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CC 09-03-92 ·' . !"~:,:,-:.::~~~~::,~,~,,...~~,,~~,~.-,- þ CC-842C CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CAUFORNIA 10300 TORRE AVENUE, CUPERTINO. CA 95014 TELEPHONE: (408) 252-4505 MINtITES OF TIlE ADJOURNED REGULAR M~JJÑG OF THB CI1Y COUNen. HELD ON SEPTEMBER 3, 1992, COUNCIL CHAMBER, CI1Y HALL, 10300 TORRE AVENUE, CUPERTINO, CAUFORNIA CALL T ORDER Mayor Sorensen called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. in Council Chamber. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None. ROLL CALL Counc. present Dean Goldman, Koppel, Szabo, Mayor Sorensen Staff Present: City Manager Brown Deputy City Clerk Wolfe Director of Community Development Cowan City Planner Wordell Associate Planner Jwg PUBUC HEARING I. Consideration of a comprdlensn,-e amendment of the Cupertino General Plan, including land use, housing, tnmsporlation open spøec preservation, public safety, conservation, and noise elements. Emphasis will be placed on hillsides and/or City identity. Director of Community Development Cowan presented a staff report ånd showed drawings entitled, "Maximum Building Heights Map" and "City Identity Map." In answer to a question regarding the amount of office spøec in the "tilt ups" on Bubb Road, Counc. Szabo was told there was 600,000 sq. ft. Associate Planner lung discussed the downtown concept - smaller lots, dense concentration of commercial built to property lines, and parlting on the street.. behind MINlJ'ŒS OF TIm swrnMn~~, \991. ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING (mU1e) þ businesses or off site. He disçussed the building height to street width ratio and illustrated with slides. A series of slides showed various wtJøn design concepla iDcludiDs horizontal and vertical relief for pedestrian identity; mixed use; inviting buildiøp accessible frum the street; continuity of street pattern to attrac:t pedestrian traffic; loc:Idioa of parking; size of downtown (if too small, woo't work); width of sidewalb; spcçÙII paving. planting and street furniture; landscaping in high pedestrian areas; public places such as Town Square in Los Gatos, Plaza Parle in San lose and Civic Center 'lID in Mountain View; public art; landmarks such as gateways and monuments; IIIDdmark buildin¡p; and parkways (wide boulevards with generous landscaping). Mr. lung said it is more difficult to define street space with wide streets. It can be clone with mature trees for high buildings, uniform building heights and highly detailed buildin¡p. In answer to a question about the plan for the comer of DeAnza Boulevard and Stevens Creek Boulevard, Mr. Cowan said that after the General Plan is approved, specific plans will follow. Mayor Sorensen asked if mixed use is successful. Do people want to live there and does the retail work? Þ Mr. lung cited some examples that are working. Mr. Cowan said that loan specialists attending an Affordable Housing Committee meeting had talked about two mixed use projects that are successful. Counc. Szabo said that Castro Street in Mountain View has financial institutions and restaurants, very few retail. and therefore does not lend itself to being a pedestrian street. Mr. lung said that Mountain View is hying to address that by encouraging a mix - people who live, work and shop there. Counc. Dean said that the definition of downtown is changing. Mr. lung said that people are going to discount stores and large outlets; these would be out of place in a downtown. Downtown appeals to different shoppers than the large stores. There would be lots of small spcçialty and personal service types of storlJS. Mayor Sorensen announced that Council would hear presentations by major property owners and groups at this time. ~ Don Allen, President of Cupertino National Bank, presented the Chamber of Commerce version of a strategic vision for Cupertino. He commented on the slide presentation. He said Council has been accused of not having a vision. DeAnza Boulevard used to be on a more human scale. People want to get out of their cars now. Council has tough choices to make. It is hard to articulate a dream. Special interests form and kill dreams. He said 2 MtNU'l'F.!: OF T\m SF.P1'F.MBER.~. \991. A.DJOURNED ImGUU.tl MmmNG (CC-I41C) he had come to believe that Council does have a dream. Maybe someone else can articulate it and Council can act on it Mr. Allen stated political and economic concerns. He said that some of the challenges facing us arc almost impossible to resolve unless we come togctber as an extended family. There is a uniqueness in the community, a sense of community, but it is fragile. We need to find ways to augment and expand that and be very sensitive to not injuring it in any way. The nine areas of concern arc land use and preservation of open spaœ, need for more office and R&D construction, transportation and traffic mitigation, housing and the nexus study, heart of the city, education resources and their special relationship to Cupertino, preservation of existing tax base and economic reality, maintaining existing level of service. and establishment of a redevelopment agency in Cupertino. Mr. Allen said Council is the glue of the community. He said he was presenting his comments in a spirit of cooperation and help. The Chamber of Commerce highlighted it in their newsletter. He said Chamber representatives will be present at all General Plan meetings and will speak. Phil Zeitman, representing CURB, said they would like to defer their comments until individual categories arc discussed, CURB is working to come up with a statement They will want to address building heights, traffic, the tier system and major company growth and will speak to those issues. Mike Bruner, Sobrato Development Companies, said Sobrato would like to defer until the September 17 meeting. As a resident, Mr. Bruner said he would like to see a change in the mindset on some subtle things. He says he has to get in the car to go to the park. There is no inviting way for a person to go to Memorial Park as a pedestrian, you must go by car. If you go to the Oab and wanted to walk to Monta Vista. Highway 85 is a barrier because of the right turn lane. He said he thinks a specific plan must address this kind of thing. Don Burnett, 729 Stendbal Lane agreed with Mr. Bruner about a pedestrian friendly community. He said he has concerns with the word "mitigation." Mitigation has no meaning of compensation for damage that has been done. We should not settle for mitigation. Don't do the damage or fully correct it Nancy Burnett, 729 Stendhal Lane, representing CURB, said she wanted to comment on some things that she had seen this evening. She would like Council to consider a few additional things. The slide show was interesting. She found things she really agrees and disagrees with. She liked the trees, outlining and defining people spaces and dl'fining the street Ms. Burnett said she would like to add that in all the sky pictures there was not one view of the foothillš. Let's not lose the view of the foothills by putting buildings too high. There is a need for welcoming things into Cupertino. The sign of "welcome to Cupertino, have a taco" is not really the message we are after. 