The Cupertino Courier

County puts off meeting on local urban pockets

By Katherine Petersen

The Santa Clara County Planning Department has postponed its community meetings on Cupertino's three "urban pockets" until late October or early November. Its report answering residents' questions is scheduled for release in mid-October, county planner Neelima Palacherla said .

But things aren't moving fast enough for Jennifer Griffin, who lives in Rancho Rinconada, the largest of the three islands of unincorporated county land in or bordering on Cupertino.

"There are a lot of problems in Rinconada, and we need a solution," Griffin said. "If annexation is the solution because Cupertino has stricter zoning laws, we need to do it soon."

Griffin's frustration has built over the past six months as she's watched more and more large two-story homes sprout up throughout her neighborhood.

"The 3,600-square-foot two-story home going up next door blows it over the top," she said.

The two smaller unincorporated islands--Garden Gate and Monta Vista, with 370 and 250 homes respectively--are surrounded by city land and will probably be annexed first.

Rancho Rinconada, with 1,800 homes and only a border shared with the city, offers a more complicated situation.

The area could be annexed as a whole or progressively in pieces from the Cupertino border eastward, said Bob Cowan, the city's director of community development. The city can't force people to annex their property, Cowan added, unless a large number of residents overruled a much smaller faction.

The decision will be made by the Cupertino City Council, which will consider the concerns of residents in the area, Councilmember Don Burnett said.

"Personally, I am open to annexation, but it will depend on the composition of the new council," he said. "Each parcel will be considered individually. There are people in Rinconada who want the city's stricter zoning standards and those who enjoy the freedom of the county's more lenient ones."

But Griffin said she hasn't seen any interest from Cupertino in annexing the property. "The time to save our community is now," she said. "Two months from now isn't good enough for me."

She is determined to do something about the "monster house" to be built next door, which she calls an "eyesore" that makes the smaller houses look tiny.

"It's a war zone in here," she said. "The county has gone the extra mile to help, but I don't see anyone in Cupertino taking an interest in Rinconada."

Cowan said the next step is the second round of community meetings, which should answer residents' questions and give them a better idea of what annexation will mean to them.

"The residents are in the driver's seat, and if enough want to annex, I think it can happen," he said. "We haven't gotten far enough in the project to know how the council will handle it."

City staff would recommend annexation only if the process began at the Cupertino border and progressed eastward, Cowan added.

County planner Palacherla said another strategy would be to change the county's zoning standards, a process that would take time but might offer a temporary solution to residents of Rancho Rinconada.

"We don't have any say in whether Rancho Rinconada is annexed or not," she said. "It's up to the city and the area's residents. We can do the studies and provide the information, but we can't force anyone to do anything."

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