Cupertino Matters
- Election Forums
- Builders Remedy Projects
- UPCOMING – City Council, Tues., Sept. 17, 2024, 6:45 p.m. Regular Meeting
- RECAP – Planning Commission, Tues., Sept. 10; 6:45 p.m., Regular Meeting
Election season is here! Over the next six weeks, there will be candidate forums to learn about candidates for the election on Nov. 5, 2024. This includes school district elections as well as city council elections. Cupertino Matters will include notification of major forums as they come up.
Cupertino Rotary and the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce are hosting a campaign panel for the Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD)-Area 5 and Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) Trustee Candidates. 12:00 pm on Wednesday, September 18 at the Quinlan Center in Cupertino. This is open to the public, and if desired, lunch can be ordered in advance of the meeting at https://tinyurl.com/crlunch091824
Fremont Union High School District, Trustee Area 5 (newly formed area consisting of those parts of the district in Saratoga, West San Jose, and Santa Clara, and a small piece of Cupertino):
- Danny Choi
- Aegean Lee
Cupertino Union School District Candidates (two at-large seats):
- Nisar Ali
- Long Jiao
- Rimi Khan
- Doug Kunz
- Sylvia Leong – Incumbent
- Lakshmi Sharma
This will not be broadcast live, but will be posted on the Cupertino Rotary website afterward.
Silicon Valley Chamber Coalition is a hosting Joint Candidate Forum forum for County Supervisor and State Assembly candidates on Wednesday, September 18th from 4:00 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Mission College, Room 107, Gillmor Center, Parking Lots C and D.3000 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95054
- 4 – 5 p.m. Candidates for Assembly Member District 26: Patrick Ahrens and Tara Sreekrishnan (includes Cupertino)
- 5 – 6 p.m. Candidates for County Supervisor District 5: Margaret Abe-Koga and Sally Lieber (includes Cupertino)
- 6 – 8 p.m. Networking and reception
- 8- 8:50 p.m. Candidates for County Supervisor District 2: Betty Duong and Madison Nguyen (San Jose area)
The Mercury News published an article with profiles of the seven candidates: Meet the candidates vying for a seat at the Cupertino City Council: Seven candidates are in the race to fill two open council seats The first Cupertino City Council forum was moderated by Ravi Kapur on Diya TV with candidates: Claudio Bono, Barry Chang, Kitty Moore, Rod Sinks, Ray Wang, and Gilbert Wong.
In housing news, the ”builders remedy” project at 20739 Scofield Drive has been reviewed by the city Planning Department and deemed incomplete. The applicant has 90 days to remediate deficiencies identified in the 9-page review letter before the permit expires. In addition, the Vista Heights “builders remedy” project has also been reviewed and deemed incomplete so this applicant also has 90 days to remedy deficiencies identified in the 14-page review letter before the permit expires. .In addition, a code enforcement letter has been issued to stop work with regard to grading activity that was occurring on the site.
In addition, readers are invited to join Eden Housing, Architects FORA, and Engage FORA in a virtual meeting to get updates on the proposed mixed-income housing development and share design preferences for educator workforce housing on county land at 10333 N Wolfe Road (between Vallco and I-280), on Thursday, Sep 19, 2024 06:00 PM. Zoom link sent upon registration.
UPCOMING – CITY COUNCIL – Tues., Sept. 17 , 2024, 6:45 p.m., Regular Meeting
There are two Ceremonial Items: Item No. 1 Recognition of Joe Simitian, Santa Clara County Supervisor for his service to Cupertino and Item No. 2 Recognition of September 21-27, 2024 as United Against Hate Week) followed by three Presentations:
- Item No. 3 Annual Report of the Arts and Culture Commission
- Item No. 4 Annual Report of the Housing Commission,
- Item No. 5 Annual Report of the Library Commission.