3 · , MlN\J'Œ~ OF THE ~B"ŒMBÐl1.I991, A.DJOIJRNF.O REGUlAR MEETING (ffi842q Ann Anger, Monta Vista. said she keeps hearing there is no market for small businesses. There is so much liveliness and activity in Saratoga. At 4:00 p.m. Cupertino is dead. She said she was very, very concerned about it The main thing is the friendliness. Cupertino is getting to be more unfriendly. She said she is a very outgoing person. Ma. Anger described some of the activities that take place in downtown Saratoga. She said this is a beautiful City. Doris Harry, Chair of the Fine Arts Commission, said she had highlighted all references to culture and public art in the staff report. Public art is a good way to welcome people to the community. She said Cupertino needs a place for perfonning artists. Cupertino is culturally diver.¡e. As a citizen, she said she would like mixed use. She said she shops in Los Altos because she can go, park, and take care of lots of shopping and services. When asked why she thought The Oaks didn't work like Los Altos, she said she believed it has the wrong combination of shops. She said she prefer.¡ shopping in a downtown rather than a shopping center, John Hailey, Tandem, reviewed the General Plan review process to date. There have been more than two years of community input As he read the entire document, he could see there has been a lot of progress. Council is zeroing in on achieving success. But there is more than one way to do it Mr. Hailey commented on major themes. First, the missing element of city identity. Mr. Hailey said the paragraph in the report captures the existing problems and challenges that exist in the current scheme of urban design. He suggested the urban design is essential, it is more than individual buildings that you are interested in dealing with. Urban design opportunities exist Commenting on the urban parkway and grand boulevard, Mr. Hailey said he thinks some of the elements of the Grand Boulevard concept should be pursued. Don't close out consideration of the Grand Boulevard. Downtown main streets can be successful even if they don't generate a lot of revenue. He referred to Danvíl1e where he said the downtown is alive 16 hours a day. Mr, Hailey said he thinks there is a place for landmark buildings. Mr. Hailey expressed concern with focusing on individual buildings when you are looking for continuity within districts. There is an opportunity for housing mixed use in the Vallco area The Planning Commission has recommended that a seven story height limit be established. Tandem recommends eight stories. There is a need to understand in the category uncommitted square footage how much is available for Tandem. Mark Kroll, City Center Associates, said that 60 days ago Bill Valentine of HOK appeared before Council to describe their vision for the City Center planning area. The vision is based on a mixed use master plan to allow additional housing opportunities and additional growth for Apple Computer consistent with design excellence. Mr. Kroll said they continue to fully support the General Plan vision statement. They continue to support the goal of a livable, economically viable Cupertino and hope to continue to participate. Mr. Kroll said they are very encouraged by the way the General Plan is taking shape, especially the dialog between member.¡ of the community. He said he 4 ~',- ''''~.l-.-'rë ,'. , MJNUrES OF TIlE SEPTEMBER 3, 1992, ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING (cc.142C) would like the opportunity to bring their planning expert back to rc:apond to the slidea in a technical way and based an expertise. Park Place has become a model of mixed UH. Counc. Dean is correct that retail is changing. Rdail that you see that is very .db~ve may be working as meeting place but is not _-·"'Iy economically viable. He ur¡ed Council to continue and stressed that he wanted to bring technical experts to the IlCIXt meeting. Father Michael Mitchell, 10110 N. DeAnza Boulevard, said he walked from N. DeAnza Boulevard to Homestead and back and met no one. From the church to McWhorter's is not far but try getting across a six lane highway. The City will have to underground something. The automobile bas destroyed the community. The comer was UIICf friendly when Cicero's was there. It has been designed to work with the automobile. Parking loti are all behind the shopping in Los Gatos and in front in Cupcrtin\. Father Mitchell stated the belief that there needs to be a real reversal in planning. Don Allen said that the first large mall was built in the late 50s. Prior to that downtown San Jose was where people went to shop. The first shopping center was Rancho. The downtown merchants panicked and banded together in a merchant's association. They developed a master plan as to what businesses worked with other businesses and kept the downtown on a human scale. No synergy has developed at The Oaks. Stores were built but chemistry never developed. Shops are not making it. It is the mix, how you put it together, that is important. Counc. Szabo asked if the Oaks could be succ:essful with mixed use, rc:aidcntia1 over retail. Mr. Allen said in his opinion it could not Counc. Szabo asked if the City bad received a request from The Oaks for mixed development. Mr. Cowan said no. Each time a retail owner comes in staff has asked them to look at the possibility of mixed use. There is a reluctance on the pert of lenders to take part in mixed use. He described some mixed uses in Manta Vista that have worked. Mayor Sorensen announced that the next General Plan hearing will be on September 11 at 7:30 p.m. rather than 6:45 p.m. so that people can take part in the Beat the Backup Day events and community walk. October I has also been scheduled for General Plan hearing. At 8:55 p.m., the meeting was adjourned. '/J.,.L 4./U{, Deputy City Clerk 5