Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative is ready for signatures (CCSensibleGrowth.org)

Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative is ready for signatures (CCSensibleGrowth.org)

Petition Signing and Information Booth:

Time: 12 pm to 2 pm
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Location: Cupertino Library at the entrance plaza, 10800 Torre Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014
(Check the website for more locations and times for information booth.)

The petition is ready for signatures! Our team put in the final touch to improve the readability while following all legal guidelines after many revisions.

Help qualify the initiative for the 2016 ballot. Volunteer to be a signature gatherer (circulator).
Donate to help pay the legal fees and help reach out to more voters.

Any one who is at least 18 years old and a citizen or a permanent resident (green card) qualifies to gather signatures from voters who are registered to vote in Cupertino. There is no residency requirement for signature gatherers.

Committee Supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015. FPPC #1381645

Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative: Power to the People

Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative is online.
http://www.ccsensiblegrowth.org/

This is our chance to bring some sense into the frenzy development boom and to reinstate true democracy in Cupertino. Voters speak up.

Get Information about the Petition:

Join us at the Cupertino Library, on Sunday, December 20, 2015 to get more information about the petition for the Cupertino Citizens’ Sensible Growth initiative!

Help qualify the initiative for the 2016 ballot. Volunteer to be a signature gatherer (circulator).
Donate to help reach out to more voters.
Any one who is at least 18 years old and a citizen or a permanent resident (green card) qualifies to gather signatures from voters who are registered to vote in Cupertino. There is no residency requirement for signature gatherers

Time: 12 pm to 2 pm

Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015

Location: Cupertino Library at the entrance plaza, 10800 Torre Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014

Note: Due to some technical difficulties, the petitions won't be ready for signatures this weekend.

Sign up online at http://www.ccsensiblegrowth.org if you want to be notified of future signature gathering events or want to volunteer to help gather signatures.Join us at the Cupertino Library, on Sunday, December 20, 2015 to sign the petition for the Cupertino Citizens’ Sensible Growth initiative!

-----------

Why should residents support an initiative to ensure sensible growth in Cupertino?

By Committee Supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative

http://www.mercurynews.com/cupertino/ci_29265009/commentary-why-should-residents-support-an-initiative-ensure

The city of Cupertino is under constant pressure from developers to amend its General Plan. Developers push to increase building heights and densities and to change land use. Currently, development projects only need to appeal to the majority of city council members.

Amendments to the General Plan are changing Cupertino. The city is losing its pleasant suburban character. Cupertino will be indistinguishable from other densely populated communities, except Cupertino will be without the infrastructure required to support intensive development. The city lacks sites for new schools, lacks parks and recreational facilities and lacks sufficient road capacity to handle increased pedestrian, bicycle, and motor vehicle traffic safely.

The Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative would do the following:

- Control the density of new development to ensure that projects fit with the city's infrastructure by maintaining citywide limits on building heights, setbacks and building planes.
- Affirm that the land within the Vallco Shopping District will be used for major retail, entertainment, dining, and hotels.
- Require that proposed changes or exceptions to the building limits and land uses described in the initiative will not be enacted unless first approved by Cupertino voters.

The initiative is a follow-the-law initiative, or more specifically, a follow-the-General Plan initiative. Amendments to the General Plan are intended to be rare because the General Plan is the long-term guide for the city's future.

The initiative intends to change the way the developers plan for projects they will bring to Cupertino. The initiative promotes development projects that are suitable to the characteristics of the city and discourages projects that do not fit within the guidelines of the General Plan.

As supporters of the Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, we advocate sensible growth. We advocate growth that considers the impact of major housing and office developments on the existing infrastructure. Sensible growth requires that major housing and office developments will be accompanied by sufficient schools, parks and transportation to meet the needs of Cupertino's residents. We believe the passage of the Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative is essential to ensure a future of sensible growth in Cupertino.

Soon, we will start to collect signatures to qualify the Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative for the ballot in 2016.

