Liang - When did the Council give approval or instruction to consider a GPA at Vallco site?

From: Liang-Fang Chao
Date: Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 3:59 PM
Subject: When did the Council gave approval or instruction to consider a GPA at Vallco site?
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, City Attorney's Office <CityAttorney@cupertino.org>, manager@cupertino.org

Dear Mayor Paul and City Councilmembers,

The City adopted the GPA Authorization Procedure on May 19, 2015.

Any project requesting a GPA should follow that procedure, which has a 6-month application cycle.

Now it appears the Vallco Specific Plan being proposed will require a GPA. However, I cannot find any application for GPA Authorization for the Vallco site.

All developers should be treated fairly and should follow the same city procedures. Could you please explain why the Vallco project can be considered for a GPA without following the GPA Authorization procedure, which all other developers have to follow?

Did the City Council ever give any instruction to allow Vallco project to be considered for a GPA at any time? I certainly did not find any item on any city council agenda this year to that effect.

In case such a GPA is initiated by the City Council out of the ordinary procedure, please identify the date of the City Council meeting when the Council gave the staff direction to prepare a GPA for Vallco site and the parameters (land use allocations to consider) and justification the Council gave the staff.

I do expect a response from the Mayor or the City Attorney on the legality of the GPA under consideration for the Vallco project. Please do not ignore my inquiry.

Please add this email to written public comments to all subsequent meetings on the Vallco project to be held this year.

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For your information:

The following page shows the current application process:

https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/community-development/planning/major-projects/general-plan-amendment-authorization

The next application cycle is Nov. 12, 2018. The only project which has been approved to be considered for a GPA is the hotel at the Goodyear Tire site. No other project has submitted any request for a GPA.

Certainly not the Vallco project.

This application form outlines every step of the process.

https://www.cupertino.org/home/showdocument?id=10804

1. Prepare Plans  and Application  materials (Refer to Submittal Requirements)

2. Pre -application Conference. Please  discuss  proposal  with  planning  staff  members  prior  to  submittal.   

3. Submit Application Materials Refer to the  website (    www.cupertino.org/gpaauthorization ) for the filing deadline of your application.

4. Staff Review Upon receipt of the application, staff will review and evaluate each complete and timely application  based on the criteria identified in the City Council policy. 

5. Noticing for Public Meeting - ... This meeting will be  noticed    as follows....

6. City Council Meeting The applicant will have an opportunity to present their application l imited to 10 minutes , or less if  directed by the Council .

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Sincerely,

Liang Chao

Cupertino resident

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From: Liang-Fang Chao
Date: Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: When did the Council gave approval or instruction to consider a GPA at Vallco site?
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, City Attorney's Office <CityAttorney@cupertino.org>, manager@cupertino.org

Someone mentioned that Piu mentioned that the direction to staff was given on June 4, 2018 during the study session.

Here is the agenda item for the June 4 study session:

"Conduct study session regarding Vallco Specific Plan and provide direction to staff"

There is no indication for any inclination to consider any GPA beyond the existing General Plan allocation.

Any member of the public who might be interested in or want to comment on a GPA at Vallco site won't even know the study session will consider any amendment to the General Plan.

Even if the study session were properly noticed to include a consideration of GPA, which it wasn't, the Council cannot legally take an action to initiate a GPA authorization process. When was the action item scheduled where the Council votes to consider GPA at Vallco? Who votes Yes?

The Council cannot initiate a consideration for GPA as a part of the Vallco Specific Plan, which is supposed to comply with the existing General Plan.

Let's take a look at the last GPA process which was initiated on Aug. 21, 2012.

Here is the agenda item:

"Subject: Consideration of authorization to proceed with a General Plan Amendment"

Here is the language in the staff report:

"Staff recommends that the Council authorize staff to initiate a General Plan Amendment to increase citywide development allocations, review key opportunity sites, and provide direction on funding the remaining budget needed to process the General Plan amendment."

Then, the staff report went on to specify specifically the parameters the staff recommends the GPA to consider.The minutes of the Aug. 21, 2012 meeting shows many public comments on the GPA item. Then, a Council action with voting record:

"Chang moved and Mahoney seconded, and the motion carried unanimously, to authorize the initiation of a General Plan Amendment process that will begin with staff returning back to the City Council in four to six weeks with the following:
1. Scope of work for the General Plan Amendment process including the timing of a Master Plan for the Vallco Shopping Center in conjunction with the General Plan Amendment process.
2. Proposal to fund the General Plan Amendment including the City share and payment of fair share by property owners (to include apportionment based on payments made in advance and those that are deferred).
3. Projects that do not require a General Plan Amendment or any deviations would not be deferred during the General Plan Amendment process, however, projects in the Vallco Shopping Center would have to update the approved Vallco Master Development plan and the South Vallco Master plan as related to their project.
4. Provide a list of the BQ (Quasi-Public Building) properties where the CG (General Commercial) zoning is proposed to be added."

Where and when is the Council action item to authorize the consideration of a General Plan Amendment?

Please clarify.

Thank you.

Liang