Cupertino Matters
- In the News
- CREST Awards
- UPCOMING – City Council, Tues., Oct. 7, 2025, 6:45 p.m.; Closed Session, 5:45 p.m.
Ballots for the Special Election should arrive in your mailboxes this week. In addition, there are two Voter Information Guides for (1) county-related elections for Measure A and Assessor candidates, and (2) the statewide election for Proposition 50 on Redistricting. Online voter information can be found at https://www.vote411.org/ballot by entering your home address.
Each year, the city recognizes outstanding community members and organizations whose service has made a lasting impact on Cupertino. They will be recognized on Wed., October 29, 2025. The 2025 CREST Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken) awards are as follows.
Lifetime Achievement Dennis Whittaker
Rising Star of the Year Sarah Shelke
Volunteer of the Year Raymond Lancon
Rising Star of the Year Reena Shah
Organization of the Year Cupertino Little League
Hometown Hero Deputy Aalok Patel
The city finally managed to get its Housing Element certified by the state Housing and Community Development (HCD) in September, 2024. Getting that housing actually built is moving slowly despite many development applications under active review. The city is being sued for unreasonable requirements by two applicants relying on the “builder’s remedy”–one of which is the subject of the closed session below.
The Mary Avenue Villas project for extremely low income IDD (Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled) residents is encountering last minute objections from a handful of homeowners who didn’t object to the adjacent Arroyo Village townhomes and who raised no objections when the site was considered for inclusion in the Housing Element years ago. This site is only financially feasible because it will be built on free city property. Residents’ trumped-up objections center around the change from angled parking to parallel parking, which includes a bike lane and reduces parking by 89 spaces on this nearly empty street. San Jose Spotlight published a picture in an article entitled Cupertino residents oppose affordable housing project. Parking becomes an issue only on 10-12 festival days a year (3% of 365 days), even though festival organizers arrange for free parking at De Anza College, which boasts over 5,000 spaces.
UPCOMING – CITY COUNCIL, Tues. Oct 7, 2025, 6:45 p.m. , Regular; 5:45 Closed Session. Councilmember Wang remote from Courtyard Marriott, Baltimore, MD
Closed Session: 5:45 p.m.
Item No.1: Conference with Legal Counsel – Anticipated Litigation; California Government Code Sections 54956.9(d)(4) and 54954.4(c): (1 case)
Item No. 2: Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation; California Government Code Sections 54956.9(d)(1) and 54954.5(c): Lixin (Leon) Chen, et al. v. City of Cupertino, et al., Santa Clara County Superior Court, Case No. 25CV462857; Yes In My Backyard, et al. v. City of Cupertino, et al., Santa Clara County Superior Court, Case No. 25CV263924. This case involves the Vista Heights “builder’s remedy” project application adjacent to Linda Vista Park.
Item No. 3: Conference with Real Property Negotiators; California Government Code Section 54954.5 1. Property: 10480 Finch Avenue, Cupertino, CA 2. Agency Negotiators: Tina Kapoor, Interim City Manager, and Floy Andrews, Interim City Attorney 3. Negotiating parties: City of Cupertino and Cupertino Union School Distrct 4. Under negotiation: Price and terms of payment.
Open Session; 6:45 p.m.
Closed Session Report
Ceremonial Items include (1) Recognition of October 19 to October 25, 2025 as United Against Hate Week, (2) Recognition of October as Hindu Heritage and Awareness Month and (3) Recognition of October as Community Planning Month and appreciation for the work of the Community Development Department. Postponements are Revisions to Cupertino City Council Procedures Manual (Postponed from September 16, 2025) to a date to be determined.
Oral Communications from the public on non-agenda items precede the Consent Calendar, which contains seven routine items. Note that these include appointments to the revived Economic Development Committee (Items No 11 and No. 12), as well as Item No. 13 to introduce amendments to Cupertino Municipal Code, adding Title 14, Chapter 14.30 Small Wireless Facilities In Public Rights-Of-Way, pertaining to regulation of wireless facilities within City streets (Continued from September 16, 2025).
