The Loma Prietan
May/June 2004
Sustainable Land Use Committee Takes First Steps in Cupertino
One of the first concrete projects the Sustainable Land Use Committee will address is Cupertino land use. Last year, the Cupertino City Council reviewed Cupertino city staff's draft of a general plan update. As part of this review, the council requested citizen input. A citizens' task force reviewed this draft last year and delivered its conclusions to the council on March 1-2. This recommendation included many items counter to the principles of sustainable land use.
Most notably, the task force eliminated many provisions which would help improve the city's current imbalance between housing and jobs. The current imbalance between jobs and housing, especially affordable housing, in Silicon Valley cities increases traffic and pollution and puts development pressure on many of our surrounding undeveloped lands. City general plans lay out the future development and growth for our region, and thus they are key to addressing problems such as this.
The Cupertino City Council will take additional public input on the general plan over the next few months by conducting a random community survey and holding additional public meetings. The Sustainable Land Use Committee is now reviewing the issues and will determine what position and action to take in future meetings. If you would like to participate in this process, please contact Irvin Dawid, Chair of the Sustainable Land Use Committee, at e-mail
irvindawid*hotmail.com (change * to @).
Cupertino residents are especially encouraged to pay attention to this issue through local media as it evolves over coming months.