For more information about the initiative, including: where to sign a petition, how to volunteer to collect petition signatures or how to donate money to support the initiative effort, visit CCSensibleGrowth.org.
The Committee Supporting Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative's FPPC# 1381645.

 

Civic Center Will Cost Tax Payers $70 Million Dollars, Financed by a 30-Year Loan

Our facebook and blog has the most up-to-date information. Our website is not updated as often.

This is a special news update on the Civic Center project with a new City Hall.

We will send another update on growth issues later. The developer for Oaks Shopping Center has started their outreach. We hope to write up a trip summary on their open house. Stay tuned.

• Civic Center Master Plan Should Be on the Ballot for Voters' Approval: Measure A in 2000 asked voters whether a new library with a budget of $22 should be funded even when the city has cash reserves to pay for it. In 2015, with 2 Council members strongly against the building of a new City Hall, should the Council put the question on the ballot and let the voters decide. The $70-million project will be mostly financed by a 30-year loan with $4.5 million annual debt payment. And Cupertino is already paying $3.2 million annually for another loan, which ends in 2030.

• Five Internationally-Renowned Teams Compete for the $51 Million Project in San Francisco: For a small stipend of $25,000, 5 designs teams submitted innovative conceptual plans to compete for the $51 million park project. Why don't the Civic Center project invite more architect firms to compete?
 
• 10-Story Innovative Office "Park" in Indianapolis Costs Only $30 Million Dollars: This amazing innovative mixed use project with office, retail and a public park costs only $30 million dollars. How come the new City Hall that's 1/10 of the size would cost more than twice as much?

• Petition Update: Civic Center Implementation Halted Pending Report on Funding Options: The contracts for consultants to implement the Civic Center were denied because Council Member Savita would like a financial plan before spending. However, she did not change her original position that a new City Hall is necessary. During July 7th meeting, Savita even proposed to drop the library expansion and reduce the size of underground garage to save money. This petition update also include a list of questions that the City should provide answers to the residents.

• Petition Update: San Jose City Hall and its cost versus Cupertino City Hall: San Jose Civic Center project cost $705 million 10 years ago. With a population of 900,000, the per capita spending of San Jose City Hall after adjusted for 20% inflation is $676 per person. They are still paying $20 million annual debt payment for that. The Civic Center project will cost $1,167 per person in Cupertino. Twice as much as San Jose's luxurious Civic Center.
 
• Petition: Stop Extravagant City Hall. Be Fiscally Responsible: The Civic Center Master Plan was approved on July 7th, 2014. The estimated cost would be $70 million and the City will have to finance $65 million with a 30-year loan. The potential cost of the project and fiscal impact are never mentioned on the City's web page for Civic Center. The potential cost is not even mention on the meeting agenda. Many residents who just learned about this project and its cost signed the petition. In one day, the petition collected close to 300 signatures. The petition now has 374 signatures.

 

Hidden Changes in the New General Plan Opens Door to Uncontrolled Development

Meeting notices and staff reports repeatedly stated that "the majority of the General Plan’s content will remain the same." We were told that the new General Plan, Community Vision 2040 (CV2040) contains only "updates to address recent State Law requirements" and some cleanup to be consistent.

However, we found that some important policies were removed when the state laws cited do not remotely require the removal of those policies. Policies meant to control development or put a condition on the approval of development proposals were removed. The Land Use chapter sees drastic changes, not required by the state laws. Since the Council was only able to focus on the Housing Element during the Dec. 2nd & 3rd meeting only, these important policy changes were never reviewed, deliberated by the Council. The public were never given a chance to comment on them since there were never explicit put on any Council Meeting agenda.

These policy changes open the door to uncontrolled development in Cupertino.

Please provide your input and written comments by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2015 at http://www.cupertinogpa.org/mail_forms.

These are just some of the hidden changes identified with the limited time we have to study and summarize them. Many more issues will be published on the BetterCupertino.blogspot.com site shortly as soon as we have time to summarize them.

