The Cupertino Courier

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Future Cupertino housing will focus on city centers

By Cody Kraatz

The majority of Cupertino's future housing development will likely be in the commercial and employment centers in the Vallco and Crossroads areas, according to a city report.

The city's so-called "special centers," including Vallco Park South, Vallco Park North, Homestead Road, City Center and the Heart of the City (both near De Anza Boulevard and Stevens Creek Boulevard), account for 86 percent of the potential housing units in the city's current General Plan, which was approved in 2005. Only 14 percent of potential housing is allocated to the neighborhoods.

"This should allay residents' concerns about high density in their neighborhoods,'' said Steve Piasecki, director of community development.

Piasecki said he advises prospective developers of the sensitivity to housing density in the city, especially in the controversial Vallco Park South area. He suggested that smaller, entry-level housing and retirement homes are a form of housing with almost no impact on schools and might get less community opposition.

"But that will probably mean forms of housing that have a higher density like condos or smaller starter housing or senior housing," he said.

The commission also plans to discuss at a later meeting the status of the city's affordable housing goals, which are set in cooperation with the Association of Bay Area Governments to distribute affordable housing throughout the region. Piasecki said the state is in a housing crisis, and the city's planners need to create housing that everyone can afford.

"I think our obligation is fairly clear," he said, adding that potential affordable housing was lost when major housing developments in the Vallco Park South area were rejected by voters. The city requires 15 percent of the units in a development with more than six units be sold or rented at below market rate.

The Cupertino City Council will review the General Plan at its next regular meeting if there is room on the agenda. The Northern Section of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association recently gave the city an award recognizing the clarity of its plan, which was created by a task force including about 70 residents.

The General Plan is online at www.cuper tino.org/planning.