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Desk Item es tem _ _ annin . om m iss � on . meetin � I�vsk T��.�. • �,�� �� -� -;� PC RESOLUTION NO. 6760 OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CUPERTINO RECOMMENDING CERTIFICATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT,HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE, AND ASSOCIATED REZONING PROJECT;AND ADOPTION OF FINDINGS AND A STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS, MITIGATION MEASURES, AND A MITIGATION MONITORING AND REPORTING PROGRAM CONSISTENT WITH ITS RECOMMENDATION OF THE PROJECT SECTION I: PROJECT DESCRIPTION Application No: EA-2013-03 Applicant: City of Cupertino Location: Citywide SECTION II: ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS WHEREAS pursuant to City Council direction to initiate a project to replenish, reallocate and increase citywide development allocations in order to plan for anticipated future development activity while keeping with the community's character, goals, and objectives, and to consolidate development requests by several property owners for amendments to the General Plan, both under a comprehensive community vision, and WHEREAS, pursuant to State Housing Law, the City Council has directed staff to update the Housing Element of the General Plan and make associated zoning amendments to comply with State Law; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions and requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970 (Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq.) ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines (Title 14, Sections 15000 et seq. of the California Code of Regulations) ("CEQA Guidelines"), the City of Cupertino as lead agency caused the General Plan Amendment, Housing Element Update and Associated Rezoning Final Environmental Impact Report (SCH#20140322007) ("EIR") to be prepared; and WHEREAS, on March 5, 2014, the City issued Notice of Preparation for the EIR for the Project. A scoping session was held on March 11, 2014 to provide the public the opportunity to comment on the topics to be studied in the Draft Environmental Impact Report ("Draft EIR"). Public comments were collected through the scoping period's conclusion on Apri17, 2014; and WHEREAS, from April 8, 2014 to June 17, 2014, the City prepared a Draft EIR pursuant to the requirements of CEQA and the CEQA Guidelines; and Resolution No. 14-OXX EA-2013-03 November 3,2014 Page-2- WHEREAS, the Draft EIR was released for a 45-day public review/comment period beginning on June 18, 2014 and ending August 1, 2014; and WHEREAS, the Notice of Completion of the Draft EIR was sent to the State Clearinghouse in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research on June 18, 2014 under State Clearinghouse No. 2014032007, and the Notice of Availability was filed with the Santa Clara County Clerk- Recorder on the same day and was also: (1) sent to other potentially affected agencies as required by CEQA; (2) sent to adjacent property owners as required by CEQA; and (3) posted at the Project site and at City Hall; and WHEREAS, on June 24, 2014, the City held a duly noticed public meeting during the public comment period on the Draft EIR to allow the public an additional opportunity to provide input on the DEIR and received public testimony; and WHEREAS, following the close of the public review and comment period on the Draft EIR, responses to written comments concerning the adequacy of the DEIR received during the public review and comment period have been prepared and compiled in the Response to Comments Document, which includes revisions to the DEIR("RTC Document"); and WHEREAS, the RTC Document was issued on August 28, 2014 and notice of availability was sent to the Santa Clara County Clerk Recorder's Office, posted at City Hall and the Project site, and sent to 101ocal libraries and interested persons registered through the project website; and WHEREAS, copies of the RTC Document were sent to all public agencies that commented on the Draft EIR; and WHEREAS, the City received comments on the Draft EIR following the close of the public review and comment period ("Late Comments") and, although pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21091(d)(1) and CEQA Guidelines Section 15088(a) written responses are not required, responses to Late Comments have been provided with staff reports; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Cupertino Municipal Code Section 2.86.100, the Housing Commission is authorized to assist the Planning Commission and the City Council in developing housing policies and strategies for implementation of general plan housing element goals; and WHEREAS, the necessary public notices have been given as required by the procedural ordinances of the City of Cupertino and the Government Code, the Housing Element and proposed amendments to the Cupertino Municipal Code pertaining to housing and affordable housing, were presented to the Housing Commission at a public hearing on August 28, 2014; and WHEREAS, on August 28, 2014, the Housing Commission recommended that the City Council authorize staff to forward the Draft Housing Element to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and use the High-Low prioritization of Potential Housing Element Sites; Resolution No. 14-OXX EA-2013-03 November 3,2014 Page-3- WHEREAS, the necessary public notices have been given as required by the procedural ordinances of the City of Cupertino and the Government Code, the Draft EIR, the RTC Document, and all documents incorporated therein were presented