• Policy on School Impact due to Housing is Removed in CV2040

School overcrowding could be the most important issue facing the majority of Cupertino residents. Yet, the policy trying to address the very issue was simply removed because it is illegal under Senate Bill50. SB50 should not be used simply as an excuse to ignore the problem. School overcrowding problem is true and real. Other policies should be considered to address the problem in different ways so that they do not directly violate SB50. But nothing were suggested as a replacement.

 

Traffic congestion around schools could be addressed. Air quality, noise and safety for kids walking and biking to schools could be addressed. Policies could be put in place so that Environment Impact Report (EIR) properly address traffic congestion and safety, noise and air quality issues around schools.

• Policies to Address Traffic Congestion Removed to Allow Over-Development?

Important policies meant to maintain a tolerable traffic condition in Cupertino were removed in the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040" (CV2040) in order to comply with state law SB743. However, those policies on traffic Level of Service (LOS) do not violate SB374 at all. SB374 merely requires an alternative measure to be added for multi-modal transportation. This is yet another example where a state law was misinterpreted and incorrectly applied to the new General Plan.

All policies edited, added, removed to comply with the state laws in CV2040 should be reviewed in detail to determine whether the modifications are truly required to comply with the state laws.

• Land Use Section Sees Drastic Rewrite in CV2040

The reasons given for each modification in Comparison Tables for the General Plans often do not reflect the true effect of the modification. "Edits" often drops one essential sentence in the original policy or soften the language or even replace a policy by something else with a totally different intent. "Merged" and "Split" often removes one policy or strategy, which is quite different from the policy it is replaced with. "Edited/deleted for compliance with a state law" is often misused since the specified state law does not require the given modification. Unless each column of the Comparison Tables is read in detail, one cannot truly comprehend how much is changed in a chapter.

 

Here are some policy changes from the Land Use Section where some significant changes are not properly described in the Comparison Tables. These are just important ones we come across in a casual perusal. Not a comprehensive list of all mis-described modifications. Many Planning Areas see fundamental and drastic changes on their characteristics. These changes were never discussed during Dec. 2nd & 3rd Council Meeting.

• Important Texts outside of "Policies" in the General Plan Were Also Removed

The Comparison Tables only compared policies, but not texts outside of policies. However, there are a lot of texts in the 2000-2020 General Plan that were deleted or dramatically changed. These texts often describe the desired character of the City under the General Plan or identify important issues to be addressed in the General Plan.

The new General Plan CV2040 does not mention these important issues any more.

• Policy on View Preservation Removed to Allow Over-Development?

The View Preservation policy in 2000-2020 General Plan seeks to "limit building heights in order to preserve hillside views throughout the City." This policy was totally removed in the new General Plan, Community Vision 2040" (CV2040). Such policy removal was not required to comply to any state law. And such policy removal was never put on the City Council agenda for discussion. The public was never given a chance to comment on it either.

And this is just one of the many examples of policies removed without any Council approval or public input. CV2040 should not be approved in its current state since it contains too many, way too many policy changes that drastically altered the intent of the original policy in the 2000-2020 General Plan.

• Policy on Job-Housing Balance Removed due to State Law!?

State Law SB375 is used as the reason that to remove another important policy: Job-Housing Balance. However, SB375 in fact requires Job-Housing Balance in order to reduce greenhouse emission. We have to question. Have many policies the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040" are resulted from mistaken interpretation or improper generalization of the state laws?

• Policies Removed - Protect Communities from Quarry Pollution

Page 26 and 27 of the Comparison Table for "Mobility Element" confirmed that the following policies meant to protect communities from pollution caused by the Quarry and its traffic were removed or rewritten in the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040" (CV2040). These modifications were not required to comply with any state law. They were simply removed without Council approval. These modifications were never listed on any Council meeting agenda and never deliberated in any Council meeting.

