Cupertino Matters
- News
- UPCOMING – City Council, Tues., May 19, 6:45 p.m. Regular, 5:45 p.m. Study Session
- RECAP – Planning Commission, Tues., May 12, 6:45 p.m.
It’s hard to believe that Memorial Day is this coming Monday–enjoy the holiday!
An impressive number of elected and other public officials attended the ribbon-cutting for the new Santa Clara Valley Healthcare mobile health center at De Anza College. Only Councilmembers JR Fruen and Sheila Mohan represented the city. Per the Mercury News in De Anza College rolls out Cupertino’s first public health clinic County-run mobile clinic will serve students, low-income West Valley residents:
“The new Santa Clara County-run mobile health clinic on De Anza College’s campus represents a full-circle moment for state Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens.
Ahrens said he didn’t have access to healthcare for most of his life. As a Foothill-De Anza Community College District trustee, he initiated the idea of a brick-and-mortar health clinic on campus. Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga said although the plan was approved, no funding was allocated for it.”
The health clinic is open to the entire community regardless of insurance, providing walk-in healthcare services to underserved De Anza students, as well as residents in Cupertino, Los Altos, Saratoga, Sunnyvale and West San Jose. Supervisor Abe-Koga highlighted the clinic’s accessibility given its proximity to the Cupertino Senior Center and a major stop on Stevens Creek Boulevard, which is served by multiple VTA lines. The on-campus clinic will be open to the community on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a physician, NP, nurse assistant, and medical assistant. The van offers treatment for minor illnesses and injuries, family planning services, physical exams, health screenings, adult vaccinations and referrals to specialty care.
Housing in Cupertino inches forward. As referenced below, the Planning Commission recommended approval of a 27-townhome development on Bandley Drive in replacement of a low-slung office building. A new application has been submitted for N. Foothill Townhomes located at 10012 & 10050 N. Foothill Boulevard, 22467 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The proposed development includes 25 for-sale townhomes, including 21 market-rate units and four (4) affordable units, as well as associated site improvements. This will replace an existing single-story office building, veterinary clinic, and a single-family home on three existing parcels totaling approximately 0.99 net acres, near the intersection of N. Foothill Boulevard and Stevens Creek Boulevard. Neither project is included in the Housing Element, but each will count toward the 4,588 RHNA allocation for which Cupertino must plan.
Pickleball at Memorial Park continues to be a source of contention in the city. An April 30, 2026 memo proposing a significant reduction in playing hours on public courts has met strong opposition by the informal Pickleball Club which congregates there. The San Jose Spotlight outlines the issues in Cupertino takes steps to limit pickleball noise outlines the issues. The proposed CIP project to install sound-attenuating material on the fence at Cupertino Memorial Park would mitigate the noise problem.
Options for transportation in Cupertino will be expanding with the introduction of Waymo driverless cars to the West Valley cities, as the San Jose Spotlight notes in Waymo driverless cars are coming to the West Valley. No fare comparisons with Uber/Lyft have been provided.
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., May 19, 2026, 6:45 p.m., Study Session; 5:45 p.m.
Study Session
Item No. 1: Update to the Health and Safety Element of the Cupertino General Plan: 2015 – 2040 Community Vision. California mandates that city General Plans address certain matters of broad public policy through required “elements.” The Health and Safety Element (HSE) is one such piece of the General Plan. The HSE addresses the threats posed by natural and human-caused hazards within the jurisdiction of Cupertino and establishes goals and policies to reduce risk to the community. The current Health and Safety Element was adopted in 2014. Since that time, State law has expanded requirements related to wildfire, flooding, climate change adaptation, and evacuation planning. The California Government Code requires all local jurisdictions to review and, as necessary, update their Safety Element upon each revision of the Housing Element or Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), or at least once every eight years. The City adopted updates to the Housing Element and the Santa Clara County Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, including the City-specific LHMP section, in 2024, triggering this update.
In 2025, City staff and the City’s consultant, PlaceWorks, presented the essential policy areas that the Health and Safety Element Update would cover to the Planning Commission and Public Safety Commission during scheduled study sessions. The plan received Planning Commission review on March 9, 2026. Now, the project team seeks input from the City Council, prior to submission for state agency review.
Regular meeting
Ceremonial Items include (1) Recognition of the Public Works Department (Capital Improvements, Development Services, Transportation, Environmental Programs and Sustainability, Facilities and Fleet, Grounds, Streets and Sidewalks, and Trees and Right-of-Way Divisions) in conjunction with Public Works Week, May 17-23, 2026 and (2) Recognition of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month. Oral Communications from the public on off-agenda items precede the Consent Calendar, which contains fifteen routine items. Note Item No. 5 Setting a voluntary campaign expenditure limit of $50,000 for the November 3, 2026 City Council election
Item No. 18: Public Hearing Pursuant to Government Code Section 3502.3 to Receive a Report on City of Cupertino Vacancies, Recruitment and Retention Efforts. This public hearing is a 2024 state requirement intended to increase public knowledge of staffing levels. No changes to policies, procedures, or recruitment practices are being recommended at this time.