to the Planning Commission on September 9, 2014 at a Planning Commission Study Session; and WHEREAS, on October 2, 2014, City Staff presented the Draft EIR and the RTC Document, and all documents incorporated therein, to the Environmental Review Committee ("ERC") for review and recommendation. After considering the documents, and Staff's presentation, the ERC recommended that the City of Cupertino City Council approve the Project; and WHEREAS, Supplemental Text Revisions to the General Plan Amendment, Housing Element Update and Associated Rezoning, which is part of the Final EIR, identifies revisions which are typographical corrections, insignificant modifications, amplifications and clarifications of the Draft EIR and the RTC Document; and WHEREAS, the "Final EIR" consisting of the Draft EIR (published in June 2013), the RTC Document (published in September 2013), and Supplemental Text Revisions and all documents incorporated therein was presented to the City Council on October 7, 2014 at a City Council Study Session; and WHEREAS, the necessary public notices have been given as required by the procedural ordinances of the City of Cupertino and the Government Code, and the Planning Commission held a public hearing on October 14, 2014 and October 20, 2014 to consider the project. NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED: That after careful consideration of maps, facts, exhibits, testimony, staff reports, public comments, other evidence submitted in this matter, and the substantial evidence in the record, the Planning Commission recommends that the City Council: 1. Certify that the Final EIR for the Project has been completed in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq., and reflects the independent judgment and analysis of the City. 2. Adopt Findings and a Statement of Overriding Considerations with regard to the significant effects of the Project as recommended by the Planning Commission on October 20, 2014 for approval by the City Council("Recommended Project"); . 3. Adopt and incorporate into the Recommended Project all of the mitigation measures for the Recommended Project that are within the responsibility and jurisdiction of the City that are identified in the Findings. 4. Adopt the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Recommended Project. Resolution No. 14-OXX EA-2013-03 November 3,2014 Page-4- PASSED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Cupertino the 20st day of October 2014,by the following roll call vote: Vote: Members of the Planning Commission: AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: RECUSE: ATTEST: APPROVED: Aarti Shrivastava Paul Brophy Assistant City Manager Chair,Planning Commission Beth Ebben Subject: FW: Housing Element: Seeking your support From: Paul Brophy<pauldbrophvn,vahoo.com> Date: October 20, 2014 at 7:56:55 AM PDT To: marina food<marinafood2002(�n,yahoo.com> Cc: Winnie Lee <winnieleedds(a�yahoo.com>, Don Sun<book.sun(a�gmail.com>, Margaret Gong <margie o�n�na,icloud.com>, Alan Takahashi <alantcup(a��mail.com>, Aarti Shrivastava <aartis(a�cupertino.org>, Piu Ghosh <piug(cr�,cupertino.org> Subject: Re: Housing Element: Seeking your support Reply-To: Paul Brophy <pauldbroph�(a�yahoo.com> Dear Mr. Huang, I'm forwarding your email to my colleagues and to the Planning Department for their consideration as well. All of us are appreciative of the role that Marina Foods has played in Cupertino. We will take into serious consideration your remarks as well as the comments made at the meeting last Tuesday. Paul Brophy On Sunday, October 19, 2014 7:02 PM, marina food <marinafood2002(c�yahoo.com>wrote: Dear Chair Brophy, I really commend the Planning Commission for engaging the GPA and Housing Element update discussions head on. Listening to last Tuesday's meeting, I can see the difficulty in striking the right balance for the community, and I certainly have respect for your collective abilities to ask the difficult questions and articulate your visions for the city. Having thought more about the Commission's specific questions to us last Tuesday, I wanted to share a few more thoughts about Marina keeping its retail presence strong as well as our preparedness to move forward. • My wife and I started Marina Foods almost 25 years ago in Cupertino and have been grocers ever since.Without question, our desire is to continue serving our customers for the foreseeable future and are looking to our sons as the next generation to continue the family business. • Not only do we intend to bring back all of the existing retail square footage that we currently have on site, our hope is to make the plaza even stronger for the community. We believe that updated buildings, better designed with new amenities such as outdoor seating and walkable pathways can help strengthen the plaza's attractiveness to shoppers.And as the anchor store to the plaza, iYs in our best interest to focus on strengthening (as opposed to diminishing)the entir2 plaza's retail presence. • As Albert Wang had commented last Tuesday, Marina is ready to go.We are excited for the prospect of moving forward and have the architects and other professional consultants on standby. We really believe a revitalization of the crossroads area of Cupertino can be a major win-win for the community and retailers in the Marina plaza. Thank you so much again for your consideration and support.We truly believe that the Marina site is a strong fit for what the City is looking for regarding the Housing Element. As always, please feel free to reach me if I can help in any way. Sincerely, Steve Huang 1