 

CRSZaction.org and BetterCupertino.org

Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003

GPA Comparison - Comment by 4:30pm on July 31

GPA Comparison - Comment by July 31 4:30pm

Although no more development allocation is added on May 19th, a new General Plan was still approved back on December 4th, 2014. The comparison tables published on cupertinogpa.org site confirmed that the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040" (CV2040) is a massive rewrite of the 2000-2020 General Plan. The reason given in the comparison table is often 'edited', 'grammatical edits', 'split' or 'merged' and they are not required for any State Law or Housing Element.

Ever since July 2013, not one meeting notice or staff report mentioned the "new" General Plan until October 2014, just a few days before it was scheduled to be approved. Almost everyone believed that CV2040 only contains cleanup items to comply with Housing Element and State Laws. The most alarming is that CV2040 removed many policies without any discussion by the Council or explicit approval by the Council. Most notably policies to maintain a tolerable Level of Service (LOS) for traffic, to main job-housing balance, protection from quarry pollution, preservation of hillside views.

Other cities, such as Palo Also, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Campbell, announce that the city is working on a new General Plan well in advance and form an Advisory Committee or a Task Force consisting of mainly residents. The process normally takes 4 years. Even Cupertino had formed a Task Force of 63 members back in 2003 for the previous General Plan and the Council approved policies and even wording one by one over several months. So, Cupertino's new General Plan did not follow accepted procedure for such comprehensive update.

Cupertino Council should rescind the new General Plan and follow the proper procedure to review and approve the plan through multiple meetings to give the residents ample time to review and comment and give the Council members ample time to deliberate.

 
• Brown Act Violation? No Opportunity for Public Comment, July 25, 2015
• Brown Act Violation? Misleading Meeting Agenda, July 25, 2015
• Policies Removed - Protect Communities from Quarry Pollution, July 25, 2015
• Residents Were Not Able to Comment Sufficiently on the General Plan on Dec. 2, 2014, July 24, 2015
• Rescind "Community Vision 2040" or Suffer the Consequences, July 17, 2015
• Cupertino's Previous General Plan Did Follow the Proper Approval Process, July 17, 2015
• Cupertino Did Not Follow the Proper Process for General Plan , July 17, 2015
• Comparison Table Confirms that Community Vision 2040 is a rewrite!, June 12, 2015
• GPA is Cupertino's New General Plan! Are You Kidding Me?, June 1, 2015
• Job-Housing Balance is No Longer a Goal of Cupertino!, May 30, 2015
• Cupertino Still Has More Than 2.5 Million Square Feet of Office Allocation. Way Over ABAG Projection!, May 29, 2015
• "Community Vision 2040" Removed Policies to Protect Community from Adverse Impact of Quarry, May 24, 2015
• "Community Vision 2040" Would Allow Development Regardless of Traffic Condition, May 24, 2015

Please provide your input and written comments by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2015 at http://www.cupertinogpa.org/mail_forms.

CRSZaction.org and BetterCupertino.org
Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003

Continue to Keep a Close Watch. Development Ongoing.

News Update from BetterCupertino 2015-06-25

THANK YOU to everyone that gathered at the rally and City Council meeting on May 19th.
Whether you wore red, put on a button, gave a donation and/or spoke to the council -  your attendance was greatly appreciated by all!!

However, despite the fact that no more development allocation was added on May 19th, the pace of development in Cupertino did not slow down one bit, since a new General Plan which promotes massive development is still in effect. All the development allocation could be added back with a General Plan Amendment. We encourage everyone to keep a close watch to ensure that our city government works for the benefits of us, the residents. We encourage everyone to continue to write to the Council to express your concerns.

We want to see Cupertino grow sensibly and sustainably, we stand against reckless profit-driven development that ignores the city's character and needs. To donate, visit http://tiny.cc/bc-donate.

