Council Actions Newsletter
Council with the HarmoniKatz, a volunteer musical group from the Senior Center which performed at the Cupertino Volunteer Fair on October 1, 2022. Council was pleased to welcome back this event following a three-year hiatus.
City Council Meeting
Watch the October 18, 2022 Meeting (Part 1, Part 2) (Agenda)
City Council Actions:
Ceremonial Matters and Presentations
1. Proclamation Recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Council presented a proclamation recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Bishakha Chatterjee and Tejeswi Dodda, representing Maitri, accepted the proclamation.
Pictured from left to right: City Manager Pamela Wu; Councilmember Jon Willey; Councilmember Hung Wei; Tejeswi Dodda; Bishakha Chatterjee; Mayor Darcy Paul; Vice Mayor Liang Chao; Councilmember Kitty Moore
2. Proclamation Declaring Second Week in October as Code Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week
Council presented a proclamation declaring the second week in October as Code Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week. Monica Diaz, Senior Code Enforcement Officer for the City, accepted the proclamation.
Pictured from left to right: City Manager Pamela Wu; Councilmember Jon Willey; Councilmember Hung Wei; Monica Diaz; Mayor Darcy Paul; Vice Mayor Liang Chao; Councilmember Kitty Moore
3. Cupertino Library Foundation Donation
Council accepted a donation from the Cupertino Library Foundation for the Cupertino Library Expansion Project and presented a certificate of appreciation for the donation to Kiran Varshneya Rohra and Jim Davis of the Cupertino Library Foundation.
Pictured from left to right: City Manager Pamela Wu; Councilmember Jon Willey; Councilmember Hung Wei; Clare Varesio; Jim Davis; Kiran Varshneya Rohra; Vice Mayor Liang Chao; Councilmember Kitty Moore
Postponements and Orders of the Day
Council added Item 17 to the Consent Calendar.
Reports by Council and Staff
4. Councilmembers provided brief reports and announcements on their public activities since the prior regular Council meeting.
5. Councilmembers provided updates on their Committee assignments.
6. Councilmembers provided updates on their Subcommittee assignments.
7. City Manager provided updates on City business.
8. City Manager's Office Department provided departmental updates.
Consent Calendar
Council approved Items 9-13 on the Consent Calendar and Item 17, which was added to the Consent Calendar under Postponements and Orders of the Day. Council pulled Item 14 for discussion.
14. Professional Turf Management for the Blackberry Farm Golf Course
Council took action to:
- authorize the City Manager to execute a three-year maintenance services contract with Professional Turf Management; with direction to staff to incorporate the 2016 contract environmental protection requirements; and ensure compliance with wildlife and water quality protection best practices.
Second Reading of Ordinances
15. Municipal Code Amendment to Establish a Streamlined Permitting Process to Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia read the title of Ordinance No. 22-2244: "An Ordinance of the Cupertino City Council setting forth procedures for expediting permitting processing for electric vehicle charging stations." Council took action to read Ordinance No. 22-2244 by title only, and that the City Clerk's reading constitutes the second reading thereof.
Council took action to:
- read Ordinance No. 22-2244 by title only, and that the City Clerk's reading constitutes the second reading thereof; and
- enact Ordinance No. 22-2244.
Public Hearings
16. Application for Tentative Subdivision Map and Planning Permits for Development of Six Single-Family Homes on Parcel Located at 20860 McClellan Road
Council took action to:
- find that the project qualifies for CEQA exemption pursuant to Section 15332; and
- adopt Resolution No. 22-129 approving the Tentative Map to subdivide the subject parcel into six lots (TM-2021-006); and
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adopt Resolution No. 22-130 approving the Two-Story Permits (R-2021-040, -041,
-042, -043, -044 -045); and
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adopt Resolution No. 22-131 approving the Minor Residential Permits (RM-2022-015, -016, -022, -023, -024, -025).
Ordinances and Action Items
17. Crosswalk Options and Proposed Language for Signage near Campo De Lozano
Council took action to:
- direct staff to return to City Council one year after the opening of Regnart Creek Trail (tentatively scheduled for November 2023) with recommendations on the necessity for, and location of, potential crosswalks across Rodrigues Avenue; and
- review the proposed language for the signage to be installed at each end of the pedestrian walkway.
Mayor's Corner with Darcy Paul
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
October has been full of activity. Earlier this month we welcomed back the Volunteer Fair, which we brought back to Cupertino 2018, and which we held again in 2019. Since then, we did not have this event due to the pandemic. I’m pleased to report that City Council provided this event with its full support, as did staff, which did an excellent job coordinating.
