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PC 09-29-80 CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, Ca. 95014 Telephone: (408) 252-4505 PC-34l Page 1 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CALL TO ORDER/SALUTE TO THE FLAG 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioner Adams Commissioner Blaine Commissioner Claudy Commissioner Johnson Chairman Koenitzer APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The approval of the Minutes of the Regular Planning Commission Xeeting of August,ll, 1980 was deferred, as there were several errors and a need for review. SECOND: VOTE: Com. Adams for the Minutes to be reviewed by staE one more time before being presented for the Commission's approval. Corn. Blaine Passed 4-1 MOTION: Com. Claudy abstaining, since he was not present at the Meeting. The Minutes of the Adjourned Regular Meeting of September 8, 1980 were approved after the following corrections: Page 2, second line of second paragraph was to read lithe t~ird developme t planll, rather thanllthe third developed plan". In the same paragraph, third from last line "opaque manageable window style" was to read "opaque manué!l windows with limited openÜlg". Page 2, third paragraph from the bottom, last line, was to read "project had impacts which were not included in the General Plan assessment". Page 8, near the top, "the motion to close the Public Hearing was made b Commissioner Johnson ånd seconded by Commissioner Adams. Commissioner Blaine recommended a negative declaration, seconded by Commssioner Adams ßoth motions were passed, 4-0, and then the motion for approval of 23-U- O. Page 8, first line of last paragraph should read 2,500 square feet, rath r than 5,500 square feet. Page 9, last line, item 7 should read "withdrawn at the request of the applicant", rather than "continued at the request of the applicant". MOTION: SECOND: VOTE: Com. Blaine that the Minutes of September 8 be approved as corr cted. Com. Adams Passed 4-1 Com. Claudy abstaining, since he was not present at the Meeting. 2C-34l Page 2 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING, CO,rurrSSION MEETING POSTPONE,ŒNTS/NEW AGENDA ITEMS WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS ORAL COMMUNICATIONS CHR. KOENITZER explained that because of some confusion at the end of the last Mee.ting (PC-340) Mr. Snyder of Clearlake Development Corporation was cut off before the adjournement, so before starting the Public Hearing on the General Plan, Mr. Snyder would speak, and the letter submitted by him at that time would be reviewed. PUBLIC HEARING ITEM #1, Application l-CPA-80 of CITY OF CUPERTINO: PUBLIC HEARING to consider various amendments to the City of Cupertino General Plan including, but not limited to (1) Land use changes for a number of individual properties located throughout. the community; (2) An evaluation of alternative land use types and development intensities for property located along Homestead Road, De Anza Boulevard, and Stevens Creek Boulevard; (3) A refinement of the City Circulation Plan including a plan to provide long-term financing of major transportation imporvements. First Hearing continued. Tentative City Council Hearing date - November 3, 1980. CHR: KOENITZER stated that a start would be made with Mr. Snyder's request under item (2) alternative land uses, above. He called for the Staff Report, Planning Director James Sisk said the property comprised of roughly 1,8 acres on the northerly side of Stevens Creek Boulevard, easterly of Randy Lane, and presently had a General Plan of 20 dwellings per acre. An application had been filed for 42 units residential, and the Commission had recommended to the City Council that the density not exceed 15 dwellings per acre and denial of the Use Permit. City Council had therefore zoned as planned development with a density of 10/15 dwellings per acre. Mr. Snyder at the City Council Meeting had brought up the issue of possible commercial land use on the property, and he, James Sisk, had erroneously advized the City Council that the property had a residential or cornrnerci~l option, which it did not. He suspected Mr. Snyder was here tonight to discuss the possibilities of allowing the property to have a commercial, as well as a residential, land use. There were three or four properties in this area of Stevens Creek Boulevard which had been the subjects of discussions on this same issue. To date, the Commission had been consistent, maintaining the present position. Mr. Pepper Snyder of Clearlake Development Company said that before the property had been purchased, he had contacted staff. The had said that the General Plan was 10120 units per acre, plus a BMR* program. From here he had left with 15 plus a BMR* to go to City Council, and had ended up with 15 units, total. With the setbacks on Stevens Creek and rear yard privacy, residential did not now make sense to them. Clear lake had met *BMR - Below Market Rate Housing MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING PC-341 Page 3 with some of the neighbors, and they were very positive ahout going commercial, so for Clearlake to get a project to go forth, he was asking for a commercial office option on the General Plan. COM. ADAMS wondered how many square feet were involved. Mr. Snyder said roughly 28,000, which would cOVer one-third of the lot. Planning Director James Sisk