- an acknowledgement from each of the council members whether you meant to approve the 349-page of new general plan "Community Vision 2040" without any discussion on Dec. 4, 2014.
- the city attorney to confirm whether this process is even legal to approve the 25-year general plan without any discussion at the city council meeting and specifically after the council acknowledge a consensus to postpone it.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Liang C
Date: Thu, May 14, 2015 at 12:18 PM
Subject: Cupertino City Council Promised to Postpone GPA, but Recanted after 1AM on Dec. 4, 2014
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, City Attorney's Office <CityAttorney@cupertino.org>, City Clerk <CityClerk@cupertino.org>, David Brandt davidb@cupertino.org
I and many
residents specifically remembered that the council promised to postpone
GPA and only consider Housing Element on Dec. 3rd. Barry, Darcy and
Savita all said that they would rather take time to give GPA more
thorough discussion.
Then, we found out that one of the
ordinances passed on Dec. 4 in fact contains "Community Vision 2040", a
349 page document, which is the new General Plan. The very General Plan
that 3 council members said that they want to postpone.
After
1am, this ordinance was passed without any discussion between the
council members. I doubt whether any of the council members, except
Gilbert, even knew what they were voting on.
I
went through the video and jotted down quotes from the Dec. 3 Council
meeting. My note is summarized in the blog article below.
I and many residents are confused.
We would appreciate an acknowledgement from each of the council members whether you meant to approve the 349-page of new general plan "Community Vision 2040" without any discussion on Dec. 4, 2014.
We would appreciate an acknowledgement from each of the council members whether you meant to approve the 349-page of new general plan "Community Vision 2040" without any discussion on Dec. 4, 2014.
We've
been comparing this new general plan with the 2000-2010 General Plan.
We found many issues that were never discussed with the community in any
of the outreach meetings. Many policies and strategies were removed
from 2000-2010 General Plan without any explanation. We are very
concerned that the new general plan is approved without any discussion
at the city council meeting. This is a plan that determines the future
growth of Cupertino in the next 25 years. Not only it lacks community
input, as recognized by the mayor and 3 other council members during the
Dec. 3 council meeting, it even lacks input from the council members.
And
I would also like the city attorney to confirm whether this process is
even legal to approve the 25-year general plan without any discussion at
the city council meeting and specifically after the council acknowledge
a consensus to postpone it.
Thank you.
Liang-Fang Chao
Cupertino Resident
Cupertino Resident
------------------------------
Blog: Cupertino City Council Promised to Postpone GPA, but Recanted after 1AM on Dec. 4, 2014
http://bettercupertino.
(Video included in the blog https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Cupertino City Council Promised to Postpone GPA, but Recanted after 1AM on Dec. 4, 2014.
This is the story of how Cupertino City Council adopted the 349-page document "Community Vision 2040," which defines the future growth of Cupertino for the next 25 years, in 5 minutes.
On Dec. 3, 2014, Cupertino City Council promised to postpone GPA (General Plan Amendment) because the two new council members, Darcy and Savita, and most of residents need time to understand it. Darcy, Savita and Barry suggested to discuss GPA in details over two meetings at a later time.
However, that same night a little after 1AM on Dec. 4, when most residents went home, with literally no discussion, the Council adopted the 349-page document "Community Vision 2040," which defines the future growth of Cupertino for the next 25 years with only Darcy Paul voting No.
Earlier in the meeting, Darcy said, "In the last couple of years, a lot of development is happening quickly. If we were to look at the entire breath covered by the GPA right now, it would very significantly alter Cupertino. My preference would be to handle this on a more incremental basis. Perhaps, it's something of a selfish reason."
Savita chimed in, "Thank you, Darcy. I don't think it's selfish. It's two plus the entire community." Savita added, "Just to clarify. I am not saying we do repeated amendments. What I am saying is we spread it out over a couple of meetings. So, the new Council members have a little more time."
Aarti, the Assistant City Manager, clarified, "Let's say you make all the changes related to the Housing Element sites. And you adopted those changes. Next year, you decide to have a couple of additional meetings. You want to understand this. You want to have question & answer session. You want the public to have a little more input before you make the decision on the other elements of the general plan. That's possible. Because you are still looking at all of this comprehensively." Savita added, "Just not at today's meeting."
Rod concluded, "What I hear so far is that we have a consensus with Barry, Savita and Darcy to work on the Housing Element tonight, to take the actions in the GPA that we must do in order to fulfill the Housing Element." Rod asked Barry, Savita and Darcy, "Are you ok with the idea of bringing this back, say in one or two months, the parts of the General Plan Amendments that aren't under consideration, so we get a unified view across the city."
Barry confirmed, "On the General Plan Amendment, I would say, bring it back in a month or two and give a thorough discussion and give the audience time. I would suggest next time cut it off at 11 o'clock. If we cannot hear it out, delay to the next day. If we still have problem, we give it some time because the last General Plan Amendment took 4 years." Paul and Savita confirmed that they are ok with it also.
However, that same night after 1AM on Dec. 4, when most residents went home, Gilbert Wong motioned, to adpot Resolution No. 14-211 approving a General Plan Amendment to reallocate and replenish development allocation, amend the General Plan Land Use Map and Development Standards, Comply with State Law and Reorganization, and Improve Presentation and Readability." Barry Chang second. This Resolution No. 14-211 is the new General Plan of Cupertino "Community Vision 2040." With literally no discussion, the 349-page document "Community Vision 2040," which defines the future growth of Cupertino for the next 25 years was passed with only Darcy Paul voting No.
In fact, after 1AM, with literally no discussion on any item, Gilbert Wong motioned one item after another item to push almost everything through. It seems most other Council members are quite confused on the content of each item, but no one questioned in depth.
So, this is how "Community Vision 2040" was adopted by the Cupertino City Council.
In the Dec. 3 meeting minutes, there is conveniently no record of the promise made by the council members to postpone GPA. Fortunately, it is captured in the video.
"Community Vision 2040," rushed through in 18 months, turns out to be a complete rewrite of the previous "2000-2020 General Plan," which took 4 years to approve with much more community outreach meetings and many discussions in council meetings. The council did leave some items out of approved "Community Vision 2040" and the remaining items are on the May 19th Council Meeting agenda. They are building heights, building planes, setbacks and the so-called Community Benefits program.
Reference: Dec. 3 Council Meeting Video time 02:00:00 for the consensus to postpone GPA for a more thorough discussion later.
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