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Planners give overview of revisions to San Tomas
Recommendations will be sent to council
By Genevieve Roja
After nearly five hours of deliberation, the Campbell Planning Commission settled on several recommendations to the San Tomas Area Neighborhood Plan (STANP). Only one motion was not voted on; instead, it was continued until the next meeting date on Dec. 14. The recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council, tentatively for Jan. 18.
Roughly 70 residents from the San Tomas area came to the council chambers last Tuesday evening to hear about revised staff changes to the STANP. Community development director Steve Piasecki gave the audience and commissioners a brief overview of the plan, which was adopted by the City Council in 1993. The City Council revisited the STANP in 1998 and asked for an update surrounding two central issues: street improvements for new and existing streets and minor additions to existing single-family homes.
The commission opted to follow eight specific questions drafted by Piasecki to better facilitate discussion. Eight motions were made and voted on, one by one.
On the motion whether curbs, gutters and sidewalks should be required on Abbott Avenue south of Hacienda to Miller, the commission voted 6-0 (commissioner Susan Kearns abstained because she resides on Abbott) to have the three elements installed on the west side of Abbott Avenue. The staff's recommendation had been to have sidewalks on the east side.
The commission voted unanimously to incorporate a provision allowing minor additions to existing single-family homes. Currently the STANP limits the size of homes to a floor-area ratio of 0.45. With the commission's vote Tuesday, existing homes, providing they are not new developments or are on lots of less than 8,000 square feet, can go up to 0.50 FAR. For example, if homeowners have a 6,000-square-foot lot, the house and garage could potentially go up to 2,700 square feet. Under the commission's recommendation, that space can go up to 3,000 square feet.
The commission voted 4-3 to accept the standard street details to include street lights. On the motion to accept the sidewalk improvement required for all new through streets, the commission voted 5-2. On the motion whether curbs, gutters and sidewalk improvement should be required for cul-de-sacs planned for through pedestrian access such as Abbott Avenue north of Hacienda and Abbot Avenue south of Westmont, the commission voted 6-1.
The commission also voted 7-0 that rolled curbs be required on Steinway, Walters and York avenues for drainage, and clarified that street lights would not be required.
On the motion to assign Capri (south of Hacienda) and the east end of Bucknam Avenue for no curbs, gutters or sidewalks, the commission voted 7-0.
The final motion, answering the question "should all existing streets and street segments listed in the staff report be designated for improvements with curbs, gutters, sidewalks," was continued for discussion on Dec. 14. At that time, only eight of the 11 streets will be addressed since the commission required curbs, gutters and sidewalks to Harriet Avenue (between Westmont Avenue and Van Dusen Lane), Smith Avenue (south side from San Tomas Aquino road to Kara Way) and Sonuca Avenue (between Lovell Avenue and Linda Drive).
"Most of our recommendations were ... for major street improvement," said senior planner Sharon Fierro, who will be taking over the project once Piasecki, who will serve as Cupertino's community development director, steps down. "Then we looked at the neighborhood and the smaller streets. [We saw] that street improvements were only required when they lead to parks or schools. ... It's safer for children to travel on sidewalks. [We also looked at] major streets where there's higher [traffic] volume and speed."
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Campbell, California
