By Khalida Sarwari
Despite a last-gasp plea by opponents to stop, a divided Cupertino City Council on Tuesday night gave its formal approval of a community-driven plan to transform the Vallco Shopping Mall into a massive mixed-use project.
The council’s 3-2 vote affirming its Sept. 19 decision advances the proposal as a viable alternative to the one presented by project developer Sand Hill Property Co. with the blessing of Senate Bill 35, a new state law that forces cities to approve certain mixed-use projects with housing components.
The SB 35 plan calls for 2,402 homes, 1.8 million square feet of office space and 400,000 square feet of retail in addition to a 30-acre rooftop park. The alternate plan drawn up by the community calls for different ratios of housing, retail and office space but seeks an additional package of benefits including a major performing arts center, a new city hall and emergency response center, and multimillion-dollar contributions to the city’s schools.
Councilman Steven Scharf and Mayor Darcy Paul, who voted against the community plan two weeks ago, did so again Tuesday night.
Scharf said he would prefer a plan that also takes into account the views of Better Cupertino members “and that would minimize the impact to schools and that would not cause excessive traffic congestion and would not worsen too much our housing to jobs ratio.”
Danessa Techmanski, a 30-year resident and member of Better Cupertino, a community group that has strongly opposed every Vallco proposal that includes housing or office space at the expense of retail, condemned the plan as “an economic mess.”
“Statistically, every one tech job generates about five more,” she said. “That means we will get far more than 10,000 new jobs in Cupertino. So where are those people supposed to live and how will we deal with traffic and water?”
Typically, the second round of a plan’s approval doesn’t generate much debate, but the contentious Vallco project is an exception. The matter drew nearly 30 people who lined up to speak even after more than 70 already did so over an almost nine-hour public hearing two weeks ago. Many of Tuesday’s speakers urged the council to accept the plan.
“The NIMBY group claims more development will create traffic congestion, crowding schools and ruining their quality of life,” said Stanley Tseng, a loan officer who lived in Cupertino for 30 years before moving to Mountain View in 2015. “The truth is that when they successfully stifle any new housing development, their home value goes up. That is their motivation and this is what I call self-interest expressed to the extreme.”
Last week, Better Cupertino launched a referendum drive to block the shopping mall’s redevelopment, claiming the city’s actions have left it with no other recourse. It is gathering signatures for a petition to place a measure on next year’s ballot and raising money for two potential lawsuits.
The group already sued the city two years ago, challenging the ballot description of Measure C, a proposal that sought to slow growth in the city and restrict the shopping mall property to commercial use. On Tuesday afternoon, the case went to the Court of Appeal in San Jose.
An attorney for Better Cupertino asked the justices to issue an advisory opinion for future cases in the state and requested reimbursement for attorneys’ fees. But the presiding justice informed him that his argument was moot because the “voters have voted.” The court is expected to render its judgement on the appeal within two weeks.
