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PC 03-02-04 Joint CC & GPTF CUPEIQ1NO APPROVED MINUTES CUPERTINO CITY COUNCIL Regular Adjourned Meeting Monday, March 2, 2004 CALL TO ORDER At 3:00 p.m. Mayor James called the meeting to order in the Council Chambers, 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL City Council members present: Mayor Sandra James, Vice-Mayor Patrick Kwok, and Council members Richard Lowenthal, Dolly Sandoval, and Kris Wang. Council members absent: none. Planning Commission members present: Lisa Giefer, Marty Miller, and Vice-Chair Gilbert Wong. Angela Chen arrived at 3:50 p.m. Commissioners absent: Chair Taghi Saadati. Staff present: City Manager David Knapp, Administrative Services Director Carol Atwood, City Attorney Charles Kilian, Community Development Director Steve Piasecki, Parks and Recreation Director Therese Smith, City Planner Cynthia Wordell, Senior Planner Vera Gil, Senior Planner Peter Gilli, and Deputy Clerk Grace Johnson. STUDY SESSION - Council Chambers 1. Joint study session with the Planning Commission to consider recommendations from the General Plan Task Force. General Plan Task Force member Roger Costa gave a PowerPoint presentation titled, "Economic Issues and Task Force Participation Survey." He said that the economic health recommendations included developing a long-term (10 year) sales/use tax revenue plan; applying mixed-use zoning selectively and cautiously; and creating a Director of Economic Development position. He said the specific topical elements of the survey included transition ftom suburban to urban; identity and character of the 'downtown' area; application of mixed-use zoning designations; economic health ofthe City; dwelling unit cap levels; residential densities for new development; affordable housing; impact on schools; building heights for new developments; traffic congestion and levels of service; March 2, 2004 Cupertino City Council Page 2 traffic safety for pedestrians; bicyclists and motor vehicles; environmental preservation and sustainability; health and safety; and parks and recreation. General Plan Task Force member Rod Brown gave a PowerPoint presentation highlighting a minority report ftom the members of the Task Force. He discussed problems with land use, community design, and housing recommendations. The following individuals spoke. Kathy Stakey said that many task force members thought they had already given their input and didn't vote, so Council should not assume there was lack of interest on some topics. She also said that some task force members wanted to sign the Minority Report, but felt that if they did, they would be going against the work that the task force had done. David Greenstein distributed recommendations from the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission. Roberta Hollimon said that she didn't think that all of the work the Task Force did would be in vane if the Council decided to use the staff draft General Plan. She said that the General Plan should be looked at as a whole with the understanding that all of the elements affect each other. She said that the City should not limit heights or density. Dennis Whittaker said that he was concerned that Council may give too much credence to the Minority Report because the members who signed didn't participate in all of the meetings and hear other's opinions. He also said that the City should not put mixed-uses in viable shopping centers. Jaclyn Fabre, Executive Director of Cupertino Community Services distributed an article titled, "Housing Crisis Report Card." She encouraged Council to support policies that help community members and seniors to acquire affordable housing. Joanne Tong said that the Council carefully selected task force members from a wide cross-section of Cupertino, so the two-thirds consensus vote on the topics should be regarded as representative of Cupertino, rather than the minority report. Poncho Guevara, County Collaborative on Affordable Housing and Homeless issues, and Emergency Housing Consortium, distributed a booklet titled, "Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Affordable Housing." He said that he supported the Minority Report recommendations. Nina Daruwalla said that it was not clearly defined where the downtown area is to be created (City Planner Ciddy Wordell clarified that there is reference to the Crossroads area when speaking of downtown). She said that the City must work with the schools and should not say in the General Plan that it doesn't take any responsibility for them. March 2, 2004 Cupertino City Council Page 3 Jody Hansen, CEO Cupertino Chamber of Commerce distributed a letter to the Council dated 2/27/04. She said that the existing 1993 General Plan (Administrative draft) is a better model because it offers more flexibility in building heights and density. She said she supported the Minority Report because it reinstates housing in the Vallco district. Shishir Mukhetjee said that the Minority Report is based on the idea that growth will stop if height and density are restricted; growth will actually be controlled instead. He said he accepts the Task Force recommendations. EJ. Conens said to ignore the Minority Report and support the Task Force recommendation. Jeff Dennison ftom the Tri-County Apartment Association said that he supports the Administrative Draft and density along corridors. He said that developers want to create taller buildings because it costs more in material once the building goes above three stories and they want to get the most for their money. Kathy Robinson said that the Minority Report signers worked just as hard and went with their consciences. She said she supports the Administrative Draft, but flexibility is needed to increase floor area ratio when necessary and the City must have the ability to convert commercial land to residential. She said both policies were removed by the Task Force recommendation. Frank Yap said that the Minority Report was mentioned as an option at the beginning of the summer. Lyn Faust said she wasn't a member of the Task Force and thanked the members for their work. Shawna Holmes said that credence should be given to all the points of view. Sandoval asked staff to conduct another Godby Survey before any General Plan decision is made. She also asked for clarification regarding Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) requirements for housing, and a sampling of height and density around the City. She said she wanted to have community meetings spread throughout the City. Kwok said that differing opinions are healthy. He suggested using the Task Force recommendations as a framework and then adding the recommendations ftom the Minority Report and staff. He said he likes the mixed-use concept, but it should be used discreetly. He said he supports affordable housing, but the City needs the flexibility to increase density, height, and set-backs. He said that retail, especially Vallco, is vital to Cupertino's economy and he would like the City to provide flexibility to promote that project. Wang said that all opinions are important. She said that it was important to look at school enrollment impact and traffic around schools when considering development. She said March 2, 2004 Cupertino City Council Page 4 she would like Council to come up with the most workable plan for the City to increase economic development. Lowenthal said that none of the points that had been made would be ignored. He said he agreed it would be wise to use the Task Force recommendations as a framework and then add recommendations to make Cupertino more productive economically. He said that it was important to keep the character of the city and wanted to see change happen slowly. He said that school quality is important, but the City also needs affordable housing and compromise is required. He asked if some areas that were more crowded than others would impact schools too much by adding more housing. He said that the City must be flexible when working with retail owners to make sure that they have a reasonable deal and can make their development viable. He said that it was important to reconcile the statistical community survey with the Task Force recommendations regarding a downtown and walkability. He said that the new TraVigne development would be a good test of viability for mixed-use. James said that it wasn't the case of a minority report vs. a majority report, but that everyone's opinion is important. She said there would never be 100% agreement in a large population. She asked staff to bring back pictures and statistics of densities around Cupertino. She agreed that it would be best to use the Task Force recommendations and then to add the Minority Report recommendations. James mentioned that the Cupertino Community Congress would be March 27 ftom 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Cupertino Senior Center. ADJOURNMENT At 6:27 p.m. the meeting was continued to Monday, March 15 at 5:00 p.m. ~ Grace Johnson, Deputy City Clerk For more information: Staff reports, backup materials, and items distributed at the meeting are available for review at the City Clerk's Office, 777-3223, and also on the Internet at www.cupertino.org. Click on Agendas & Minutes/ City Councill Packets. Most Council meetings are shown live on Cable Channel 26, and are available at your convenience from our web site. Visit www.cupertino.org and click on Watch Meetings. Videotapes are available at the Cupertino Library, or may be purchased from the Cupertino City Channel,777-2364.