportation with the
West Valley cities, a senior mobility pilot project with an on-demand rideshare for
seniors who can't drive and use lessons learned for a youth rideshare project.
Councilmembers talked in more detail about transportation, including: current Santa
Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) services, upcoming changes with Measure
B; positioning wlth Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) on a school-based
rideshare on-demand system, the City providing leadership to the schools for such a
platform, researching the cost through a Joint Venture grant, checking with VTA and
School Tripper transit system, looking at existing platforms for drivers and partnering
with the schools on an organizational system with carpooling.
The Council recessed at 10:00 a.m. and reconvened at 10:20 a.m.
The Mayor announced a meeting stop time of 12:00 pm. and Minh Le continued the
discussion regarding areas of common interest. Councilmembers indicated by
checkmark support for the other member's listed goals:
Councilmember Barry Chang's goals:
1. Lehigh Pollution (3 checkmarks)
2. Traffic Congestion
3. Climate Change (3 checkmarks)
Councilmember Rod Sinks' goals:
1. Fixing Mobility (2 checkmarks)
2. Affordable Housing and Below Market Rate (BMR) Housing (3 checkmarks)
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City Council MINUTES February 26, 2017
3. Process to address Vallco
Councilmember Steven Scharf' s goals:
1. BMR for-Sale Housing (2 checkmarks)
2. Distribution of Housing and Office Space (2 checkmarks)
3. Office Hours for Councilmembers
Vice Mayor Darcy Paul's goals:
1. Lawrence-Mitty Park (1 checkmark)
2. Affordable Housing (2 checkmarks)
3. Technology Innovation Space (1 checkmark)
Mayor Savi ta Vaidhyanathan' s goals:
1. Teen Community and Incubation (3 checkmarks)
2. Senior and Multigenerational Housing and Transit (1 checkmark)
3. Regional and Local Transportation (Rideshare Option) (1 checkmark)
Minh Le reviewed the common goals and noted that there was overall support to
address the following interrelated themes:
1.) Housing and BMR housing
2.) Transportation solutions and fixing mobility
3.) Technology innovation and providing a teen incubation space
Council also discussed the non-supported topics of open office hours and open
calendars and continuing the conversation on Vallco. The discussion regarding Valko
included: requiring an open waiting period for applicants, studying the traffic patterns
of the Apple Campus 2, wholistically looking at the City verses Valko-specific,
studying changing retail and innovation on how people interact, community
involvement on elements at the beginning of the process for Cupertino in the future,
opportunity to approach the several areas of civic, housing, traffic, and economy,
looking at the pieces from the ground-up and then figuring out a budget, having
conversations with the community in City-coordinated workshops prior to any
proposal, researching other cities who made their failing malls a success.
Minh Le summarized the significant themes to provide staff direction.
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City Council MINUTES February 26, 2017
Mayor Vaidhyanathan noted that Lawrence-Mitty Park was already in progress and
climate change was already being discussed through the City's Climate Action Plan
(CAP) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE).
Council agreed on the following items to be added to the Work Program
1. Housing/BMR
2. Transportation/mobility
3. Technological innovation/incubation
4. City-sponsored Valko Citizens' Advisory Task Force to conduct televised public
workshops with experts' participation and researching other cities that have
successfully transformed failing malls.
4. COMMUNICATION DISCUSSION
Minh Le explained the purpose of the communication discussion was to identify
guiding principles on how Councilmembers communicate with one another and
work together as a Council.
Paul moved and Chang seconded to forego hearing Item No. 4 and not bring it back
to a future meeting, and Minh Le will deliver any insights or communication
improvement suggestions based on what he observed at the workshop in a written
memo to the Council. The motion carried unanimously.
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
The following individuals spoke on this item:
Dave Truslow talked about stopping the gun control matter, addressing the public with
free public safety classes not involving guns, using hornet spray as an alternative self-
e ense measure an t e current City ordinance permit requirement for air-guns
(distributed wasp and hornet spray cans).
Joan Chin, on behalf of Better Cupertino, talked about listening to residents and
building trust, higher level discussions other than Valko on the City's civic space, office
space, and transportation solutions and excluding developers and stakeholders in an
advisory committee.
Yuwen Su, on behalf of Better Cupertino, talked about having clearer information on
City development projects, including listing the number of bedrooms and the number
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City Council MINUTES February 26, 2017
of parking spaces in the project summary.
Caryl Gorska talked about Councilmember emails with developers, building trust and
transparency, and communication between Councilmembers during meetings. She
asked for more buses and roadside trees with setbacks.
Jennifer Griffin talked about adding trees and setbacks and respecting the right-of-
ways, urban "villagizing" of frontages alongside San Jose and a task force to examine
development in these areas, and the future of Apple land leases after Apple Campus 2
completion.
Council followed up with staff regarding comments made from the public:
• Staff would follow up on the San Jose proposal timeline of the gas station re-
development on Stern A venue and Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Liana Crabtree talked about concern over the meeting outreach, venue and
broadcasting. She talked about the VTA redesign and increasing bus $tops for students
and commuters and around highly dense residential areas.
Phyllis Dickstein talked about respecting public . input, conducting open and public
meetings with publicly selected experts, focusing on total office allocation and not just
Valko and looking at growth beyond Silicon Valley.
Pamela Hershey talked about Vallco's history, excluding developers from an advisory
committee for transparency and honesty and information presented on the mailers .
Lisa Warren talked about information presented on the mailers, developer neutrality on
a task force, assurances in further discussions and possibilities for Vallco, the General
Plan Amendment process and clarity on the recent ballot measure.
6. ADJOURNMENT
At 12 :00 p.m., Mayor Vaidhyanathan adjourned the meeting.
~Jrr~
Kirsten Squarcia, Deputy City Clerk
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