"The
City envisions a complete redevelopment of the existing Vallco Fashion
Mall into a vibrant mixed-use “town center” that is a focal point for
regional visitors and the community. This new Vallco Shopping District
will become a destination for shopping, dining and entertainment in the
Santa Clara Valley." (Cupertino's 2040 General Plan)
From: KM
Date: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 1:10 PM
Subject: Vallco Specific Plan must be consistent with General Plan - EIR
To: Cupertino City Manager's Office <manager@cupertino.org>, Darcy Paul <dpaul@cupertino.org>, savitav
Dear Mayor Paul, City Council, and Manager Brandt,
KM
I
am very confused and concerned about the EIR scoping and Opticos
process. Please have the City Attorney’s office look into the Vallco
Specific Plan process alternatives SHPCO has requested the review of
(heavy housing and Measure D/heavy housing mix). The Specific Plan for
Vallco must be consistent with the General Plan by law as you already
know. See Ca GC 65450-65457:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca .gov/faces/codes_displaySectio n.xhtml?sectionNum=65451.& lawCode=GOV
The
General Plan adopted Scenario A allotments for Vallco and stated that
it would fall to Scenario B should a Specific Plan not be adopted by May 31, 2018.
LU-1 and LU-2 and the text of the GP never show Vallco with more than 389 units.
The
GP EIR studied 600,000 SF retail, 2 Million SF office, 800 residential
units, and 339 hotel rooms. The adopted Scenario A in the GP has 389
units. 35 DU/Ac was not an allotment but a density maximum for the 389
units on the site. Alternative Scenario B has no housing at Vallco.
The Housing Element supports that Vallco could have 389 units, and
refers to those unit quantities as “realistic capacity” in Table HE-5:
A
reasonable person would conclude that Vallco was never intended to be a
heavy housing site and the General Plan provided Scenario B with other
sites available for housing. The Vallco site was described in the
General Plan as: "The City envisions a complete redevelopment of the
existing Vallco Fashion Mall into a vibrant mixed-use “town center” that
is a focal point for regional visitors and the community. This new
Vallco Shopping District will become a destination for shopping, dining
and entertainment in the Santa Clara Valley." The goals, policies, and
strategies to achieve this vision in the General Plan Land Use section
support residential as subordinate to other uses. See p 51: http://www.cupertino.org/ home/showdocument?id=12729
Additionally,
the 2 million SF of office frustrates the General Plan Housing Element
Goal of providing adequate housing by generating an excess of
employment. The residents voted it down, and yet it is being studied in
the Specific Plan EIR? Why spend the money when we know it will not
happen?
While
Sand Hill requested that a much denser housing option be studied at
Vallco, and that a mix between Measure D and a housing heavy option also
be studied, neither of these options are consistent with the General
Plan.
They may not be studied for the Specific Plan. They cannot be part of the EIR process for the Specific Plan.
If
the Vallco owner wants something other than what is in the General Plan
the Specific Plan route does not appear to be the way to do it.
Please
review the procedure and halt the technical review of options for a
Vallco Specific Plan not consistent with the General Plan and that a
reasonable person would not find consistent. Essentially these
inconsistent options are General Plan Amendments but without anyone
knowing what they actually are. How can we have an EIR scoping meeting
about a mystery project?
And
a final comment: attempting to include a reallocation of allotments in
and among other sites is beyond the scope of a Vallco Specific Plan, in
my opinion.
Best regards,
No comments:
Post a Comment