Cupertino DailyCity Council Tweaks South Vallco Master Plan At 9/16 Meeting
South Vallco
With adjustments favoring
the walkability and downtown feel of the South Vallco area by encouraging retail
and restaurant development to come into the mix in buildings facing Vallco
Parkway, the City Council took a giant step toward reinventing this
giant piece of the Cupertino development puzzle.
Before
individual projects like Main Street Cupertino can go forward, this addition to
the General Plan needed to be created. So far, so good. Council Member Mark
Santoro led the discussion gleaned from a seemingly confusing set of guidelines
handed to the council by Sand Hill Properties in order to include all the
newest comments they received. Sand Hill, the company our city leaders
appointed to take up the major task of coming up with a workable plan did
exactly what was asked of them. Kudos’ to Kevin Dare, Sand Hill’s Main
Street Cupertino Project Manager who took on this difficult task and made it
work.
While late
comers to the table who are corporate stake holders added language to
the document first presented to the public, the council, in most cases,
fell back to the plan presented to the public in August. Some council
members wanted the north side of Vallco Parkway included in the retail component
of ground floor space in office buildings fronting the street, adding to
the downtown feel. The language they finally agreed upon encouraged
rather than mandated this hope.
After an Apple
Computer spokesperson explained why security in these
buildings might not allow for a retail store, Ned Britt–Pres. of CCC noted
that since Cupertino, the “core” of Apple Computers does not have an
Apple retail computer store, he had to leave Cupertino to purchase a Mac
and had to give the sales tax to another city. He also mentioned
that since even the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. has a gift shop and
thought Apple could still maintain top security with an Apple Store on the first
floor of an office complex on Vallco Parkway.
The council’s
approval now paves the way for individual developers to present their plans for
specific developments like Main Street Cupertino to the city council. -
editor
Tags: South Vallco
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