Upcoming meetings and events:

• June 30, 2015 5pm & 6:45pm Open House and Study Session for "proposed procedures for processing General Plan amendment applications."
• July 7, 2015, at 6:45 p.m Public Hearing of Civic Center Master Plan;
• July 31, 2015 4:30pm Deadline to provide your input and written comments for the Comparison tables of Community Vision 2040 and 2000-2020 General Plan.

A lot has happened or is happening during this summer break. 

Vallco EIR contract -

The contract on Vallco EIR is approved by the Council with 3-2 vote (Barry and Darcy voting No) on June 16. However, as it turns out, the work on Vallco EIR started as early as in February with a contract signed in March. Sand Hill claims they have sufficient community input; thus a project application will be submitted by September 15. BetterCupertino has sent a letter of formal complaint to the city. These three blog articles have details:

• Illegal Contract? Vallco EIR Contract Signed Back in March, 2015, June 24,2015
• Community Involvement is Done for Vallco. Formal Application to be Submitted on September 15, June 24, 2015
• Vallco EIR Consultant Agreement Raises Concerns and Suspicion, June 19, 2015

GPA Process for Community Benefits - June 30 Open House & Study Session

The General Plan is supposed to be the constitution of a city. Amendments should only be made when absolutely necessary for the wellbeing of the city. The zoning, building heights, setbacks and development allocation are specified in the General Plan to define the characteristics of a city. The proposed GPA process attempts to formulate a process to constantly amend our General Plan with Community Benefits (or its variations). Please attend the Open House and Study Session on June 30 to express your opposition to Community Benefits program in any form or shape. "Community Benefits" in exchange for taller buildings or denser development would end up costing we, the tax payers, more money to fix the consequences for years to come, in school infrastructure, traffic infrastructure, sewage, water systems and our overall quality of life.

• Examples of Failed "Community Benefits" Program in Palo Alto, June 25, 2015
• Main Street - the Shrinking Park, May 13, 2015
• Main Street Project - "Community Benefits" or NOT, May 1, 2015

GPA Comparison - comment by July 31 4:30pm

Although no more development allocation is added on May 19th, a new General Plan is still approved on December 4th, 2014. The comparison table just published on cupertinogpa.org site confirms that the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040" (CV2040) is a massive rewrite of the 2000-2020 General Plan. The reason given in the comparison table is often 'edited', 'grammatical edits', 'split' or 'merged' when the edit changes the meaning of a policy and it's not required for any State Law or Housing Element. Some edit refers to a State Law such as SB 743, but the edit is not required by that State Law at all.

 

Ever since July 2013, not one meeting notice mentioned or staff report mentioned the "new" General Plan until October 2014, just a few days before it was scheduled to be approved. Almost every believed that CV2040 only contains cleanup items to comply with Housing Element and State Laws. The most alarming is that CV2040 removed many policies without any discussion by the Council or explicit approval by the Council. Most notably policies to maintain a tolerable Level of Service (LOS) for traffic, to main job-housing balance, protection from quarry pollution, and many others.

• Comparison Table Confirms that Community Vision 2040 is a rewrite!, June 12, 2014
• GPA is Cupertino's New General Plan! Are You Kidding Me?, June 1, 2015
• Job-Housing Balance is No Longer a Goal of Cupertino!, May 30, 2015
• Cupertino Still Has More Than 2.5 Million Square Feet of Office Allocation. Way Over ABAG Projection!, May 29, 2015
• "Community Vision 2040" Removed Policies to Protect Community from Adverse Impact of Quarry, May 24, 2015
• "Community Vision 2040" Would Allow Development Regardless of Traffic Condition, May 24, 2015

Please provide your input and written comments by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2015 at http://www.cupertinogpa.org/mail_forms. Email your comments to BetterCupertino@gmail.com and we'll publish it in our blog letters2cupertinocc.blogspot.com.

