Thoughts about the CCC Initiatives

We should have slow growth in Cupertino, but the three CCC Initiatives are a bad way to get slow growth.

The primary effect of the initiatives is to eliminate the right for property owners to get a hearing if they want to make changes to their property that the writers of the initiatives don't approve of.  For instance, you will no longer be able to have a store within 35 feet of a street in Cupertino.  The only option in that case would be to hold an election, which will cost the property owner between $100,000 and $300,000, and take about a year.  This is clearly impractical.

The appropriate way to have growth controls is to put them into the general plan without eliminating the right to a hearing.  Limiting our growth in the General Plan to say 3% per year would be reasonable.  I think having a height limitation of 4 stories, but preserving the right to a hearing, could be OK too.  To specify what kind of architecture is required to do that in an initiative is a very bad way to go.

The city is improving its noticing system so that our residents are better informed about upcoming projects.  The Council and the city have a history of being very responsive to inputs from our residents.  The trouble is, sometimes the residents are unaware of the impact of new developments.  That's what happened with the development at the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and De Anza Boulevard.  This is being fixed.

But we need to be very careful that when we fix one thing we don't break everything else.

Here are some projects that could not have been done if the initiatives were in place:

• The Glenbrook Apartments, which most people believe are beautiful, could not be built because their density is over 15 per acre
• Gumba's Pizza, Armadillo Willy's, and the new Panda Express could not be built because the initiative-writers think they are too close to a street
• The new Cupertino Library couldn't be built because it is too tall
• The new Quizno's on Stevens Creek couldn't be built because it is a mixed-use project
• The CCS Vista Village development couldn't be done because the initiative-writers think it's too dense.
• The Hilton Garden Inn couldn't be built because it is considered too tall
• Apple Computer couldn't be here because their buildings are considered too tall
• We couldn't build theatres at Vallco because the initiatives won't allow the housing project that is necessary to finance the project.
• None of the kind of shops you see in Los Gatos, Los Altos, Saratoga, or Santana Row could be built because the initiative-writers think they are too close to a street

These are all good projects and there will be no viable process to allow something like them ever again in Cupertino.

These initiatives are terrible for business.  That is why the Chamber of Commerce voted unanimously to oppose them.

The initiatives are terrible for our future.  That is why the City Councilmembers unanimously oppose them.

The initiatives are terrible for Vallco.  That is why the owners and management of Vallco oppose them.

State law dictates that we need to plan for a certain number of new homes in Cupertino.  The initiatives severely limit how much of that housing can happen in our higher density areas now like Stevens Creek Boulevard and Homestead Road.  The implication of that is that we will forced to increase density in neighborhoods and hillsides.  That's the wrong way to accommodate our future housing requirements.  It will increase traffic throughout our neighborhoods and ruin our hillsides.

That is why the League of Conservation Voters opposes the the initiatives.

The CCC says that they make an exception for Vallco from these controls, but beware.  Their definition of the Vallco Planning Area excludes Macys, Sears, Todai, and everything else west of Wolfe Road.

Because people won't be able to build within 35 feet of Cupertino's streets, some lots will probably become unusable.  Federal law requires that the city will have to buy those lots from their owners.  This could cost Cupertino taxpayers millions of dollars.

The bottom line is that we should have slow growth, but this is not the way to get there.  Let's keep people's right to a hearing and use the General Plan to plan our future.

To learn more, or help, click here: http://www.ABetterCupertino.org