advised the Commission that the question was whether they wanted to consider an amendment to the General Plan to let this property proceed to the Environmental Review Committee and then the City Council, or should the property be held and be part of the discussions underway right now. COM, ADAMS asked the designation of the property before it was made residential. Planning Director Sisk advized that before 1976 all properties along Stevens Creek Boulevard had had the option of commercial or residential. At that time, property easterly of Vista was re-designated to residential only. He identified land use on both sides of the street on a map. COM. BLAINE had a query on a property that had come in a couple of weeks ago. Planning Director Sisk said a prpperty similar to }!r. Snyder's had been zoned as planned development 10/15 units to, the acre. There had been no approval of a Use Permit or the actual plan for the development. COM, BLAINE queried the ownership of a parcel behind the ThrÍft business and adjoining offices, and also what had happened at the corner where there was a vacant furnîture store. Planning Director Sisk answered that all three parcels were owned by different people, and that the owners of the frontage also owned the rear. Nothing was happening on the vacant building. COM. ADAMS thought that if the commercial space in the city was allowed to increase to any great degree some of the older commercial sites would be left vacant. Pressure was on for more residential. COM, JOHNSON asked about the options available to the Commission. Planning Director Sisk advised that one oþtion was to continue with the property as part of the overall General Plan amendment consideration, thereby doing nothing tonight; another option was to make a determina- tion whether it should have the cb6ice of residential or commercial, sending it on to the Environmental Review Committee and then the City Council for final action. The options were discussed, and Planning Director Sisk asked that it be borne in mind that there were four, five altogether, properties of a similar nature. PC-341 Page 4 MINUTES SEPTE~ffiER :9, 1930 RECULAR PLANNING COMMlSSION MEETING COM. CLAUDY observed that the five properties mentioned repeatedly came up at Planning Commission :!eetings. 1.8 acres was not a large enough site by !tself to develcp ia a coherent manner. If the five developed at one time, it woul¿ probably be better, but the density problem would still come up. Developers felt that if they had to build fewer residential they had to build bigger, but he did not believe that. They could still make a crofit building units of 1,000 square feet instead of 2,200 square feè:. There was a large parcel of 130d in the Town Center, at the corner of the Cali Mill property, that hdd been ¿esignated for a certain density of office space, and the developers were saying that it was uneconomical to build at the density required" People along Stevens Creek wanted to convert to office space, so perhaps the entire Town Center should be residential. There was talk about putting in 400 units near Torre, and maybe the time had corne to examine whether all or a greater portion of the Town Center should not be put iL1to residential mode. It was convenient to shopping and. thing.:ò .':<lere imprO\Ting. Then maybe all of Stevens Creek should.be put back to commerc.~al or office. Alf Madine, Prune Tree Lane, t:id been fighting for commercial development along Stevens Cr2ek, he said. The City had sought to modify the commercial use and break it up, because the planners, not the people, wanted to avoid strict commercial. The community did not want to see the whole area impacted with housing. "There were no vacant office buildings, only a vacant furniture store. Nobody had come up with any statistics on vacant office space, and he recommended that this be Bonsidered as office space. Carl Tuchi, owner of the vacant store and also the auction room, said he was at the Meeting to expressly endorse Mr. Snyder's request for a change in the Plan. He was presently planning a massive renovation of his buil- ding to be more attractive for r~nters. He had talked to neighborhood groups about Mr. Snyder's plan aLd they heartily endorsed it. COM. BLAINE said that one thought '.vhe.n making the area residential had been the concern of keeping office and commer~ial ~ses for the Town Center. Com. Claudy had r:3.ise.d 1. ver:' ~'alid point, and Town Center would have to be looked at if the designation of the site was to be changed. If this parcel only was changed, the parcels adjacent would have difficulty in developing residentially, so she would like to see the three owners come up with something together. COM. JOHNSON wondered if this wo~ld drastically alter the concept of tne Town Cent2r, since this par~i~uldr project included 28,000 square feet of office, qnd the ether twc ?2Yc~ls would also have a minimum amount. COM CLAUDY est~blish2d cbat tl~ five parcels together would be approxi- ma:::2.1y 90,OJO s'luare teet, aboc:: hdl£ the office space allowed for in Towu. Center. COM. ADAMS saici it should also be considered that the corner of Portal and Stevens Creek had be<:ome a v:'.2bl.¿ reduceà residential area. COM. BLAINE'S feeling was that ~efore ~aking this ~ind of a change, the Commissi'JTI had ÌJe':ter see '.