Item No. 15: Study Session on amendments to Audit Committee Duties, Powers, and Responsibilities. These amendments are minor and would (1) change the committee’s name to the “Audit and Finance Committee;” (2) modify Section 2.88.100(g) to read: “To review the City’s internal controls and internal audit reports; and (3) add Section 2.88.100(i): “To review the use of artificial intelligence in the City’s financial reporting, internal controls over financial reporting, risk management, and compliance.”
Item No. 16: Consider Municipal Code Amendments for consistency with Senate Bill 450 and minor text edits, amending multiple chapters of the Municipal Code. This item amends the city’s Senate Bill 9 implementation ordinance to bring it into conformity with state law. Cupertino, like a handful of jurisdictions, passed a very restrictive implementation ordinance for lot splits and duplexes proposed in single-family zones under SB 9. The end result has been relatively few such developments in Cupertino. In response in 2024, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 450, which largely nullified these restrictions. In order to help guide the development of SB 9 lot splits and duplexes in single-family zones, this clean-up ordinance is now proposed. These changes are limited to compliance. Additional modifications recommended by staff to clean up other parts of the city’s zoning code were postponed by the Planning Commission.
Item No. 17: Request Cities Association of Santa Clara County (“CASCC”) to amend the Joint Powers Agency Agreement and Bylaws to rectify undemocratic practices pertaining to the election of Executive Officers, the method of selecting the Chair of the Legislative Action Committee, and to remove the requirement that Executive Officers be elected during a specific month; and to appoint Vice Mayor Kitty Moore to the CASCC Board for the 2026 term and support her election to the Executive Committee. Mayor Chao initiated this request to substantially change the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) and bylaws for the 15-member Cities Association and preemptively appoint Vice Mayor Moore to the Board of Directors for 2026. There is no normal staff report beyond a perfunctory cover sheet detailing the actions that could be taken. Instead, there is a lengthy list of (often) inflammatory claims in a “report” from Mayor Chao that call the Cities Association’s procedures for electing its leadership “undemocratic.” The report proposes, not only various changes to the JPA and its bylaws, but also to support Vice Mayor Moore’s application for a position on the Cities Association’s Executive Committee.
It is not clear that any city has ever campaigned for one of its councilmembers to have such a position in the past. Under the JPA, the Cities Association’s Board of Directors (to which Vice Mayor Moore was appointed by the Cupertino City Council this year) elects an Executive Committee from among interested applicants. Consistent with the Cities Association’s goal of aiding the development of all councilmembers and sharing information among electeds, applicants need only be councilmembers or mayors of member cities–they are not required to be Board members or alternates appointed by individual cities. Indeed, the current Executive Committee includes two members who are not Board members: Elliott Scozzola of Campbell, who serves as Secretary and Treasurer, and Cupertino’s own J.R. Fruen, who serves as Second Vice President. This is a common arrangement for the Cities Association. The Cities Association is an outside body which determines its own procedures, not individual cities; no other jurisdiction is or has requested such sweeping changes, especially not in the offensive terms used in Mayor Chao’s report. Approval of this change by the Cities Association is highly unlikely, so why spend limited dais time on this agenda item?
Item No. 18: City Manager Report, (now submitted in written form).
Item No. 19: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Chao, Vice-Mayor Moore, Councilmembers Fruen and Mohan. There was no report from Councilmember Wang.
Item No. 20: Upcoming Draft Agenda Items Report
CUPERTINO COURIER: Oct. 3, 2025
The front page photo and community brief on page 5 is entitled Feast on exclusive deals: Restaurant Week part of city’s 70th anniversary celebration. Additional community briefs include (1) Restaurant week, (2) Budget Survey, and (3) AR Preserve Tour. Page 5 is a previously published Mercury News article entitled Whole Foods reopens its doors. There are no legal notices.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters Publisher and Editor
