Heart of the City Setback and Number of Trees Being Removed in West Port desk item.msg1
Beth Ebben
From:Jennifer Griffin <grenna5000@yahoo.com>
Sent:Tuesday, May 12, 2020 1:45 PM
To:City of Cupertino Planning Commission; City Clerk
Cc:City Council; grenna5000@yahoo.com
Subject:Heart of the City Setback and Number of Trees Being Removed in West Port
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Dear Planning Commission,
Could you please have the proposed setback along Stevens Creek Blvd. of
the West Port project be discussed at the Planning Commission meeting. How
many feet are they asking for the deviation from the Heart of the City? There should
be a ful 35 foot setback in the frontage along Stevens Creek Blvd. This is the western
entrance and there should be no reduction in the 35 foot setback.
How many trees are being removed? There are mature oaks on this site and it
looks like from the plans that all the trees are being removed. This site is named The
Oaks and has many oak trees as well as replanted oak trees. Why are we removing the
oak trees and are the buildings being placed so close to the existing trees that
the trees will not continue to be able to grow withing conflicting with the buildings?
The height of the project is very tall. Are there any second story or upper story
setbacks building setbacks along Stevens Creek Blvd? That is why we have Heart of the City so that everything along the
frontage of Stevens Creek Blvd. does not appear as a giant vertical wall.
Is this project taking away the parking on Mary Avenue adjacent to The Oaks/West Port.
This on-street parking is used by the Senior Center and the people going to Memorial
Park. Every project in the past 15 years (and there have been at least ten) on this
shopping center site has tried to take the on-street parking away. The on-street parking
should not be given away with this project. All the traffic on this site should be parked on
the site.
This site has very little retail. Why are we getting rid of retail on this site? If you have
more housing, you need more retail. Ther eis only 2,000 square feet of retail proposed.
How much retail are we getting rid of? Remember we have shoppers from Los
Altos and De Anza College and people who come down 85 and 280 to shop from
other cities.
This is one of the reasons that Capitola Shopping Center in Capitola is retaining retail
in their mall. The city of Capitola realizes that their mall is one of the only shopping
centers for 15 miles north and south. Their mall is a destination area for peoplw
who need to shop.
The Oaks/West Port is a shopping area for Western Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunnyvale
and parts of Santa Clara and West San Jose. There is also a large population of
apartment dwellers as well as homeowners who live adjacent to the shopping center.
It is hoped that these questions can be addressed at the Planning Commission
teleconference.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
2
Jennifer Griffin