Cupertino Matters
The “hot” topic in Cupertino is the release by CAL FIRE of updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps to improve wildfire preparedness. These revised Local Responsibility Area (LRA) maps now include an additional 1.4 million acres in high and very high fire hazard zones statewide. This has impacted homes on the west side of Cupertino closer to the foothills which are becoming more difficult to insure.
The City of Cupertino is required to adopt an Ordinance consistent with these designations. The public review period is March 11 to April 10. The updated fire zone map is available online or for in-person inspection at the Permit Center, Cupertino City Hall,10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA.
Mayor Chao’s time management is becoming more problematic. Agendas for Tuesday city council meetings are supposed to be posted on the prior Wednesday. This week’s agenda was not posted until late Thursday evening. It’s the mayor’s responsibility to work with the city manager to ensure timely agenda setting. Furthermore, the searchable packet was incomplete–there was no subcommittee report included for Item No. 9, Fireworks. Is this going to be a repeat of the last council meeting where the mayor failed to provide her proposed changes to the council procedures with sufficient time for her colleagues to consider, then ramrodded her version at 11:00 p.m. when the meeting is supposed to end at 11:00?
The mayor’s job is to run an effective meeting, but this is not happening. Even though adequate time is scheduled, agenda items are routinely continued to the next council meeting. Pro forma items take too long for approval, so the council has to routinely extend the meeting time and still not finish the agenda. This lack of consideration extends to other agencies. Mayor Chao reported attending the 2x2x2 School Partnership and School Liaison quarterly meeting, but failed to mention she was thirty minutes late and disrupted the meeting.
As the city heads into its annual budget cycle, the financial news is positive, with a projected $4.5 million budget surplus in 2026, due to increased revenue projections and difficult cost-cutting in the past two years. The San Jose Spotlight provides more detail: Cupertino gets budget surplus surprise after fiscal uncertainty.
In additional Cupertino news, the San Jose Spotlight reported that the Foothill- DeAnza Community College District voted to spend $66.7 million to purchase McClellan Terrace Apartments to provide affordable housing for students and staff. Rather than funding new construction, buying an existing complex is presently more cost-effective and means students can be housed starting fall of 2025. Funding is from Measure G—an $898 million bond measure voters passed in 2020, which included plans for student and staff housing. These apartments are within walking distance to DeAnza College.
Crime is an ongoing community complaint, despite the fact that Cupertino hit a 12-year crime low last year, with 798 reported incidents. The city, which now has county approval, will install automated license plate readers (ALPRs), as reported by San Jose Spotlight to further curtail crime: Cupertino to install license plate reader cameras
Mark your calendar for the annual League of Women Voters of Cupertino-Sunnyvale (LWVCS) Meet and Greet your local elected officials on March 29, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Grand Hotel, 865 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale. It’s an opportunity to meet City Council, School Board and County officials and ask them questions, or talk about your interests and concerns in person. Register in advance.
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. 18,2025, 6:45 p.m., 2025, Regular meeting, 5:30 Study session
Action Calendar:
Item No. 1: Introduce Municipal Code amendments to the Cupertino Municipal Code, Title 2 to add Chapter 2.96 and codify the Economic Development Committee. Formal establishment of this committee was rushed through the council in the last days of Darcy Paul’s mayorship in 2022. The incoming council recognized the ineffectiveness of the committee so voted to disband it. Now Mayor Chao seeks to revive it without modification. Cupertino has too many committees and commissions for the size of the city. Each one requires substantial staff time.
The charter of this Committee was poorly focused, and the proposal to resuscitate it remains problematic. What impact will a quarterly Brown Act-constrained committee with its restrictions have on economic development? The city economic development manager in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce (both hired since disbandment of the EOC) has been quite effective in reaching out to the business community. The biggest barriers to business expansion are (1) housing for employees (particularly retail and education) and (2) lack of suitable office/R & D space. According to Kidder-Mathews, Cupertino has a miniscule 2.6% vacancy rate for office space despite the significant vacancies in nearby cities, and even less research and development space at a 1.7% vacancy rate. The city is NOT a developer so why waste scarce city resources on an ineffective committee? Financing is another major issue for approved projects that are not going forward.
Study Session:
Item No. 2: Study Session to consider reestablishing the City’s Legislative Review Committee (LRC). This was another ineffective committee which consumed an inordinate amount of staff time. The staff report fails to mention the Feb. 15, 2022 Staff Report on Commissions which found that supporting the LRC required 400 hours of staff time per year (not including payment of a contract lobbyist), far more hours than the other commissions except planning and parks and recreation. In addition, actions by this committee may conflict with the city municipal code. The reality is that Cupertino is a small city, and the council needs to collaborate on a regional basis with the west valley cities to have an effect, not waste scarce staff resources. Staff already monitors legislative actions; this committee would be an additional layer of pointless bureaucracy. Councilmembers would be much more effective in Sacramento by developing stronger relationships with our representatives, Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens and Senator Josh Becker.
Regular meeting
The sole Ceremonial Items is Item No.1: Receipt of annual report of activities from West Valley Community Services (WVCS) and recognition for 51 years of dedicated community service.
Oral Communications from the public on non-agenda items precede the Consent Calendar, which contains six routine items. Note that for Item No. 6, Receive 2024 General Plan and Housing Annual Progress Report (APR), a lengthy state required annual report, the staff report shows that there was a total of 271 housing units produced, with only 80 building permits for new housing units issued in 2024, consisting of 46 ADU permits and 34 non-ADU permits. There were 128 issued in 2023 and before. This leaves a deficit of 4,331 units to fulfill the city’s RHNA number of 4,588 housing units, by Jan. 31, 2031, in only six years.
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, council’s procedural rules require it to be addressed after all regularly scheduled action items, unless council votes to reorder items on the agenda. Members of the public may comment on that item when it is considered.
Item No. 8: Receive Citywide Policy Inventory; Authorize Gap Analysis Final Report and Review the City Council Policy Inventory. Moss Adams is the city’s internal auditor. Their work is overseen by the Audit Committee, then presented to the city council. This policy inventory consists of an extensive review of departmental policies, with the exception of council policies. The Innovation and Technology Department developed a platform that leveraged machine learning to enable staff to thoroughly search for resolutions and ordinances dating back to 1955 to ensure complete coverage. Overall, only one policy gap was considered high risk. The rest were rated medium to low risk.
Item No. 9: Receive City Council Subcommittee report on July 4th fireworks and provide Council direction for next steps. No report by the subcommittee consisting of Councilmember Wang and Vice Mayor Moore was included in the late agenda released on Thursday.
Item No. 10: Confirm recommended language for two new City Council Strategic Goals; Finalize Fiscal Years 2025-2027 City Work Program. Establishing council priorities for the two year City Work Program (CWP) has been a long drawn out process starting in November, 2024. Ninety percent of staff time is spent on day-to-day operations, so only 10% is available for council projects. Nineteen projects for 2025-2027 were prioritized, plus carryover of six projects from the FY 2023-25 workplan. Readers are advised to review the list of projects, which will then be included in the annual budget process.
Item No. 11: Council Reports, (now submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Chao, Vice-Mayor Kitty Moore, Councilmembers Fruen and Mohan. Councilmember Wang has yet to submit a report in 2025.
CUPERTINO COURIER: March 14, 2025
The front page picture and article on page 3 is entitled Advocates for meaningful change: Homestead High students launch project to address dementia’s impact. The community briefs are (1) Wheels up and (2) Symphonic band concert for children. The sole legal notice is the Second Reading of an ordinance to correct a zoning error on a Priority Housing Site.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
