From: Liang C
Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2015 at 2:10 AM
Subject: Comment on Vallco EIR - impact on overflow parking to the neighborhood
To: "City of Cupertino Planning Dept." <planning@cupertino.org>
RE: Comment on Vallco EIR
Please
study the impact of overflow parking demands on neighboring streets,
such as Portal and other side streets, and shopping centers, especially
the center with JoAnne Frabric and United Furniture across the street.
Please
study the impact of overflow parking demands on neighboring streets of
the new K-5 elementary school at Nan Allen Elementary site.
It
is well known that the parking stalls required for office park,
residential or mixed use sites in the zoning code is well below the
needed amount, since the zoning code makes an unrealistic assumption on
the number of people who uses alternative methods of transportation. As a
result, the neighborhood streets often become parking lot for the
nearby mixed use sites.
One resident just spoke on Nov. 3rd
about Apple employees at Infinity Loop taking up street parking near
Lawson. As a result, parents cannot park near school and are forced to
double park to pick up students. The local residents do not want the
city to turn the street into a permit parking zone since it means added
cost for the residents and added trouble for their guests.
The
neighborhood streets around Biltmore Apartments are always full 24-7 to
the point that even a guest cannot find a parking space.
Apple
Campus 2 with expected emplyes of 14,000 and a commitment to provide
alternative transportation for 40% of them, including carpool. So, the
expected number of single-driver vehicle is 8,000. The number of parking
stalls provided in Apple Campus 2 is 10,980 parking spaces, according
to its EIR.
The Hills at Vallco provides only
9,175 vehicles, the very minimum required by the Zoning Code.
Let's see how much would actually be needed.
The Hills at Vallco contains
- 2
million square feet of office, which will house about 10,000 workers.
If 20% car pool or use alternative means (which is already higher than
the average from 2010 census), it will need 8,000 parking spaces.
- 800
housing units, which would require 2 cars per unit or more (if multiple
young singles share one apartment or any family has a teenager of
driving age). Thus, it will require 1,600 spaces.
- 625,000 square feet of retail space.
Per 1,000 square feet of retail space is recommended to have 5-10
parking spaces. Thus, 3,1250 to 6,250 parking space is recommended.
- According to "Site Design, Parking and Zoning for Shopping Centers" from Planning.org: "the recommended standard of 10.0 car spaces per 1,000 square feet of net
retail area (or a parking ratio of 3:1, i.e., three square feet of
parking area for every one square foot of retail sales area)."
- Loss in Value due to Inadequate Parking:
"The shopping center could accommodate the peak holiday shopping
during Thanksgiving and Christmas when the merchants make up to 50% of
their profit for the year. If a business can not accommodate its
customers during that time, then the property may not have adequate
parking and the property may suffer from obsolescence. Other studies
have been done which show a need of 5 parking spaces for every 1,000
square feet of building area."
The total parking spaces needed is 8000+1600+3125 = 12,725.
The
9,175 parking spaces at Vallco is only 72% of needed space,
When other shopping center needs extra parking, it overflows to the next one or two streets.
When
The Hills at Vallco overflows, it will overflow to the next 10 to 20
streets since the project is more than 10 times bigger than any other
shopping mall in Cupertino.
Since there is little mass
transit and even less ridership in Cupertino, any assumption of the
number of visitors or workers who take public transit has to be
realistic.
Note that even in San Jose where there are
lightrail, the ridership is still low since the VTA transportation
network does not cover enough areas so that most people still had to
drive.
Any solution to solve the last mile problem is
still experimental, such as Uber or Lyft. The EIR impact analysis should
not be based on unproven future trend. It should be based on real data
and real transportation method available today or in any committed plan.
Therefore,
the effect of overflow parking from The Hills of Vallco needs to be
studied using realistic data in every day situation and also worst case
situation during Christmas shopping season.
The impact
of difficulty of parking on the accessibility of retail shops and other
amenities at The Hills at Vallco should be studied.
The
impact of difficulty of parking on the willingness of customers to
visit shops and other amenities in The Hills at Vallco should be
studied.
The impact of difficulty of parking on the
sales volume of the shops during Christmas season when most retail shops
make 50% of their sales should be studied since it affects the
sustainability of the shopping center at Vallco.
The impact of difficulty of parking on community events, like Farmers' Market, hosted at The Hills at Vallco should be studied.
Where
will the Farmers' Market be held? Since most farmers sell their produce
right off their truck. Would there be space for the farmers to drive up
their truck into the Farmers' Market?
Liang Chao
