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PC 02-20-75PC-180 CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA Page 1 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014 Telephone 252-4505 PLANNING MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING OF THE ONFERENCE ROOM CTTYiSHAL HELD ON FEBRUARY 202 1975 IN THE LIBRARY CUPERTINO,. CALIFORNIA SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairman Gatto called the meeting; to order at 7 :30 P.m. ROLL CALL Comm. present Adams, O'Keefe, Woodward, Chairman Gatto Comm. absent: Cooper Staff present* Assistant Planner Laurin Assistant Planning Director Cowan Guest S eaker: Mr. Peter Left, University of California, I P Agricultural Extension Service FSanta Clara County PUBLIC HEARINGS 1 CITY OF CUPERTINO: Public Hearing to consider 1973` Comprehensive General Plan. as Hillsides At the beginning of the meeting, some time was••spent reading. the February 20, 1975 staff memo entitled "Discussion Outline for Planning Commission Hillside Study Session - 2-20-75," Mr. Lert said the City.of Palo Alto is currently in litigation regarding down zoning. Mr. Left said his Department has come to consider all orchards in Santa Clara, with the exception of cherries, to not be long term. y good for this area. There is a Apricots would be climaticall demand for dried apricots at reasonable prices, but there .s limited -demand for expensive ones. Walnuts are a losing '?I:aposi- tiona And the prune orchards are done -for in this areas Also, we don't have the water nor the soil on which to put crops- IPC-180 MINUTES OF THE FFBRUARY 20, 1975 PLANNING C01,IMISSION MEETING Page 2 Mr. Lert said there are 2 or 3 commercial grape areas here. The market, however, is questionable dues in part to expansion of grapes in the central valley. In this area the yields are extremely low. ?As to Christmas tree farms, in the Stevens Creek area they have done well. But here we are talking about traffic and parking problems with this ^business where they come and cut dox,m their own trees. The trees do well �on the higher slopes, but there probably is not enough rainfall on the Mower slopes. Mr. Lert said the Seven Springs Ranch can be farmed but there is some question about whether it can be farmed economically. The flower business isn't as rosey as it used to be, due to South American -competition. The. land here isn't good enough for cherries nor for row farming. The best alternate•is some type of ornamentals. Also, it could be a high class, well developed riding development which would preserve open space. This would take about a $250,000 investment. Mr. Lert observed that the St. Joseph's property is really range land. There has been some mention of a golf course there. This would be a good land use. Another good use would be as pasture land. But this wouldn't be economically feasible. Mr. Lert said he doesn't know whether we will have the Williamson Bill much longer. His opinion of hydrophonic gardening is very good for the people who sell the equipment. The economics are very tight. Greenhouse gardening appears to be better. Mr. Lert said most farmers complain about the taxes. It is his opinion that you can't farm prunes successfully here, even without taxes. It is not practical to have livestock here. Cheap labor is not necessarily the answer; it might be better to get more expensive labor and train them well. Labor is not a problem today. Mr. Lert briefly discussed the question of reserve versus preserve. It was Mr. Lert's opinion that a gocd flower operation, with low capital input, could be successful. However, the Puerto Rico and South American markets are putting some stress on this. Imports are the problem. There have been tremendous increases in freight rates. We are spending more money on transportation now than on the crops. He said that about 70% of the County lands presently in the Williamson Act are actually in farming. The purpose of this Act is to preserve the integrity of the area. The original intent was for 100 acre minimum. The majority of this land is in the Mt. Hamilton area. AB-15 (Warren Bill) might put agricultural land under legislation. MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 20, 1975.PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING k& I Page 3 Mr. L.ert said there is a demand for a good quality, indoor place for horses with trainers. There is a waiting list to get into a good quality riding establishment. The question of trails will have to be studied in terms of impact. After Mr. Lert completed his statements, the discussion turned to the exhibits on the bulletin board. The Assistant Planner said there is no problem with the sewer system with the densities we have been discussing. There is .a limitation as to water in that the present system can service up to the 500' level. Above 500` we would need .a pumping system. This capital investment could be made by the City..or perhaps by a developer. As to the road system, the Assistant.Planner said that with the density we are speaking.of, we would not exceed the present system. An educated guess is that we would.reach capacity with our sewers before we do with the roads.' - If we develop Montebello Ridge, leech fields migrating through roc lenses. could be quite a problem. The question was raised as to how much land should be .included in the mineral resources area. It was pretty much established that we would go by ridge lines rather than by property lines. The Alquist—Preola Act concern with fault: zone does not prevent development, but rather establishes geological requirements. It involves an amendment to the USGS maps. The Commissioners asked that somebody from the Water District come to.the next hillside meeting. The Assistant Planner went over the hill area land use maps: 1) Tentatively: adopted slope density formula map. 2) Very low density map. .3) The County Plano Traffic Consultant Goodrich will come to the next Hillside meeting. There was a brief discussion.on roughly what density the Kaiser property and the Church property -can anticipate. Density increase might -be considered in order to achieve some social goal. PC-180 MINUTES Or THE FE13RUARY 20, 1975 PLANNING CO14111ISSION MEIETING Page 4 ' The policy statements relating to density should be ready by March 6th. It was learned that the Church property has a water tank, only 1/4 of which they are using. Comm. Adams wanted to include in future discussions the possible need for alternate routes in the event of clam failure and flood hazard. ADJOURNMENT Moved by Comm. O'Keefe,.seconded by Comm. Woodward to adjourn this meeting at 10:34 p.m. to the next Hillside Study meeting on March 6, 1975, at 7:30 p.m., Motion carried, 4-0 • APPROVED: /s/ John M. Gatto Chairman (ATTEST: /s/ Wm. E. Ryder City Clerk