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PC 09-13-77 CC/PC-382 CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014 Telephone: 252-450S MINUTES OF THE JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING HELD IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM, ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1977, CITY" HALL, CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA SALUTE TO THE FLAG Mayor Frolich called the meeting to order at 6:07 p.m. with the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL Councilmen Present: Jackson, Meyers, Nellis, O'Keefe, Mayor Frolich Councilmen Absent: None Commissioners Present: Blaine, Gatto, Markkula, Chairman Koenitzer Commissioners Absent: -Adams Staff Present: City Manager Quinlan; Dir. of Planning and Development, Sisk; Deputy City Clerk, Dorothy Cornelius; Home Rehabilitation Counselor, Nancy Hendee; Assistant Planner, Toby Kramer Also in Attendance: Executive Director for the Mid-Peninsula Citizens for Fair Housing, Kathy Burson Ann Anger, Monta Vista citizen ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED JOBS AND HOUSING: 1. The Santa Clara Valley Corridor Evaluation 2. The Regional Perspective 3. Cupertino's Role Assistant Planner, Toby Kramer reviewed her comprehensive September 8, 1977 staff memo and attachments entitled: Santa Clara Valley Corridor Evaluation , The Regional Perspective, The Executive Summary of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Plan, Goals of the Regional Plan Programs Requiring A-95 Clearinghouse Review, 208 Environmental Management Plan Housing Element State Guidelines, County Housing Task Force, Community Development Block Grant, ABAG Regional Housing Distribution System, 701 Comprehensive Planning Assistance, Federal Highway Administration Local Public Works Employment Act of 1976, Cupertino's Role and Cupertino's General Plan Policy Concerning the 1972 Housing Element, 1974-75 Land Use Element for the Core Area, The Valley Floor Infilling, and the Hillside Plan. MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 13, 1977, JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CC/PC-382 Page 2 She also introduced discussion of the Jackson Diridon self-legislation concerning the gross imbalance between jobs and housing. She noted the difference between ABAG statistics and Cupertino statistics for this area are about 3,000 dwelling units. Cupertino's are more realistic. Councilman Jackson reviewed the problem.He said we need to increase density or decrease jobs or some combination of the two inorder to solve our problem. Perhaps we need to study new concepts in housing. We need to come up with transportation planning, sewage planning, and regional transportation planning. It is going to be di~ficult to get a major grant with the County's in disagreement as to their future plans. Most of the cities will have to give up jobs and take on more housing. The Sierra Club says we should look at the number of dwelling units we want in the County and then fit in the number of jobs. The City Manager said he foresees housing costs going up tremendously and possibly industry moving out of the area unless something is done soon. There will be a tremendous pressure on cities for higher density housing. We must move rapidly on correcting this imbalance between jobs and housing. Mayor Frolich contends that if we watch the trends, some of the problems will take care of themselves. Councilman Jackson is not convinced that the market- place is infallible. Mayor Frolich wonders if the reversal of our policies will solve the real problem. Assistant Planner Kramer said Cupertino can set a major role in the new phil- osophy. We are running out of plans for both housing ßnd industrial. Perhapr ~ should take another look at some of our industrial land to see if these areas could be used to increase our housing stock. The City Manager added that we can also consider lowering the density of industrial. Mayor Frolich commented that our job density per acre is turning out to be higher than anticipated. The land use summary was discussed next. The staff needs direction on the corridor plan and the consolidation plan. What things do we want'to keep what do we want to change. Assumptions are: 1. The slope density in hills. 2. To maintain the Cupertino life style. 3. An integrated, balanced community. Councilman Meyers said we now have 1.3 jobs per dwelling unit. 16 units per acre for housing and 16 units per acre for industrial. The Assistant Planner said another aspect is what kind of jobs and what kind of housing we are contemplating. How do we increase the density and for whom. Councilman Jackson said in regard to increased density of our road patterns will not change significantly before 1990. The timing becomes critical. If we can go to higher density, it will not happen very soon because there is still enough undeveloped land that the workers in this area will want single family homes and will be willing to live in the south county or Santa Cruz County and work here. MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 13, 1977, JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CC/PC-382 Page 3 Mayor Frolich said the populace was.acceptèd in,the present..zoning. Perhaps by changing the policies, we can affect this somewhat. Councilman Meyers noted the R3 Ordinance was changed this year. Other ordinances that can be reviewed, they are the height limitations, setbacks, etc. Mayor Fro1ich said some cities in this county allow 40 unit per acre density. Whereas, our maximum density is 16 units per acre. Councilman Jackson said we have to look at the holding capacity in concert with our life style, also let's look'at our existing roadway. Let's promote a decrease in jobs. Let's promote countywide industrial tax. Planning Commissioner Koenitzer said we can concentrate on the high end rather than the low end of the density range. Councilman Jackson suggested we could have a resolution whereby workers at an industrial site would have