<lheche::- (he study done by consultants a few years ~IINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION ~ŒETING A PC-34l Page 5 back was still valid, as to how much commercial and office space could be absorbed in the City. She was willing to go into it. COM, ADAMS wondered whether the consultants' report was used in the development of certain portions of Vallco at that time. Planning Director Sisk advised that it haà been strictly for Town Center and had only been done a couple of years ago. COM. ADAMS observed that Public Works Director Viskovitch had pointed out that the restrictions put on ValleD should be reassessed, since things had changed so much, and Com. Claudy's point waS well taken. Maybe Town Center now required a reassessment. COM. BLAINE felt that the whole subject should be re-opened; she made that recommendation because the Commission was up against the same things every time. Mr. Snyder said he preferred a decision tonight, and did not think it fair that they had purchased a piece of property with 10/20 units per acre, plus BMR* and be given just 15 units, minus BMR*. They would have a significant ly different land use than the Portal site adjoining. CRR. KOENITZER clarified that the Commission had spent several months hearing from all parties, and had finally decided on the density range. However, the Council had said that a density range of 10/15 was better than the 10/20 suggested by the Commission. He agreed that Town Center would have to be looked at if everything was going to be studied again. Town Center would probably be studied as part of the traffic studies, etc., so until all had been studied he was not prepared to support changes to anyone particular parcel. COM. JOHNSON wanted to know the amount of time involved. CHR. KOENITZER said it would be a matter of months, 3 or 4 months being spent in the past on the same matter. COM. BLAINE recalling the discussion of the BMR* program, said one of the things to be done to ease problems for developers was to give a density bonus for the BMRs*. It seemed that what had been happening was that the developer had had to absorb the BMRs* into the development without a bonus. If the density was 10/15, the BMR* should be in addition to the 15. COM. CLAUDY said the argument could be made that the density waS being allowed at 15, but the acceptable density was only 13.5 without the bonus and 15 with. He was for density value, and not density range, then there would be no argument on numbers. CHR. KOENITZER observed that no developer had come in for the maximum and then wanted another 20% on top for the BMR* units, so it was difficult to determine if they were getting the bonus. Planning Director Sisk said that this particular project had done that. It had come in at 22 per acre originally, and had settled down at 15, period. On being asked by Com. Blaine if this figure included the bonus, he said * BMR - Below Market Rate Housing PC-341 Page 6 ~HNUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETl0lG this seemed to be an issue not resolved. listened to the Council tapes, and he had Councilmen, and the general impression was including BMRs*, about 12.5 or 13 without, Both he and Mr. Snyder had talked to a couple of the that the Council had said 15 Mr. Snyder commented that he had not really approachep any of the discussions in terms of considering the BMR* in addition. CHR. KOENITZER felt that from the discussions on the BMR* progr3ffi, the int2Qt was to give developers an actual bonus over a maximum allowed on the pa:.cet. It seemed that the Commission owed Mr. Snyder a recommendation to the Co~~cll to either support or not support the change in zoning. Planning Director Sisk repeated that the issue was whether to keep the property in or leave it out. MOTION: Com. Blaine,that it be recommended to the City Council that this parcel remain ic the General Plan Hearing and not be separated out at this time. Com. Claudy Passed 4-~ SECOND: VOTE: CRR: KOENITZER called upon Staff for their further report on the transport- ation element of the General Plan Amendment. Public Works Director Viskovitch said the Commission had continued the matter to be able to have an open discussion at the Meeting on the trans- portation element. He quickly summarized the phase I, II and II Reports, where the study had come from, and how the zones had been established (see Minutes, PC-340). From the information in the study, staff had started co check some of the work from the model. He explained how this had been done (see Minutes, PC-340). The zone had then been divided into smaller pieces and the influences of traffic within a zone without 280 in it were studied. Freeway 280 was a big influence as far as the commute, and the model indicated that the zone with 280 had roughly 30% commute trips. It was important to define the commute trips in the city study, bec3us2 some ::-esidents in the ~telling area had aIsc 1Jnd~rtaken studies. lrtste.s.d of "commute" staff had used IIthrough" to signify that an individual had originated and terminated outside our zone. It had no bearing as far as a generation or attraction into our zone. All other trips were either attracted or generated or were trips within our zone that we had respons- ibility for. When staff figures of the total picture came out to 20% as "throughll that was the genuine '¡through" trip that started and ended out- side the zone. When staff defined 80ì~ a:::i ¡':Jur" trips, it was ~ot just our residents, but the trips \,,-e ':Jere r~sp()ns~~:)le [0:- such .:1S De Anza College, commercial, jol:';, anJ mi..':ed ~~ips dur::"ng the pe::k 'lOur3. ":'r.'