By Khalida Sarwari
Even though their efforts may be moot, a group of earnest Cupertino residents has come up with a couple of alternative plans for redeveloping the fading Vallco Shopping Mall.
Their plans are similar to one calling for substantial housing and office space that developer Sand Hill Property Co. has told the city it will pursue. Because of a new state law, Sand Hill isn’t obligated to accept the residents’ plans or incorporate any elements of them.
Both plans were presented to the public for the first time last Friday, the culmination of two community brainstorming sessions led by Berkeley-based architecture and urban design firm Opticos.
One alternative plan envisions 2,400 housing units, 415,000 square feet of retail space, 1.8 million square feet of office space and five acres of public space; the other offers more retail — 436,000 square feet worth — along with the same number of housing units, 2 million square feet of office space and 8.6 acres of public space.
They reflect the participants’ desire for a new town center boasting pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets with street-level businesses, affordable housing, an innovation hub and amenities such as theaters, a bowling alley and an ice skating rink.
After undergoing further refinement, the plans will be distilled into one solid blueprint the residents hope Sand Hill will consider. Sand Hill wants to transform the 58-acre shopping center into 2,402 residential units — half of which would be deemed affordable — 1.8 million square feet of office space and 400,000 square feet of retail.
Under new state law SB 35, which requires cities to let developers build badly needed housing within 180 days as long as their projects comply with local zoning and planning rules, Sand Hill can nix any plan that emerges out of the community planning process.
Rod Sinks, Cupertino’s vice mayor, acknowledged that reality days after Sand Hill announced its plan last month. Sinks said the city nevertheless intends to continue the community engagement process — for which Sand Hill has kicked in about $3 million.
Reed Moulds, managing director at Sand Hill, declined to comment on the alternative plans. “This is a city and community-led process and we appreciate the work being done to find a viable alternative to the project we have on file,” Moulds said. “Out of respect for that process, we are reserving comment until they have completed their analysis and make their findings and recommendations.”
Sand Hill’s newest plan has drawn support and derision since it was unveiled on March 28.
Danessa Techmanski, a 30-year resident and member of Better Cupertino, a group famously opposed to any kind of non-retail development at the mall, is among the critics. At last Friday’s community meeting, she perused the alternative renderings posted on the walls of Cupertino City Hall and nodded along with others who openly railed against all three plans.
“It looks like they’re just taking SB35 and they’re just tweaking it,” she said. “That’s why I’m angry.”
Techmanski took issue with the size of the office and retail space in the developer’s plan and both alternatives.
“We get a lousy 400,000 square feet of retail which will be eaten up mostly by entertainment and really like no shopping downtown,” she said. “Cupertino residents have to go to other cities for retail. That’s disappointing to me.”
Liang Zhao, who also identified herself as a member of Better Cupertino, said she hasn’t decided yet whether she’ll attend any more community meetings on the alternative plans.
“This process is not what the community wants; it’s simply trying to match SB35,” she said. “If (the alternative plans are) going to be minor variations of SB 35, I would rather they just build SB 35.”
Zhao said Vallco’s latest iteration will exacerbate Cupertino’s already bad traffic congestion and she blamed city officials for forcing Sand Hill to take the SB 35 path.
“I don’t blame the developer; I blame the City Council for not taking actions to protect the city when they (could),” she said. “So basically SB 35 hijacked this community-driven process that should be trying to figure out what the community wants.”
Like Techmanski, Zhao disagreed with the priorities outlined in the three plans.
“We are asking now ‘where will people live,’ but in a few years we’ll ask ‘where will people shop and meet their friends?’ This is the last lot in Cupertino where we can have a meaningful shopping space. If that’s taken away, there will never be such a space.”
Jean Bedord, producer of Cupertino Matters, a community newsletter that reports on issues at city hall, had a different take on things. She said that despite working within the parameters established by SB 35, Opticos appeared to listen to and incorporate the community’s priorities in the alternative plan designs.
“They’re constrained by the size of the property and the fact that it needs to be mixed use,” she said. “You have to have housing, you have to have office, you have to have retail/entertainment, so it is going to end up looking somewhat similar when you take all those factors into consideration.”
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