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How Much Is Too Much Development? Tempers Flare At Cupertino Council Meeting June 14 2006 - KGO - It's a debate that is being repeated in communities across the Bay Area. Just where should a city draw the line on development? Homeowners feel their entitled to a say, but increasingly buying into a city doesn't mean buying a voice. At the Cupertino City Council Meeting in March, tempers flared over the construction of hundreds of condos and townhomes in and around the Vallco Fashion Park Shopping Center. Shipla Joshi, Cupertino resident: "Our city manager, he encourages us to come together and organize -- we are doing that.

A final decision could mean link to coming Apple campus

A Cupertino Planning Commission study session on the future of the North Vallco area generated more questions than answers May 9.

Property owners and the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce listed several topics for the planning commission to consider as it moves forward on developing a master plan for an area bordered by Highway 280, Wolfe Road, Pruneridge Road and North Tantau Road.

"It will not be your father's office park," said Steve Piasecki, Cupertino's director of community development.

A Cupertino City Council discussion on two referendums May 16 included testimony from Vallco Fashion Park and Toll Brothers' officials, several comments from the public, a protracted discussion on the cost of elections and ultimately a split decision.

With Councilman Orrin Mahoney absent, the council voted 2-2 on whether to hold an election on the two referendums in 2006 or 2007. The referendums seek to overturn two city council decisions approving mixed-use projects at Vallco and at vacant land along Stevens Creek Boulevard at Finch Avenue.

The council declined to repeal its decision on those projects and instead moved ahead with setting an election--a process that proved contentious.

After much discussion about cost, council members Richard Lowenthal and Dolly Sandoval voted for a November 2006 election and council members Patrick Kwok and Kris Wang voted to hold the election in 2007. The city clerk's office had said 2006 would be the cheapest date for the election. With the split vote, the matter returns to the council at its next regular meeting June.

Referendums could face lawsuits By HUGH BIGGAR Cupertino Courier 5/10/2006 The city of Cupertino and backers of two referendums on growth could face legal action over those documents. At a closed session meeting on May 2, Cupertino's city council discussed the possibility of lawsuits on the referendums. According to city documents, Cupertino faces "significant exposure to litigation ... potential litigation of Toll Brothers vs. the City of Cupertino, and Vallco vs. the City of Cupertino regarding the referenda process." Residents drafted two referendums this spring hoping to overturn two city council decisions approving mixed-use development.

Cupertino business owners and residents are steamed at development being orchestrated by San Jose, outside of local jurisdiction

THE BORDER between Cupertino and San Jose zigzags back and fourth along the length of De Anza Boulevard so erratically that even people who have lived here for 20 or 30 years are rarely sure which city controls what. For simplicity's sake, most residents look at everything squished between Sunnyvale and Saratoga as part of their city, unaware that their street might be the domain of a different city hall 20 miles away—one in which they have no representation or political sway.

Did you send your child to school today well-prepared and rested? If so,you may have taken a tiny step toward enhancing the value of your home.

Forget showy curbside flowers and the latest home fashions. A growing body of academic research, including a new study of 2005 Silicon Valley home sales, shows that students' academic performance at local public schools plays a surprisingly strong role in determining the value of homes.

In Cupertino, a town renowned for its students' excellent state test scores, the difference in home prices in the poorest-performing high school's catchment area versus those in the best-performing high school's area is $250,000, according to research from Palo Alto's Movoto Inc.

Apple Computer Inc. has been working below the radar with a private Houston development company to acquire 50 acres in Cupertino that it needs for a 1-million-square-foot campus, say two property owners whose sites are being purchased.

In addition, a 130-unit condominium development approved by the city of Cupertino only in the last several months will apparently be swallowed up by the proposed corporate campus.

The Texas company involved -- Hines Interests LP -- is a commercial real estate developer specializing in site selection, rezoning, design, construction management and financing, according to Hoovers.com. Its portfolio includes 700 properties in the United States and 12 other countries, including corporate headquarters, industrial facilities and

A LARGE CAMPUS HAS ADVANTAGES OVER A BUNCH OF SMALL ONES

Steve Jobs said last week that Apple Computer had to beat long odds to find the site of its second campus in Cupertino -- and the company's chief executive wasn't kidding. Apple also paid big bucks.

Jobs was most likely speaking plainly when he told the Cupertino City Council that Apple ended up spending more than it would have liked to acquire the land. The assessed value of the 50 acres Apple is buying tops $160 million, according to property records. Apple would not comment on the purchase process.

But the purchase price is just the beginning. By the time Apple flattens the site's old-style structures and builds new offices for as many as 3,500 employees -- a process the company expects to take about four years -- Apple could easily have spent $500 million, two real estate experts predict. That would make the company's second campus one of the costliest Silicon Valley commercial ventures in recent memory.

Taylor Woodrow Homes, whose 94-unit, small-lot housing project recently failed to gain approval from the Cupertino City Council after years of effort, does not intend to give up on the site, its western region president says.

The options it is now considering are senior housing, because it would not send students into the city's respected schools, or simply fewer homes, Mike Forsum says.

Whichever path the company chooses, however, it is unlikely to avoid further conflict.

The city is deeply conflicted on many fronts, with staff supporting alternatives the council does not, the community at large skeptical of both, and council members themselves sending the company mixed messages on what it would accept.