 

Rescind Resolution 14-211 Community Vision 2040

The comparison table published further proves the need to rescind Resolution 14-211. The new General Plan of Cupertino should not be approved without any discussion by the Council. The Council should take the time to go through each chapter policy by policy before approving such a massive rewrite of the General Plan. The 2000-2020 General Plan was discussed and reviewed by the previous Council over 6 months in more than 7 meetings. Individual motions were made to approve or deny each edit or policy. This is the kind of attention that should be paid to the 2040 General Plan. CV2040 is written by a team of consultants without Council approval or community input. It should not be allowed to govern the development for the next 25 years in Cupertino. Please write to the City Council to request that Resolution 14-211 be rescinded at citycouncil@cupertino.org. Email your letter to BetterCupertino@gmail.com and we'll publish it in our blog letters2cupertinocc.blogspot.com.

• Please Rescind Resolution 14-211 a Total Rewrite of the General Plan, May 18, 2015

Civic Center Master Plan - Public Hearing on July 7

Started from the estimated demand of 43 parking spaces, the Civic Center Master Plan has evolved into a plan which costs 53 million dollars for a city with an annul budget about 80-90 million dollars. With no financial plan to pay for the project, the city continues to push the project through. While the city is embracing multi-modes of transportation in the new General Plan, the city did not encouraged its employees to take alternative modes of transportation to relieve the demand on parking spaces. While the Citywide Park Master Plan is still undeveloped, the city is continuing to push through the costly Civic Center Master Plan. Will this costly project become an excuse for developers to provide "Community Benefits" in order to build taller and denser buildings? Speak up and oppose if you are concerned how your tax dollars are spent.

BetterCupertino T-shirt Sale Sundays 3-5pm at the Library

After four Information Meetings on Sundays, BetterCupertino is continuing its outreach effort through weekly T-shirt sale Sundays from 3pm to 5pm. Look for volunteers from BetterCupertino in front of the Library. Buy a T-shirt or Donate. Or, just stop by and chat. We are happy to hear from you.

Subscribers Moved to BC-NewUpdate Google Group

We've moved all website subscribers to the announcement-only google group BC-NewUpdate for easier management. We will post occassional updates to BC-NewUpdate google group. All news updates will also be archived in this blog bc-newsupdate.blogspot.com. For more frequent update, like our facebook page facebook.com/BetterCupertino or subscribe to our blog BetterCupertino.blogspot.com.

Thank You for Your Generous Donation

We are considering all potential legal actions, recalls, referendum, initiative, reconsideration, and lawsuits. We've distributed close to 10,000 flyers so far and the cost adds up. We have upcoming legal expenses for potential actions. Thank you for so many generous donations. Please continue to support us. To donate, visit http://tiny.cc/bc-donate.

CRSZaction.org and BetterCupertino.org
Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003

Wear RED on May 19th to Stop Uncontrolled Growth in Cupertino

Wear RED on May 19th to Stop Uncontrolled Growth in Cupertino
(http://shoutout.wix.com/so/ad885795-0eab-45eb-a9e6-b90e20aaba08#/main)

If you have attended the Dec. 2nd and 3rd Council meetings, you will have to attend May 19th Council Meeting since the Council will find a way to continue to push for uncontrolled growth in Cupertino. They have not listened to the residents' concerns. They are not slowing down.

If you haven't attended the Dec. 2nd and 3rd Council meetings, you cannot miss May 19th Council Meeting, since this might be the last chance we have to save Cupertino from uncontrolled growth.
Once land use and development policies are approved in the General Plan or in the form of an ordinance, there is very little we can do when a developer delivers a plan that builds to the maximum limit allowed in the General Plan and the developers will build to the maximum.

The Staff Report for the May 19th Council Meeting seems to suggest no change to the General Plan. But it is proposing an ordinance which would open the Pandora's box to allow many projects to be bundled together to be considered for rezoning. As confusing and as non-transparent as the current GPA process in the last few months, it simply changes a format and a name to hopefully calm the residents down.
We were deceived once in December. We won't be deceived again.

We thought the Council listened to us after December 4th. We were wrong! We were totally played by the City Council or the City Council were all as confused as we were and passed the Ordinance 14-211 by mistake.