~ boundaries were also irnporto.nt, ~)eca',2se t':1ere r;ught be other studies in the future that would establish different boundaries. The staff report boundary i..'l zone lOB was S~S7E:nS Creek, Lawrence Expres::~,,¡ay and '?rospect. which was including a good poccion 0: San Jose residents for traffic purposes because it was necessary. ?olitical subdivisions made it difficult to make a dividing line between the C',)r.1mutE:r and nan-commuter. Traf£:"c zones and the roadways that served certain areas had to be studied, and then the fact had to be accepted that there ~ere some roads in our City that had to be used by San Jose residents to get home, wnereas Saratoga or Los Catas r2sider.ts might have 0therJ~tions. * BXR - ß'?-, ,.'," ~.farL-e[ P.2tC ~Jl}U,_~:':::Z MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING PC-341 Page 7 This led him to the transportation plan submitted to the Commission at the last Meeting. The plan not only had the Highway 85 issue, but the Town Center, Vallco Park, 16-trip constraint, and De Anza college issues as well. The 85 issue might have been blown out of proportion in the newspapers because of the use of the word "abandonment". Abandonment had been interpreted as giving up a road of any kind in the corridor. He stated emphatically that this was not the case, and all plans had a roadway in the corridor. The only reason that staff had co~e up with an alternative, or contingency, plan was that if the freeway was not to be built from Stevens Creek to Highway 101, then Cupertino had to react to solve its immediate problems. Phase II had expressed factors why 85 mig t not be extended, and what Cupertino would have to do to take care of resi nts. With the information at hand, the real use of the corridor had to be determined. There were some steps to be taken to protect from over- building and attracting more traffic, if other areas in the county became congested. The-måin thing right now was to decide the proper action the City should take for the corridor. Staff felt a two-lane roadway was sufficient to take the commute/through traffic, and revert Stelling to a residential street. The alternatives were several and all options had not been dealt with. Some of the information received from residents, to be presented tonight, indicated the same thing, that there was a need for a roadway in the corridor. How big it should be was something to be focused on. Stelling Road today was carrying, say, 1400 vehicles as a two-lane roadway, and without the four-way stop signs it had carried them rather well. If half, 700, vehicles were taken off, should a four-lane roadway be built to carry them, when a two-lane had been carrying 1400 rather well? Probably not, based on an economic and benefit/cost ratio. Technical factors had been expressed in the report,i. ., certain demands, where the demands in the future would be, showing that the corridor would only increase by 14%. So that whatever number was arrived at as being the right number, adding 14% to it would not justify a large roadway in the corridor. There were many things to be investigated, and if there were ways to acqu re the road~ay and generate the funds, then protecting the corridor, or having it for open space, would probably be the wish of the community. But the worst case was being outlined. If all th:~e things failed, maybe abandonment would be the only way to get something built tomorrow and not ten or fifteen years from now. "Abandonment" was a legal word describing what the State had to go through for the property to change hands, so that others could construct the roadway at no cost to the City. If Cupertino built the roadway today and spent four million dollars of City funds, there was still no way of precluding the State from abandonin it in the future, unless the remaining portion was bought. The State would be lacking seven hundred million dollars in the next few years for projects already programmed, and 85 was not even in the program. The light-rail program should be highly discouraged, he felt, unless it went to the industrial nodes of Mountain View, Palo Alto, etc., and caul carry traffic through to those areas. Cupertino did not need it ending here, in addition to a freeway already ending here. PC-341 Page 8 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING CO~~ISSION ¡illETING To leave the 85 issue, the De Anza Boulevard issue had to be contended with, in that an alternate route must be made more attractive, so that De Anza must be made to flow better to make it so. The two lanes on 280 was a very important State project for the City. This project could encourage traffic to stay on 280 to De Anza Boulevard, and with a good interconnect and good flow, it could make De Anza Bou.levard a heavy carrier. It could be more efficient than the freeway if there wer~ no side trips occurring. The grade separation was a very important factor, and a scale model was bei~g prepared to illustrate it, how it affected the adjoining properties and how it would make De Anza Boulevard flow better, with the traffic signal interconnect. To divorce De Anza Boulevard from Stevens Creek Boulevard was important, as without the grade separation there might be ten lanes