By Khalida Sarwari
A group of Cupertino residents announced Tuesday enough signatures have been collected for a ballot referendum that would seek to quash a community-forged plan to transform the near-vacant Vallco Shopping Mall into a massive mixed-use development.
The group, called Friends of Better Cupertino, already sued the city this summer for failing to block Sand Hill Property Co.’s own proposal to turn the shopping center into a mix of housing, offices and retail complex.
“We think that the project that the city settled for was far too hasty,” said Danessa Techmanski, a longtime resident and Better Cupertino supporter. “It was not thought out very carefully. It’s like the developer knew what they wanted and they dictated that to the city. The referendum can buy us a year to investigate things further. We would really like to use the referendum to get the developer to develop a much more viable community and environmentally sustainable plan.”
At a press conference outside Cupertino City Hall, Friends of Better Cupertino said it submitted a petition with 5,062 signatures to the city clerk on Monday to qualify a referendum for a special election next year or the general election in 2020. At least 2,887 valid signatures are needed to qualify, according to city spokesman Brian Babcock.
In response to the announcement, Sand Hill threatened to ditch the community plan and proceed with its own, which a referendum can’t block because it was drafted under the guidelines of a state law known as Senate Bill 35. The controversial new law allows developers to essentially bypass local planning control if their projects provide a hefty amount of affordable affordable housing. Sand Hill has proposed to build 2,402 homes, 1.8 million square feet of office space and 400,000 square feet of retail, as well as a 30-acre rooftop park.
“Postponing this vital project to accommodate the endless delays inflicted by a group who believes that status quo is the only acceptable outcome for Vallco cannot be justified,” Sand Hill said in a statement Tuesday. “This latest obstruction, and the two-year delay it causes, gives the community Plan no chance to catch up to the already approved and under-way Vallco Town Center project. We consider ourselves patient people, but our patience has finally run out.”
The community plan is an alternate one that Sand Hill can select in lieu of its own or just toss.
The city clerk has 30 days to verify the signatures before sending the main petition and three supporting petitions to the county registrar’s office for further verification.
If the signatures are deemed valid, the City Council can either withdraw the community plan it approved by a 3-2 vote last month or place the referendum to kill it on the ballot.
The community plan seeks more homes than Sand Hill’s proposal, including 536 below-market-rate units, slightly more retail and a little less office space. More significantly, that plan calls for the developer to provide extra community benefits it and the city mutually agree to.
Friends of Better Cupertino sued the city in June in an attempt to block Sand Hill’s SB 35 plan. The group’s president, Ignatius Ding, accused city officials of engaging in “backroom deals” to green-light the proposal. “We’re looking for an injunction to stop the project,” Ding said Tuesday about that proposal.
The deep and longstanding schism over the fate of the defunct mall has played out this month in front of the Cupertino Library with both sides accusing each other of employing underhanded and intimidation tactics and engaging in verbal and physical harassment.
In an email to this news organization, Michael Mar, who identified himself as a lifelong resident and supporter of the community plan, described an encounter he had with a Better Cupertino volunteer that left him feeling “sad and frustrated.”
“NIMBY-ism is a strange thing that is multifaceted,” he wrote. “Sometimes, people just want to protect their views. Sometimes people want more nature. Sometimes people want less noise. But other times, NIMBY-ism has a more sinister reason behind it. Sometimes people just want less minorities in their community. That was my take away after my conversation at the Better Cupertino table.”
Techmanski, who volunteered to gather signatures, said she encountered neighbors who shared feelings of anxiety, sadness and betrayal by the city for excluding them from the community planning process. She said she was heartened to see an “outpouring of support” for the referendum.
“It was people from all incomes, all ages, all ethnicities,” she said. “That was really nice to see, how our community really rallied together. That’s one of the reasons I love Cupertino, I think.”
City spokesman Babcock said the signature count is already underway.
“The city of Cupertino is committed to ensuring that all required procedures and requirements are followed in a transparent manner throughout this process,” he said.
While the two sides have bickered, Sand Hill began a phased demolition of the mall earlier this month. And last week, former city attorney Randolph Hom announced he intends to sue the city for suspending him because he pointed out Sand Hill’s plan for Vallco violates the city’s general plan.
Group says it has enough signatures for referendum to block Vallco development