The Consent Calendar contains five routine items. Note that Item No. 9: Future agenda items requested by City Councilmembers (“TBD List”) is likely to be pulled. Members of the public may speak on any or all consent calendar items when the mayor asks for public comment on the Consent Calendar. If an item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, it will be addressed after all regularly scheduled action items. Members of the public may comment on that item when it is considered.
Item No. 11: Designation of Residential Permit Parking (RPP) on the north side of Lauretta Drive between Ann Arbor Avenue to 200 feet east of Ann Arbor Avenue, the south side of Lauretta Drive between Ann Arbor Avenue and a point 150 feet east of Ann Arbor Avenue, and on Ann Arbor Avenue between Lauretta Drive and Hazelbrook Drive. This is a request to expand permit parking on the north side of Memorial Park to additional streets due to increased usage of the nearby pickleball and tennis courts.
Item No. 12: Adoption of local amendments to the California Energy Code and repeal of Municipal Code Chapter 16.32 (Local Sustainability Requirements for Newly Adopted Buildings). In 2022, the Cupertino City Council adopted an ordinance to implement building decarbonization policies in Climate Action Plan 2.0. This required all-electric construction in newly constructed buildings. While the implementation of the City’s all-electric code was successful, a legal challenge to the City of Berkeley’s natural gas infrastructure ordinance led the City to reconsider its approach to building decarbonization. Given the limits imposed by the Ninth Circuit’s decision, staff has identified increased building energy performance requirements via local amendments to the California Energy Code as the preferred alternative to the current all-electric code. In collaboration with Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), these amendments to the Energy Code would increase energy efficiency, encourage building electrification, and meet the requirements of state and federal law.
Item No. 13: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Mohan, Vice-Mayor Fruen, Councilmember Chao, and Councilmember Moore.
RECAP – PLANNING COMMISSION – Tues., Sept. 10 , 2024, 6:45 p.m., Regular Meeting
YouTube: 1 Hr. 58 min.
Item No. 2: Conditional Use Permit to allow an arcade use in a 1,955 square foot unit within the Marketplace Shopping Center and associated environmental review. (Application No(s).: U-2024-001; Applicant(s): Kiddleton, Inc.; Location: 19720 Stevens Creek Boulevard. Kiddleton proposes to occupy the same space as the former Okaigan Dojo martial arts academy within the Marketplace Shopping Center, located adjacent to the Legends Pizza. Kiddleton proposes to install 64 mini-crane machines of various sizes. The use is compliant with the Municipal Code. As such the Planning Commission approved the CUP on a 3-2 vote with Scharf and Madhdhipatla voting nay.
Item No. 4: Proposed amendments to Municipal Code Chapters 19.04 (General Provisions), 19.08 (Definitions), and 19.60 (General Commercial (CG) Zones). (Application No. MCA-2024-002; Applicant: City of Cupertino; Location: City-wide) These were minor updates of the Municipal Code, including the recommendation that certain permits be handled at Administrative Hearings costing $10,000 rather than requiring Planning Commission meetings which cost $24,000 each. Commissioners were concerned about the cost of permits and favored reducing restrictions for small businesses. The staff recommendations were approved with modifications to (1) Definition of Farmer Markets, (2) Elimination of 20% restriction on outdoor seating, but still subject to parking requirements, (3) Convenience stores to remain a Planning Commission-approved use permit, and (4) Eating establishments with music to be a permitted use. The Commission approved 3-2 with Scharf and Madhdhipatla voting nay.
CUPERTINO COURIER: September 13, 2024
The front page photo and community brief on page 5 is entitled The Art of Baking:Better: Butter Bakes Cakes a staple at Cupertino farmers market. Community briefs include (1) Symphonic band concert is Sunday, (2) College admissions and (3) A dairy nice hike. Page 8 is a previously published Mercury News article entitled Buffered bike lanes on DeAnza receive pushback: Drivers complain narrowing busy roadway will cause congestion, while cyclists plead for safety. There are no legal notices.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
