The Cupertino Courier
News
Residents protest plans for area street and park
By Cody Kraatz
The Cupertino Planning Commission is recommending approval for the addition of 117 apartment units to the Villa Serra apartment complex near Stelling and Homestead roads. The apartments would be located throughout the complex in open spaces.
The commission, however, isn't backing proposals by city staff for changes to nearby Franco Court.
Condominium residents from Celeste Circle, whose only entry and exit is on Franco Court, came out in force to protest the protested changes, which include a driveway from the apartments and eight feet of street being turned into part of a public park at the southwest corner of Homestead Road and Franco Court.
The park, residents said, would need to be carefully designed or it would be dangerous.
"I am very concerned about the impact of traffic at the corner of Franco and Homestead Road. Remember that Franco is really a dead end street and it has quite a bit of traffic already," said Janet Takahashi, a Celeste Circle resident.
"You're going to have families where children are going to be playing ball, running, you know. That's what parks are for. I think it's just creating the possibility of some poor child, someone getting hurt."
Villa Serra owner Prometheus Real Estate Group will now need city council approval to build the new apartments, most of which would be one-bedroom units.
The impact on local schools is estimated at 32 students, 18 of whom would go to Nimitz Elementary School rather than Garden Gate Elementary School where current residents go. Commissioner Gilbert Wong criticized this plan.
"I don't think we should be discriminating between renters vs. homeowner-occupied housing," he said, also noting some residents' fears that the school split could decrease property values.
The commission proposed that the Prometheus work on a landscape design for Stelling and Homestead roads that would serve as a gateway to the city. It also recommended that the city and the developer split the cost of making improvements to the east side of the Stelling Road bridge over Interstate 280 and for maintaining the public park. Commissioner Marty Miller said requiring the property owner to pay for park maintenance would be unfair.
Prometheus will get a 50 percent credit, about $400,000, taken off the city's park dedication fees, but said the nearly one acre that the park sits on is worth as much as $3.5 million.
A traffic operations center on the site, used by Cupertino's Department of Public Works, would have to be moved to make way for the park. The commission did not reach an agreement on the traffic operations center, but city staff proposed moving it 80 feet to the south and requiring Prometheus to pay for all associated costs, leaving the facility fully functional.
The commission recommends requiring some green building standards. The common pool would use solar heating and the common recreation and leasing building would get 100 percent of its power from photovoltaics if they can pay for themselves in less than 10 years, including state and federal incentives.