on each approach, or forty lanes around the intersection, which the community probably would not want. The next area of major reVlSlon was Valleo Park, and since the previous study, in 1973, many things had changerl T~e roads around it were not at capacity, and could to be used more. Flex time and staggering of hours were Some of the trends that had occurred, and there were other ways to solve traffic problems now, not just building asphalt,so Vallco coulJ d~velop further. What could be done in our City to benefit the entire community? Things needing to be examined were changes in attitude, philosophy, land use in the county and city, where housing and industry was locating, where congestion would occur in the future, with regard to the county and the city. An 85 extension with six lanes might not have any effect on VallcD Park or the Town Center build-out, and might not have much demand on it. A grade separation or undercrossing could assist De Anza Boulevard, but might not benefit Vallco, or im~rovernents in Vallco might not relate to Seven Springs. These things needed to be put into perspective to see where money should be spent for most return in benefit/cost ratio. The t~anspor- tation element was somewhat complete. in terms of modelling and future pro- jection, and our traffic was understood. Mr. Viskovitch said that if he had predicted in 1973 that there ',vauld be. no increase in traffic in 1980 he would not have been believed, but it had been seen that things like that did occur. The most hopeful thing In 1980 was that our City be planned on and use and character and impact decisions, rather than solely on traffic, as in 1973. Now it was just a matter of what improvements for what type at land use, and a matter of getting into Some of the alternatives. Alf Modine of Ranòy Lane, said he felt that if there was a viable way to get to Highway 9, other than Stevens Creek or De Anza Boulevard,people would take it. He thought some of the public land in the corridor should be Jold for development and the money gair:.,~d used to build an expressway. The burcien then would not be put on a developer Jr the people of Cupertino. CHR. KOENITZER thanked Mr. Mcdine, and said he believed that Commission was not going to adopt .In?thi.ng specific tcnight. plan referred to one of the options that could be studied in in general the Mr. ~~od l:1e I ,; detail later. Barbara Koppel, Folkestone Drive spoke on behalf of a group of citizens concerned with the extension of 85 as a roadway and greenbelt. They had not been convinced by Mr. ViskovicHs traffic study, and had done their own survey. MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING PC-341 Page 9 They felt their data supported the position that Cupertino needed the road to be extended. The most recent survey was on September 23, at each of the key intersection on the map given to the Commissioners. They had monitored licence plate numbers of entering and exiting auto- mobiles to establish the number of vehicles passing through the area. The data was fed into an Adex computer system, donated by Mr. Chuck Cantoni, who was here to explain the results. Chuck Cantoni of Cupertino distributed copies of the study to the Commissioners. He explained briefly their method and object in doing the study, as follows. Licence plates were recorded to determine the traffic pattern through Cupertino. The traffic from 85 was of specific interest, as it dispersed going right on Bubb Road or left on Stevens Creek and down Stelling. The object was to try to determine what percentage was through traffic. To do this, the traffic that entered on Bubb at Stevens creek and the traffic that went east on Stevens Creek and right on Stelling was monitored. They had ignored other traffi as they were only interested in the 85 traffic. To monitor the output, they had had three locations, at McClellan Road onto De Anza, Rainbow onto De Anza, and Stelling as it joined Prospect. The data had been recorded from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at input points, and 4:40 tci 6:40 p,m.at the output points. The technique was to record all licence plates that had six characters, though all vehicles had been\'oounted. They had been interviewed by the Peninsula Times Tribune by telephone regarding the survey, when they had done only 35 to 40% of the data base, It had now been completed, and there had been a slight change. Of the traffic entering Bubb, 1475 vehicles in the two-hour period, 32% had been classified as through-commuters, 10% going down McClellan, 2% Rainbo and 20% Prospect. Of the traffic entering Stelling from 85, 1476 vehicle in the two-hour priod, 44% seemed to be through-commuters. From 85, roughly half w~nt east and half west, and about 38% were going through the community. Two other check points were shown on the results. People had been stationed at Kennedy Junior High School where 1004 vehicles had pa~sed in that period, of which 16% were detected to have exited from Rainbow and Prospect. Also, to get an overall feeling for the Stelling traffic, they had stationed people just before Rainbow going south. 