Cupertino Matters
- In the News
- UPCOMING – City Council, Tues., Mar. 3, 2026, 5:30 Special; 6:45 Regular
- RECAP – Planning Commission, Tues., Feb. 24, 2026, 6:45 p.m.
Spring is in the air as March ushers in flowering trees and blossoming plants, with baseball season and spring events filling our calendars, along with garden tours.
March celebrates Women’s History Month to honor the vital contributions of women to American history, culture, and society. The month’s commemoration derives from International Women’s Day, held annually on March 8, which originated in the early 1900s effort to support women’s suffrage and labor rights.
The big city event this last week was the annual State of the City address. The Mercury News covered the speech in Cupertino state of the city: Mayor paints tough challenges and a resilient city: Cupertino Mayor Kitty Moore offered a speech that looked at the city’s challenges with measured optimism. The city issued a follow-on press release showcasing the speech: Mayor Kitty Moore Highlights “Good Governance” at 2026 State of the City Address
Readers are encouraged to review the draft revision of the Safety Element of the General Plan, which is required when the Housing Element or Local Hazard Mitigation Plan is updated, both of which happened recently. The public review runs from now through Friday, March 13 at Health and Safety Element Update. For context, the Health and Safety Element of the General Plan: Community Vision for 2015-2040, was last amended in 2005, with minor edits in 2015. The Element identifies natural hazards and outlines policies to protect the community from earthquakes, flooding, wildfires, extreme heat, hazardous materials, and other climate-related risks. The update reflects current science and includes strategies to strengthen community resilience, emergency preparedness, and climate adaptation.
For research, past issues back to January 2020 of Cupertino Matters are posted on the website. Encourage your friends who would like to become better informed about our community to subscribe to our email newsletter at CupertinoMatters.org.
UPCOMING – City Council, Tues. Mar. 3, 2026, 5:30 p.m., Special Meeting; 6:45 Regular Meeting, Council Chamber, and Teleconference Location Boca Raton Resort, Hotel Lobby, 501 E Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432
Special Meeting
Item No. 1:Parkland Ballot Measure – Mapping, Zoning, Legal Review, and Election Considerations (Continued on February 19, 2026). This measure has questionable benefits for Cupertino. Per the staff report, state law already provides extensive protections to preserve parkland including the option for objectors to trigger a public vote on any long term disposal of parkland, so is an additional layer of protection needed? Any ballot measure incurs costs. These include: city attorney legal fees, as well as $150,000 to $200,000 for consultants, plus $150,000 just to place the measure on the ballot. Does this minimal additional level of process warrant spending well over $300,000 in city monies vs. spending for the increase in public safety costs?
Item No. 2: Study Session on options to comply with state law related to No Net Loss (SB166) due to the lack of adequate capacity to accommodate the City’s moderate and lower-income Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). Due to the City’s approval of several residential developments on Housing Element Priority Housing Sites at both lower densities and proportionally lower levels of low- and moderate income units than anticipated in the Housing Element, the City has been unable to make the No Net Loss findings required by State law since mid-December 2025. The city has 180 days to correct this deficiency to maintain compliance by modifying the approved Housing Element. Consultant costs are estimated between $100,000 to $300,000 depending on the extent of the environmental review and community outreach processes. Sand Hill Property Company, will likely be required to contribute to the planning effort because part of the shortfall derives from the most recent Vallco project revisions.
Regular Meeting
Ceremonial Items are (1) Recognition of March as American Red Cross Month, and (2) Recognition of March as Youth Art Month. The sole Postponement is (3) An update on the development of the Active Transportation Plan, including a summary of Phase 2, explanations of plan edits, revised scoring criteria, and next steps. (Continued from February 19, 2026). Oral Communications from the public on off-agenda items precede the Consent Calendar, which contains three routine items.
Item No. 7: Public hearing on the abatement of public nuisance from weeds or other fire hazards pursuant to provisions of Cupertino Municipal Code Chapter 9.08 and Resolution No. 25-101. Property owners are required to meet standards for controlling vegetation on their properties. This is the annual process to notify property owners that are out of compliance, requiring them to remove the fire hazard on their property–an increasingly important concern to the city.
Item No. 8: Consider Adopting a Resolution Declaring the Mary Avenue property (APN 326-27-053) Exempt Surplus Land under the California Surplus Land Act. The process to enable the Mary Avenue Villas project for IDD and low income families inches forward. This is a public hearing for the city to declare the designated portion of the public right-of-way as surplus property.
Item No. 9 Consider Adopting a Resolution Declaring the Mary Avenue property (APN 326-27-053) Exempt Surplus Land under the California Surplus Land Act. This is an action item, rather than a public hearing, yet another administrative procedure for this affordable housing project previously approved in the state-mandated Housing Element.