The spirit of volunteering has brought forth a great number of real benefits to Cupertino. This event itself was born of the ethos found within volunteering, which involves willingness to perform and promote an activity. This is contrasted with being forced or required to do a thing. The modern conception of volunteering traces its roots back to our Revolutionary War times, when volunteer (as opposed to forced and conscripted) soldiers fought for independence. That independence of thinking helped us to bring this event back to Cupertino four years ago. When you try a new activity, there are points of inertia which the mindset of volunteering helps you to overcome. In this sense, you can also see the analog to starting up a business. It is no wonder that democracy, free thinking, creativity, an entrepreneurial spirit and a successful innovative process are all related to this notion of what we call volunteering.
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Council with the volunteer group Cupertino TV Productions at their booth at the Volunteer Fair on October 1, 2022, where the group (formerly known as The Better Part) interviewed fair participants.
Our City Council was quite pleased to be able to welcome back our Volunteer Fair this year. The musical group The HarmoniKatz out of our Senior Center together with Jazzberry Jam provided their talents and supported a festive environment. We had over forty volunteer organizations in the Civic Center tabling. As we keep emerging from pandemic conditions, we find comfort in the continuity of activity represented here. At the same time, we see our community changing in various ways reflected by our Fair participants. The Better Part is now known as Cupertino TV Productions. We have political advocacy groups, which can advocate for policies but not specific candidates or measures at a City-supported event. The Volunteer Fair welcomed that activity as forming part of the core of our community’s and society’s activities. And we see many new participants, which is reflective of the fact that volunteering reaches any type of interest or activity. In that, this was a truly signature community event.
In other areas, much work is being done in both the contexts of outreach and activity. You can see development activity happening around Cupertino as the Westport project’s below market rate senior housing gets built. Future phases of this project include other housing components, including for-sale homes as well as a well-regarded senior living facility. We are getting set to break ground on a housing development on the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Foothill Expressway very soon. And many people ask about the Vallco project. My expectation there is that a conscientious Council will ensure that the work gets done, the materials get read, and that we’ll have a safe and successful project there. But of course, the work is all in continuity, and we need to approach everything but especially our larger projects with broader-based and infrastructural considerations in mind, on top of doing our diligence properly and honestly.
As I round out my time on Council, I’ve very happy to be able to see significant improvements being made to our parks and amenity-related spaces, as well as our civic spaces. Council authorized the purchase of an office building not far from City Hall last year, and we are now moving forward on fixing up that space to have our building and permitting co-located there with our emergency operations center (EOC). Currently those functions are in our City Hall building, but moving them just up Torre Avenue not only frees up significant amounts of space in City Hall, it also allows us to consider and design the old Council chambers where the EOC is currently housed in a manner that optimizes its usage for the public. In addition to this, having the EOC in a larger City Hall building is in fact considerably more expensive as it turns out than moving that operation to our nearby smaller building at 10455 Torre Avenue, which by its design approved by Council earlier this week, is going to be quite a fitting and effective facility for when we need to activate emergency command. Our City takes steps in a responsible manner preserving and enhancing the integrity of our processes, and Council has been grateful for the support of our community and partners in being able to deliver this work.
 In the realm of community outreach, one visible example recently is our parks. Memorial Park just concluded its most recent round of input-seeking from the public. We are in the middle of delivering substantially more usable public space there, and future improvements will be even more tailored to current needs. In the pandemic, we could see the added value of our parks and open spaces for people to get outside and get some exercise after the isolation of needing to be socially distanced. And with many more people walking and getting exercise outside, this has turned out to be the ideal time to be opening up more recreationally available space in Memorial Park. We are also seeking feedback for the seven acres between Saratoga Creek and Lawrence Expressway which now have three options that have been envisioned on a high level. Engage Cupertino has been activated to good use these recent years, and to see the options and provide feedback for this new and significant open space in Cupertino, you can visit this webpage.
 Around the City of Cupertino, great things continue to happen. Our community discussions are robust, and we have translated this enthusiasm into discourse, engagement and excellent projects and activities. I know that sometimes our conversations get a bit fervent, especially around this time of year every couple of years, as we are now for all intents and purposes mid-election, as Santa Clara County now mails ballots to every registered voter. On that, I know that Council supports unequivocally your responsibility to engage and to be civically active. And so, with that, let me thank you for your continued involvement, allow us to ask that we stay honest and civil, and encourage everyone to take a deep breath and to realize that we are inter-connected with a common goal of building a system of mutual respect, dignity, and the optimization of our freedoms and societal potential.
Have a great rest of your October and we’ll talk to you soon!
Sincerely,
Darcy Paul
Mayor
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