1400 cars had passed during that time, and 43% had exited the community. , These were the results: they had done cross-checks for validity, and the error was less than 2%. He felt that a couple of points should be noted. The Bubb Road traffic commute did not look too bad, only because it had shifted over to Santa Teresa, the path of least resistance. Also, much of the Stelling traffic had been dispersed because of the stop signs. The data said that the corridor should probably be used for some type of expressway, two-lane road, etc. The survey showed a lot of traffic going through the community, about 2900 cars during that period discharging from 85, with 1100 commuters-through. When a road was put in, traffic would be created on it, but that was the purpose of it, to carry traffic through and keep it out of residential areas. He drew special attention to the area past Kennedy Junior High with many schoolchildren and the Regnart school crossing. PC-34l Page 10 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CHR: KOENITZER in comparing the staff and citizens' studies, said that if the same parameters were used, the numbers were virtually the same. He appreciated the work done, and advized Public Works Director Viskovitch to use the group's figures to help in the traffic studies. Mr. Cantoni stated that their study had concentrated on 85 through a certain part of the community, because 85 was extremely important to the people in that subcommunity. On being asked to give more details of methods employed, he described taking the six-digit plates only, the commercial plates being too long, and putting them in the computer data base. 70% of the total had been counted by hand-counters, and the plates were mainly recorded by tape. COM. JOHNSON wondered whether, by ignoring the commercial, the commuter figures had been distorted. COM, CLAUDY thought this was probably not so, since people, himself included, tended· to use their pick-up trucks for commuting. COM, BLAINE commended the group for their time and effort expended. They had shown that something waS needed in the corridor, and at the same time had validated staff figures. COM. CLADDY observed that an extension of 85 would not help McClellan, because of traffic exiting at Bubb and Stelling. 85 would pick up only those exiting at Prospect and Rainbow, so that 25% would þe picked up and the rest would still be filtering through the neighborhoods. Public Works Director Viskovitch stated that a two or four lane road with stop lights and exits at Mc Clellan and Stelling would probably do more to alleviate the through traffic ~han a freeway. COM. CLAUDY thought it would also pick up the internal traffic and remove it from Stelling Road, COM. JOHNSON called upon Public Works Di"ector Viskovitch to give a b"ief summary of what he felt the numbers showed. Mr. Viskovitch said he had come to the conclusion that there was a fairly large percentage of through commute traffic. He did not think the numbers overstated the commute, and felt the corridor would alleviate much local traffic through the community with a better quality of life and a lot more safety for the school-children in the area. COM. ADAMS asked Mr. Viskovitch if an expressway-type "oad was proposed, wüuk he suggest other exits or entrances, apart from at either end? The staff traffic count showed roughly 70% of local traffic using Stelling and Bubb, so that if it were to have a couple of other entrances and exits, it would help local traffic, besides dealing with the 30% through traffic. CHR. KOENITZER observed that whatever was built would have intersections at Stelling and McClellan, and some kind of corner at Rainbow and De Anza, so would therefore have exits for local traffic. MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING PC-341 Page 11 Mr. Viskovitch agreed. He mentioned some differences in staff's and the residents' reports, in that the boundaries were different and that De Anza College had not been in session when the residents did their report. This made the figures seem different, but he felt the studies coincided. Though the staff study was a general one, the residents' study was in detail, and could be used in future studies for master planning for the corridor and St~lling Road. Mr. Cantoni agreed that to try to compare the studies or match the conditions was not their intent, He felt that because they had looked at traffic coming from the north on 85 and at 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., it would not have made a difference if De Anza College had been in sessi n. He also specially noted that where Stelling entered Prospect, the total number of cars in the two-hour period was 1800. Ralph Courtney of Cupertino said he doubted that it would be possible to both build in the corridor and put a street through. From his experience in land surveying, 100 feet would be relatively narrow to put in the type of road being discussed, and 50 feet left on either side would not be enough to build on. He was anxious that the continuation of 85 be built to take the traffic from the proposed Seven Springs Ranch development also. He favored four lanes with green-belt, at grade with an exit/entry at McClellan and Stelling and at Rainbow and Highway 9. COM. CLADDY wanted to know Mr. Courtney's thoughts on the funding of the project. Mr. Courtney said he was just bringing up his objections to proposals which had sounded unreasonable to him, and had no proposals for funding. Frank Mulkern, Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, Sunnyvale, resident, said that staff's contingency plan for the corridor would accentuate the ttaffic problems on