Liang - Vallco is Zoned for 2400 Units of Housing Units?

From: Liang C
Date: Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 9:29 AM
Subject: Vallco is Zoned for 2400 Units of Housing Units?
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, "City of Cupertino Planning Dept." <planning@cupertino.org>, David Brandt <davidb@cupertino.org>

Dear City Council Members and Planning Staff,

A recent article by Curbed SF points out that Senator Wiener said:

"I did speak with him [Darcy], and he expressed an openness to 2,400 units of housing, which was what the site is zoned for, and I was pleased by that.”

Under the new pro-housing laws, effective January 1, 2018, would Vallco Shopping Mall site become zoned for 2400 units by right? Please confirm.

Has the City Council members reached a consensus to passively accept such interpretation of Vallco zoning? By doing nothing, you are giving the developer by-right allocation of 2400 units at Vallco.

If the new pro-housing laws will change the zoning or the interpretation of zoning at Vallco, it is the obligation of the City to inform the citizens of the change. The city should be upfront about the change and inform the citizens with a clear explanation.

The city allocated 2 million square feet of office space to Vallco,with the understanding that it is pending a Vallco Specific Plan to be approved by the City Council after a community engagement process. That process has just started. However, AB 1515 would seem to turn the conditional allocation of 2 million square feet of office space into a free handout. The City won't have any power to reduced the office space or negotiate for more benefits for the community without risking legal challenges.

Under the new pro-housing laws, the conditional allocation of 2 million square feet of office space will be turned into by-right allocation. The city should be upfront about the change and inform the citizens with a clear explanation.

The new pro-housing laws are meant to streamline the process of project approval. It was not meant to and should not be used to "increase" the density of any site, beyond what the City Council had planned in the General Plan.

The Council allocated 389 units to Vallco site in December 2014. Should your decision be respected, by the developer and the state legislature?

Even if the area needs more housing, it should be the City Council's decision whether to increase the density at any Cupertino site. Not that of any outside forces. Not as unintended consequences of new pro-housing laws.

2400 units is more than 6 times the allocated amount. The Council should not be pushed to accept such large amount of increase only because the pro-housing laws attempt to ignore standards set by Cupertino City Council. If the "max unit allocation" is ignored, Cupertino can adopt other objective standards like floor-area-ratio as a density standard, as many other cities have done.

Whatever you decide to do. Please keep the citizens informed of the new interpretation of zoning standards at Vallco as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Liang Chao

Cupertino Citizen of 19 years