All of us who attended Dec. 3rd meeting and all of us who watched the video at home specifically heard that the Council will separate GPA from Housing Element and postpone GPA. They would only discuss Housing Element that night and they would only amend the general plan for items related to Housing Element.
However, after 1am on Dec. 4th without any deliberation, Ordinance 14-211 was passed and it includes the 349-page document "Community Vision 2040," which turns out to be a total rewrite of the existing 2005 General Plan.

The new General Plan is meant to put Cupertino on a fast track to urbanization. It removed policies that preserve the suburban characteristics of Cupertino. It removed policies that attempt to enhance traffic congestion at intersections and perform an annual traffic analysis. Basically, it removed obstacles in 2000-2020 General Plan to keep building height and growth under control. And none of the changes were communicated to the residents during any outreach meetings.

This new General Plan was first available for the Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 14, 2014. The City Council was scheduled to approve it on November 3rd by bundling it together with Housing Element, which has a January deadline. This 349-page document, which is supposed to define the future growth of Cupertino, did not receive any comments from the community at all, since it was released very late in the process and the community didn't even know that it's a total rewrite of 2000-2020 General Plan. It didn't receive any comments from the City Council either, since the Council didn't get a chance to discuss it on Dec. 4 when it was approved.

All along we were led to believe that the General Plan Amendment would simply modify the existing "2000-2020 General Plan" (a.k.a. 2005 General Plan). On April 1, 2014, the staff report still maintained that "the majority of the General Plan’s content will remain the same" and the EIR was ordered based on the direction from that meeting. On Oct. 7, 2014, the staff report still states “The proposed Project .... is not a complete revision of the City’s 2000-2020 General Plan.” Yet, on Oct. 14, 2012, the staff report starts to refer to "the new General Plan."
 

This blog article shows quotes from the video of Dec. 3 Council meeting where the Council promised to postpone GPA.
    - Cupertino City Council Promised to Postpone GPA, but Recanted after 1AM on Dec. 4, 2014

• Here are letters to request the City Council to rescind the decision to approve Resolution 14-211, containing the new General Plan "Community Vision 2040".

    - Council Should Rescind Any GPA Item Unrelated to Housing Elements, by Randy
    - Please Rescind Ordinance 14-211 to Correct the Innocent Mistake, by Liang
    - Rescind "Community Vision 2040" It's Your Moral Obligation, by Xiaowen

Join us tomorrow (May 17) for our Information Meeting at 1:30pm at Sunflower Learning Center, 19220 Stevens Creek Blvd. We will discuss available options.
 

Attend the rally at 6:15pm on May 19th and the council meeting at 6:45pm.
Wear RED to support us.
We need to tell the Council:
    - Save Cupertino Schools from uncontrolled growth.
    - Keep "2000-2020 General Plan" (a.k.a. 2005 General Plan) until the year 2020.
    - Discontinue Developer/Community Benefits program or any form of it.
    - Keep Cupertino as a suburban city.
    - Grow sensibly and sustainably with infrastructure enhancement.

Together we have made a difference and will make a difference on May 19th.

Information Meeting: Save Cupertino from Uncontrolled Growth

Information Meeting: Save Cupertino from Uncontrolled Growth
(http://shoutout.wix.com/so/e824725f-1cbc-4c4c-9f67-9ef53c9f41b9#/main)

(To get more frequent updates, subscribe to our blog BetterCupertino.blogspot.com or Like our facebook BetterCupertino.)

Theme: Vallco and GPA items: Office Allocation, Building Height, Community Benefits
Time: Sunday, May 10th and May 17th at 1:30-3:30pm
Location: Sunflower Learning Center, 19220 Stevens Creek Blvd
Contact: CRSZaction@gmail.com

The GPA items postponed from Dec. 3rd meeting will be on the City Council agenda on May 19th. Once approved, these items will put Cupertino on a fast track to urbanization. The future of Cupertino will be very different. All residents should be informed of these potential changes and how they might impact our lives.