local streets by adding 43 more acres of housing. He was not sure he agreed with staff's methodology of developing their statistics, and people in the San Jose zip 95129 were as much a part of the through traffic as Saratoga. Mr. Viskovitch clarified that staff was not advocating development, but if it had to occur, it was a way of financing the roadway. They were advocating a two-lane roadway, and were just giving a contingency plan for the worst case. COM. JOHNSON wondered if there was any concept of how development would be achieved. Mr. Viskov~tch said that detailed designing had not been looked at. It would corne later in the Master Plan of the corridor. Juanita McClaren, 24-year Cupertino resident and Chairman of the Board ofCCupertino Chamber of Commerce gave Cow.Claudy a copy of the package she had sent to President Carter, as Com.Claudy had not been there at the last Meeting when she had given copies to the other Commissioners. She had now had a reply, from Mrs.Carter's corresondence secretary, that the material had been turned over to PC-341 Page 12 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLfu~NING COMMISSION MEETING the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She gave Chairman Koenitzer a copy of the 1etter,She felt that to have developers put in the corridor would make it a piecemeal development, hard to control. Mr. Viskovitch commented on the evacuation plan, that 85 did not qualify, as it was not an interstate, and therefore funding from the federal govern- ment would be very hard to get. Maurice O'Shay, Clay Street, Cupertino, invited the Commission to put the staff study aside so that he could build a counter-argument. The origin of a lot of traffic was in the Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto areas, funnelling down to Stelling, Highway 9 and Wolfe Road. The key to the High- way 9 approach for the traffic was to merge it all onto 280 to get it there. Another segment of traffic originated in the Marriott area, taking circuitous routes to engage Lawrence Expressway south to get home. This traffic might be magneted to Highway 9 if it were improved, degrading the commute for the first segment mentioned. His way of looking at this was "the value of what for whom?" Taking Mr. Viskovitch's three traffic ingredients, the in/out commute, the school commute and the commercial commute, the in/out commuter had the highest time penalty, and the proposal for Highway 9 was not going to help them; further, the 280 penalty would hinder them. Regarding the school commute, he felt two arguments could be made, depending which set of schools on which highway were involved. He was unaware of any intolerable commercial commutes, so that the present Highway 9 route was not required to improve that situation. He therefore wondered if the commercial commute benefitted in terms of its 1990 volume or its 1985 volume by Highway 9, and this brought him to the issue of the goals of the City in developing Stevens Creek and the Vallco/Mariani complexes. Highway 85 would benefit the in/out and school commutes, and Highway 9 would benefit the commercial and school commutes. He concluded that 85 benefitted the most severe commute time for the citizens of the City. There were specific pockets that Highway 9 benefitted more, but on balance it was only 10% of the total time being wasted on the road in the morning. The benefits of Highway 9 were dramatic, but not to the citizen, The benefits of Highway 9 would accrue if the City had a goal of adding 15,000 to 20,000 residents. He felt that if the building of 85 was examined with equal rigor, a way could be found. Some sort of a bond had been previously mentioned, and he estimated that it would cost less than $10 per month per household, though he was not advocating this particularly. He was in favor of building 85 as an expressway through to Prospect, with several intersections. Dr. Barbara Stofer, 20555 Prospect Road, Cupertino felt that statistics could be higher for through commuters, as some exited on Stelling or Bubb to stop at McDonalds, etc., dud then continued on to Saratoga or elsewhere. It was her experience that traffic build-up started at 3:15 p.m., and a four lane road was needed. She was dismayed at the development practices in the area, and quoted from articles on pollution, noise and crowding to show the detrimental effects of overbuilding. In her practice on smoggy days there was a noticeable increase in eyes, nose, chest and asthmatic cases. She envisioned the developers taking their profits to buy in the disappearing rural areas, leaving the citizens to deal with the deterioration of the environment. The people with the greatest need would not be able to afford housing in Cupertino at today's prices, and speculators and inves- MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING PC-34l Page 13 tors would profit. The elected officials should pay attention to the needs of the people they served, rather than to a small number of people wishing to subdivide. David Fadness of San Jose said the area he lived in, the southwest quadran, now had approximately 200,000 residents, who lived there on the understan- ding that there would be two major freeways within a stone's throw. The isolated residential growth in San Jose and the flourishing commercial and industrial growth in Cupertino were based largely on that understandin The