Item No. 10: Acceptance of City Manager’s Mid-Year Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2025-26; Approval of Budget Modification increasing appropriations by $663,616 and revenues by $149,578. This report states the city’s financial position as of Dec. 31, 2025 and the results are as expected. The forecast, however, is problematic. As originally projected, the city would not have had a structural deficit until the FY2032-33 fiscal year. The 36% increase in the sheriff’s contract immediately catapults the city into a structural deficit in the next fiscal year, so the city will need to make additional cuts in expenditures, negotiate down the sheriff’s contract, and (or) find new revenues to close the gap.
Item No. 11: Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Capital Improvement Programs and Five-year Plan. The proposed five year plan prioritizes rehabilitation of aging infrastructure, investments that extend asset life cycles, and capital improvements that support public health, safety, and overall community well-being.
Item No.12: City Manager Report, (now submitted in written form).
Item No. 13: Council Reports (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Moore, Councilmembers Fruen and Mohan. Vice Mayor Chao and Councilmember Wang did not submit reports.
Item No. 14 :Upcoming Draft Agenda Items Report
RECAP – Planning Commission, Tues., Feb. 24, 2026, 6:45 p.m., Regular Meeting
YouTube: Part 1 – 1 hr. 9 min.; Part 2 – 3 hr. 00 min.
Item No. 2: Consider: 1) a Hillside Exception for grading on slopes exceeding 30% in order to create a flat yard area, 2) an R-1 Exception for garage design, 3) a Design Review Permit for a new two-story residence with second story side setbacks of less than 15 feet and a second to first floor area ratio exceeding 66%, 4) a Minor Residential Permit for a balcony, and 5) a Tree Removal Permit for the removal and replacement of five Protected native oak trees (ranging in size between 12-inches DBH to 18-inches DBH) to allow the creation of the flat yard areas. (Application No(s).: EXC-2025-007, EXC-2025-008, R-2024-029, RM-2024-028, TR-2024-043; Applicant(s): David Kuoppamaki; Location: 22068 San Fernando Court; APN(s): 357 12 012). The Planning Commission approved the project to replace a 954 sq. ft. one-bedroom house built in 1962 with a new, contemporary-style 3,030 square-foot, two story, single-family residence, but denied the Hillside Exception and the Tree Removal Permit. The vote was 3-2 with Rao and Scharf voting nay.
Item No. 2: Consider a Tentative Map, Architectural and Site Approval, and Tree Removal Permit for the construction of a 51-unit townhome condominium development on Housing Element Priority Housing Sites 25 through 28. The project utilizes Senate Bill 330 and provisions of State Density Bonus law. (Application No(s): TM-2024-009, ASA-2024-015, TR-2024-044; Applicant: SummerHill Homes, LLC; Location: 10857, 10867, 10877, and 10887 Linda Vista Drive; APNs: 356-06-001, -002, -003, and -004). Resident turnout was high for this residential development of 51 townhomes known as Evulich Court, a Priority Housing Site included in the state-approved Housing Element. primarily for townhome-style development. The objections raised by neighbors were limited by state housing laws. Discussion of fire safety ran long, with the fire marshall explaining that their requirement was being able to rescue inhabitants from second stories. The alternative for the site is a higher density apartment style development which would be less consistent with the existing and neighboring single-family family homes.
Commission members raised questions about modifications to the project, but the applicant (and property owner) declined to make additional changes, primarily due to financial considerations. Of note, the staff is recommending a parkland in-lieu fee of $1,998,000 for the 37 market rate units (the parkland fee is waived for BMR units), rather than shoehorning a small park into an area with existing parks. Based on feedback from the community and council, the applicant is also proposing to build a pedestrian trail connection between the project property and the adjacent Linda Vista Trail at a cost to construct not to exceed $377,023, thus reducing the in-lieu fee to $1,621,000. This modification would significantly improve access to the city’s existing parkland and open space for the entire neighborhood.
The Commission went back and forth on motions that would have approved the project. The Commission ultimately recommended approval with the proposed trail connection on a 3-2 with Rao and Scharf voting nay.
CUPERTINO COURIER: February 27, 2026
The front page photo and community brief on page 5 are entitled Hop to it: Big Bunny 5K and Kids Fun Run coming to Cupertino Civic Center. The additional community brief on page 5 is Climate Video Contest. Also on page 5 is a previously published Mercury News article entitled Cities feel policing budget shock: Sheriff’s Office contract is charging Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos Hills more for law enforcement. There are no legal notices.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