• Why should we attend the May 19th City Council meeting?
• What is GPA? How will that affect your life and your pocket?
• What’s Community Benefits? How does it relate to Vallco and our schools?
• Is Vallco a done deal? Facts and myths. Is it zoned for retail-only or mixed use?
• Haven’t we attended a meeting last November or December for housing or GPA? Again?
• What’s the city council’s vision for Cupertino? A suburban city or an urban city?
• Who is CRSZaction (Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning) and BetterCupertino? Our Goals?

We will first share what we know of the complex issues on Vallco and GPA items, in particular, office allocation, building height and community benefits. How we got involved in this process and what we hope to achieve.

Then, we will open for Q&A to clarify any questions to the best of our knowledge.

We will have a rally at 6:15pm on May 19th, right before the Council Meeting. Please join us and wear RED to support us.

We support growth: sensible growth, controlled growth with realistic plans for infrastructure enhancement.
Together we can help make the future of Cupertino better and sustainable for the residents who live here.

From the team at CRSZaction (Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee), BetterCupertino.



 CRSZaction.org and BetterCupertino.org
Paid for by Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee, PO Box 1132, Cupertino, CA 95015, FPPC #1376003

Wear RED to Say NO Rezone!

Wear RED to Say NO Rezone!
(http://shoutout.wix.com/so/aKmcv8hD#/main)

Although the GPA items ("Excessive" office space allocation, building heights, "Developer" Benefits program) are postponed to April 21st, today (March 17th) BetterCupertino and Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning Action Committee (CRSZaction) will continue their presentation against reckless profit-driven high density development in Cupertino.

Time: 6:45pm, March 17, 2015
Location: Cupertino Community Hall (next to the library)
Wear RED to Stay STOP to Rezoning and Over-development.

Please check our facebook for more frequent updates: facebook.com/BetterCupertino.

We encourage everyone to attend and speak during Oral Communication at the council meeting on the traffic congestion and crowded schools that we and our children experience everyday. The council members will be able to make more informed decisions only if they listen to the residents who elected them and the very people whose daily lives are affected by the decisions they make.

In every area of Cupertino, west, east, south and north, traffic congestion is getting worse every day and accidents are more frequent.

In every school in Cupertino, either the tri-school area of the east, the west, or the middle, schools are more crowded with less open space and less facilities.

The "Developer" Benefits program in exchange for height will only worsen the conditions and the taxpayers will have to pick up the bills to fix the broken infrastructure.

We will be able to make a difference if we continue to voice our opinions together. Together we can save Cupertino from greedy developers.

 

Growthzilla is on the Loose Again!

Growthzilla is on the Loose Again!
(http://shoutout.wix.com/so/9KlKH9cE#/main)

Prevent Developers from Destroying Cupertino and Our Schools.
ACT NOW! Attend and Speak at Council Meetings to urge them to
    - Respect Current Zoning
    - Save Our City from Community Benefits, which only benefit developers.

ACT NOW! Attend Next Council Meeting: March 3 at 6:45pm.
Place: Community Hall, next to Cupertino Library.
Wear RED to support CRSZ (Cupertino Residents for Sensible Zoning) and BetterCupertino.

The Council only pays attention when residents show up in large numbers at meetings. They do not believe in any online petition or paper petition. When more than 300 residents showed up on November 10 and then again on December 2, the Council promised to delay GPA to allow the residents more time to provide inputs. Yet, they broke their promise! The Council is now still pushing for taller buildings in exchange for the so-called community benefits, which we, the tax payers, have to pay several times over in the future to fix the problems they create, in traffic, schools and many other issues.

The residents are very disappointed with the Community Workshop on Feb. 4 and the online GPA survey. Both are designed to manipulate public opinions to approve more high density development in Cupertino.

Vigilance is required. We will continue to fight to preserve the quality of life in our beloved Cupertino. Please join us!