Item No. 19: Acceptance of the City Manager’s Third Quarter Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2025-26; Budget Modification increasing appropriations by $526,184 and increasing estimated revenues by $372,500. There are no major adjustments in either revenue or expenses for the Fourth Quarter. In addition to minor adjustments, the primary additional requests are the following:
- Funding for City Attorney Contract Services. This is a request for an additional $175,000 for Legal Services for additional costs associated with various personnel matters, a City-sponsored affordable housing project which has led to litigation, a development project involving novel CEQA exemption issues, builder’s remedy cases and anticipated responses to a recently released Grand Jury Report underscoring the risks associated with Councilmember Wang’s repeated remote City Council meeting participation.
- Funding for bank charges and credit card fees (with offsetting revenue).
- Funding for on-call contracts and environmental review contracts (with offsetting revenue).
Item No. 20: Annual Review and Acceptance of Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) and Pension Trust Investment Policies. This is a routine review of pension funds established to stabilize the city’s obligations. On January 26, 2026, the Audit Committee reviewed proposed updates to the policies and recommended forwarding one policy option that: (1) incorporates soft Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) language acknowledging consideration of ESG-related factors while emphasizing fiduciary responsibility to the trusts; (2) further clarifies fiduciary responsibilities within the policies; (3) retains Global Infrastructure as an asset class while adjusting its target allocation range to 0%, with future adjustments subject to Council consideration; and (4)returns to the City Council for discussion rather than placement on the consent calendar.
Item No. 21: Authorization of Below Market Rate (BMR) Housing Administration contract execution. The City’s current contract for BMR Administration is set to expire on June 30, 2026. A Request for Proposals (RFP) process was initiated in FY 25-26 to evaluate and select a consultant for BMR Administration services for the City. In accordance with City Council direction provided on April 15, 2025, the upcoming contract for BMR Administration is anticipated to be budgeted from the General Fund, rather than the Below Market Rate Affordable Housing Fund (BMR AHF). After a lengthy selection process, staff recommends authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with RISE Housing (the current vendor) for BMR Administration and approve allocation for the contract from the General Fund. In the upcoming program years of BMR Administration for the City, the most prominent issue affecting the inventory will be the expiration of affordability covenants of 95 rental units.
Item No.22: City Manager Report, (submitted in written form).
Item No. 23: Council Reports (submitted in written form) are provided by Mayor Moore, Vice-Mayor Chao, Councilmembers Fruen, and Mohan. Councilmember Wang failed (again) to submit a report.
Item No. 24: Upcoming Draft Agenda Items Report
UPCOMING – City Council, Wed., May 20, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
Item No. 1:I Interview and appoint to fill vacancies on the Teen Commission (Day 1) – 21 applicants
UPCOMING – City Council, Thurs., May 21, 2026, 6:00 p.m.
Item No. 1: Interview and appoint to fill vacancies on the Teen Commission (Day 2) – 22 applicants
Item No. 2: Interview and appoint to fill vacancies on the Public Safety Commission – 10 applicants for two vacancies.
RECAP- Planning Commission, Tues., May 12,2026, 6:45 p.m.
YouTube: 2 hr. 36. min. Commissioner Rao was remote and arrived late.
Other than approval of the minutes, the agenda consisted of Item No. 2: Consider a residential project with 27 three story townhomes, including 5 affordable units, with associated site improvements and condominium map, to replace a commercial office building on a 1.55-acre site. The project utilizes Senate Bill 330 and provisions of State Density Bonus law. (Application No(s): ASA-2025-016, TM-2025-008, & TR-2025-033; Applicant: SummerHill Homes, LLC; Location: 10268 Bandley Drive; APNs: 326-33-097.) This should have been a routine review of a non-controversial townhome project. Instead, the meeting lasted over 2 and a half hours, due to numerous long winded, legally unfounded questions and interruptions from Commissioner Rao. Approved 4-1 with Rao voting nay.
CUPERTINO COURIER: May 15, 2026
The front page photo and article on page 3 are entitled Mobilizing resources: County run mobile clinic will serve students, low income residents. DeAnza College rolls out Cupertino’s first public health clinic. Community briefs on page 3 are (1) Pooch plunge and (2) Empower essentials. Legal notches are (1) public hearing for renewal of storm drain and clean water and storm protection fees, (2) second reading of single use carryout bags, (3) second reading of film production regulation and (4) second reading of amendments to various city ordinances.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
Cupertino Matters
Publisher and Editor
