Apple Cautions - by Liang

If GPA does not take into consideration the key issues, affecting surrounding neighborhoods, the city may find itself in the future when the residents in surrounding neighborhoods were notified of the project specific plan and were unhappy with the changes made in the GPA.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Liang C
Date: Wed, May 6, 2015 at 11:57 AM
Subject: Apple Cautions
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, City Clerk CityClerk@cupertino.org

Apple Cautions “The City Should Set Forth in the GPA the Key Issues that Need to Be Taken into Account…., Since Deferring this Step May Unduly Bind the City in the Future.”

Attached is my powerpoint slide for last night's meeting.

Please put it into the meeting record.

I would like to thank all of the council members and staff for what you have tried to do for the Vista Knoll neighborhood. Elaine Ying is a dear friend who lives in that neighborhood.

I can feel that many of you would like to reject the project, but you cannot. The site shouldn't have been zoned for R3 in the first place. There should have been some setback requirement and height restrictions for properties adjacent to R1. There should have been more parking spaces required in the city ordinances, but the requirement is getting smaller and smaller.

I hope you realize that you are tied by yourself. You have the authority to change all these by adding these restrictions to protect R1 neighborhood.

And you have the authority to require that the neighborhood be notified much earlier in the project development phase instead of the last minute.

And you have the authority to require the Main Street developers to notify neighborhoods who attended the 2009 meetings when Sand Hill come back to modify the project in 2012. But you choose to leave this up to the developer's good will.

On May 19th, if you approve the items of GPA without notifying the surrounding neighborhoods who will be affected by those changes, you are starting the same cycle. A few years later, another neighborhood will be at the council meeting and request the height, the density be reduced and the setback be increase, what will you say to that neighborhood? My hands are tied since the project meets all zoning code?

A few years later, you may not be on the council any more. But you would be the council who put in the ropes that tie their hands. Please keep that in mind when you vote on May 19th.

Please remember that developers will build to the max under the zoning code and regulation you put in place. Don't rezone. Don't relax the regulation. Only rezone on a project by project basis after neighborhood community meetings. And you have 4 times a year to do it.

Liang

Attachment:  Apple Letter 07-21-2014 (Page216-222, AppendixA CommentLetters to Draft GPA).pdf

Attachment: Apple Cautionary Letter (Page 17-18, CC_LateCommentsMemo).pdf
Attachment: Apple Cautions 2015-05-05, by Liang.pdf