decision being made at the Þleeting or in the near future would affect San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Cupertino and Saratoga. There was an inlportant new emphasis in the valley towards cooperative planning between fifteen entities, and a unilateral move by Cupertino tonight would be a throwback to the kind of provincial planning experience over the years that had resulted in the present mess. He pleaded for Cupertino not to abandon, but to wait for the change coming in Sacramento, when he felt a rational solution would be found. COM, ADAMS asked Public Works Director Viskovitch the boundaries of the controlled lights on De Anza Boulevard and Stevens Creek and suggested that Santa Clara be asked to cooperate along Stevens Creek, as San Jose was doing along De Anza. Mr. Viskovitch hoped that Sunnyvale might one day coordinate the lights in their city. Also, some lights on Lawrence Expressway were coordinated but that was the county's jurisdiction. Lynne Stevenson of Rolling Hills Road, felt that Cupertino should be a leader in stopping development in its City, and its priorities should be the environment and the residents. Mr. Wes. Williams, President of the Monta Vista Homeowners Association, said that one of the key assumptions in the study of the Stevens Creek Boulevard plan line was that 85 was built as a freeway. What had happened to the study, and what would happen to Monta Vista when a two lane road was put in to handle the traffic? Mr. Viskovitch saw it as a blessing that Foothill and Stevens Creek Boulevard had not increased in traffic over the past seven years, and that traffic was down during the peak hour. Stevens Creek Boulevard down Hoo Hoo Hill and Cupertino Road probably would not have to be widened, and Foothill Boulevard was not being used to capacity. Mr. Williams asked if the cars going out through Monta Vista towards Foothill had been counted in the traffic survey. In the evening there were two lines of traffic queued up at Bubb Road. Mr. Viskovitch explained that the existing traffic was counted, and it showed a decrease on Stevens Creek east of Foothill since 1973. The 1990 projected traffic showed the demand for Stevens Creek through Cupertino Road would be two lanes. Down in the Pharlap area there was not much traffic. PC-34l Page 14 MINUTES SEPTEMBER 29, 1980 REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION lillETING Mr. Williams pointed out that traffic often made a left turn on Orange Avenue to cut through. If it was a rainy day this created a problem with the Monta Vista High school children walking on Orange and Byrne in that it was dangerous. 85 going through would be an alleviation of this problem. If a two-lane road was put in, when full build-out took place in Seven Springs Ranch and over in Saratoga it might not be enough. He appreciated the funding problems, but agreed with the discussion of a bond issue. Charles Newman of Valleo Park said they and their transportation engineering consultants, Linscott, Law and Greenspan, Inc. had been working with the City staff for some time and that the conclusion had been reached that aIleD Park's uncommitted land should be released for development. The conclusion had been submitted to the Planning Commission by Public Works irector Viskovitch, and a letter had also been sent to the Commission· on September 24th by their planning consultant. Vallco Park had invited r. Philip Linscott to attend this Meeting and present the findings of his group. r. Philip Linscott said he had been associated with Vallco for several years and had worked closely with various traffic studies in past years. hey had now worked with and reviewed in great detail the City staff study and method of identifying local through and commuter in and out type traffic. He commended the staff and the citizens' studies which he felt ad been difficult to make. Linscott's studies had been concentrated primarily in the Vallco area and had been evaluating the traffic generation characteristics of the shopping center and the industrial job centers. hey had reviewed previous traffic studies in the trip-end allocation for allco Park, had analyzed recent traffic count data and volume-to-capacity relationships at key intersections in the Vallco Park area, and had projec- ted future traffic demands from the proposed build-out of Vallco Park, using the methodology consistent with the current City traffic modelling efforts and working closely with staff to identify whether these were proper procedures. They had found the procedures acceptable and the results ere satisfactory. Projecting 1990 traffic volumes, there were needs for mitigating measures and feasible roadway improvements had to be found and discussed with staff as to which would be adequate to serve the anticipated demands. Staff had recommended at the September 10th Planning Commission Hearing that, as current traffic had not reached the peaks predicted at the time of. the shopping center approval in 1973, Vallco Park should be allowed to develop totally. The capacity within Vallco Park had not been fully utilized, because suddenly in 1973 OPEC had arisen, making a dramatic difference in some types of trip generation and the use of carpools and vanpools became very popular, decreasing the amount of traffic in peak hour. INCOHPLETE (tape missing) ATTEST: APPROVED: __2J ' ..t.-tt--~~i£~ ~ , Chairman