first choice of homes built nearby. This was not readily received by the other Councilmen. Chairman Koenitzer would like to continue residential on one side of De Anza Blvd. and industrial on the other. Commissioner Blaine said we need to talk about a variety of housing such as for older people who will not want additional yard work, the energy problem, etc. A study must make adequate provisions for "least cost" housing. Councilperson Nellis said an honest attempt has been made in Cupertino to try to provide a range of housing. The policies of this City say we are receptive to this. She has not seen a practical plan to accomplish this goal. The other side of the coin is the political opinion of the acceptance of high density housing. There was further discussion of the job/housing imbalance. We would have to reduce 900 jobs or 18 acres if we·put 167 units on these 18 acres we will meet the jobs and housing goals. Councilman Meyers believes owner occupied housing is what we are looking at in Cupertino. Mayor Frolich said that in general, our cluster developments have been bad news. Councilman Jackson complimented the staff on its professional approach to the problem at hand. He said Cupertino is well ahead of other cities in the community in its thinking of a regional basis. The City Manager said in our General Plan, we have reduced commercial and increased industrial. We really need to take a look at our industrial and see if we can reduce it. In regard to the Chuck and Torre properties, we should probably hire an economist to study development of that land for higher density, not necessarily in footprint but to consider medium highrise. We need to know if this will be acceptable in the community. If not, what are the tradeoffs. We need to know if there is a market for this type of housing now and if not now, when? We may have to tell the developers we want a mixed bag. Commissioner Markkula said that Cupertino has built a certain life style that appears to be very desirable for its residents. CC/PC-382 Page 4 MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 13, 1977, JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COM}IISSION MEETING Councilman Meyers said that .mathematically speaking, we can reduce the 18 acres industrial to meet the joh quota but we will never be able to meet the housing quota. The City Manager said there will be more workers per household in the future. Councilperson Nellis acknowledged that there is housing problems. Cupertino should consider some adjustment in its' General Plan to help alleviate the problem. The first issue is the core area, and the infilling of the valley floor. We should next look at the conversion of some of the industrial property to housing. We should re- evaluate the intensity of the valley floor core area and encourage development above the minimum allowed dwelling units per acre. Mayor Frolich said housing become less expensive the farther away you get from San Francisco. The south county will always be less expensive than the north and west valley. Councilman Mayers said that we could look at the market place to see what would happen. He is not sure that converting from four to eight units per acre is really going to relieve the housing shortage. We really should evaluate the set-back and height limitation policy in relation to density. The City Manager cautioned that if we don't cut off some of our industrial development right now, this county is heading for real problems. Councilperson Nellis said,.where we have mixed zoning, we might go to straight residential. She is not ready to say we should accept only the maximum density range ,however. There may be parcels that are very suitable for high rise. She is open to such ideas. Something that should be considered is the rental versus the owner occupied housing. The last thing to be considered is economics. Mayor Frolich said he would like to take a serious look at highrise in specified areas. We need to know all the ramifications of this type devel- opment. Chairman Koenitzer said we have all agreed there is a housing problem. This is something the Planning Commission is going to have to wrestle with at the next meeting. The City Manager emphasized that we must decide whether or not we want to continue to try to achieve a balanced community. We must re-evaluate jobs per industrial acre. The transportation and noise element have to be resolved. In regard to the corridor study, we must review market trends versus the commute concept. It was moved by Councilman Meyer and seconded by Councilperson Nellis that the City take another look at the balanced community concept. Motion Carried 4 - 0 Councilman Jackson - Absent Councilperson Nellis noted that she would not be in favor of item 4 as presently worded perhaps we should get ranges and should be more specific. Also, no more mixed zoning. She feels that we need to take a more firm direction so the developer know where they stand. Councilman MeyerS said the staff should study what the total housing needs are in Cupertino. Based on that, we should come up with the desired amount of industrial. Mayor Frolich said it is not necessary to come up with a list with the latest density range. MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 13, 1977, JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CC/PC-382 Page 5 Mr. Mike Meyer, Vice President of BAS Homes. said they would like to know what the City wants. They generally want to do what the Planning Commission and City Council desire~ But they have to have some direction. The issue is not high density versus low density. A sense of privacy and individuality is very important in housing. It is very difficult to build rental units that make sense because construction costs are so high, land is 15% of the total cost by doubling the density you are not substantially decreasing the cost of the unit. It was moved by Councilperson Nellis and seconded by Mayor Frolich to adjourn this meeting at 8:45 P.M. APPROVED: R~t::n ATTEST: , City Clerk