Cupertino Facts

Month: October 2022

  • Balanced vs Unbalanced Development: Contrasting Visions

     

    Article was updated in September 2024 to add more pictures of the original proposal for Westport which was negotiated down by the resident oriented council to have one third square footage of the original proposals. Many of the concerns expressed in the article have unfortunately come true after JR Fruen's election in 2022. The city is dealing with many plans for large multi-story condo/townhome complexes in the middle of single family neighborhoods.

    This email is about two different visions about new development in Cupertino


    – The balanced approach which considers the impact on the residents, the city infrastructure especially traffic & schools, and the viability of the project.

    – The unbalanced approach which focuses on maximizing investors’ profits without regards to impact on the quality of life of residents.


    What Balanced Development Looks Like

    Westport is the name of the redevelopment of the Oaks Plaza on the corner of Hwy 85 and Stevens Creek Blvd opposite De Anza College. The project had been in the pipeline since 2016, and the original proposal was to build a mixed-use gateway with office, hotels and some homes or a large mixed use residential.


    The two drawing below are visualizations of the two proposals which were under consideration.


     


    The resident oriented city-council elected in November in 2018, collaborated with the developer to redo the project to a combination of market rate homes, senior care, affordable homes and retail. You can see renderings of the project on the developer, KT Urban’s website.



    The density of the approved project is less than one third of the original proposal, and it is traffic neutral. 


    Another mixed-use redevelopment project is Canyon Crossing on the corner of McClellan Rd and Foothill Blvd which is a mixture of housing and much needed retail.  The developments approved by the resident oriented council elected in 2018, balance various competing goals and many are in the process of being constructed..You can read more about the new developments approved by the city here. 

    What Unbalanced Development Looks like


    The contrast with the coterie of ex-mayors approach could not be more stark. Lets consider the the Vallco project which they often refer to while denigrating the resident oriented city-council the voters chose.

    What the coterie of ex-mayors fails to mention is that the Vallco SB35 plan was approved when the coterie (or their proteges) were a majority in the city-council (2018) over the objections of the City Attorney whom they fired.


    Or how they scuttled efforts by councilmen Paul & Scharf to add some height limits (November 2017) right before SB35 became law. 

    Or how they amended the City General Plan to add 2M sq. ft of office space, right after SHP bought the mall, while removing height limit (2014) in spite of overwhelming resident opposition.

    The Vallco project needs site-cleanup to remove toxic waste and contaminants which is being supervised by the County of Santa Clara. The builder sponsored council (Rod Sinks, Barry Chang, Savita Vaidyanathan) ignored residents’ pleas on this topic even though the developer was aware of the contamination as early as 2016, two years before the approval of the plans (2018)



    Hopefully, you now have a better idea of what balanced vs unbalanced development looks like.


    Unbalanced Development: 14 unit buildings on Single Family Lots (SB10)


    A new state law, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (real-estate industry favorite), SB10 gives local city councils the authority to permit the building of 14 housing units (10 + 2ADU/2JADU) on a single family lot, as long as the home is in a transit priority area, 


    A transit priority area is defined as the region within one-half mile of a major transit stop that is existing or planned. In the map below, the blue circles represent the current areas in Cupertino which would become eligible for 14 unit buildings on single family lots under SB10. In the future, more areas can be included due to a change in the route of the existing VTA bus-lines or a new route being added (even if it is just planned). 

    For example, Rainbow/De Anza, Stelling/McClellan, Stelling/De Anza or Foothill/Stevens Creek can be the centers of new half a mile circular zones (red circles) which will then permit 14 unit homes on single family lots if an eligible service is planned connecting De Anza College to Los Gatos via 85/Prospect or De Anza College to Foothill College via Foothill Expressway/280.



    The silver lining is that local city councils can decide whether to allow such construction under SB10. Unlike other state laws like SB35 or SB9 (lot-split) the law is not mandatory for cities.
    JR Fruen: Endorsed by SB10 Author, Sen. Scott Wiener


    One of the candidates for Cupertino City Council, who has the strong financial and endorsement support of the coterie of ex-mayors, endorsements by the three CUSD trustees who shut down CUSD schools, and a long association with construction related interests is JR Fruen. JR has been endorsed by Sen. Scott Wiener, the author of SB10, on his twitter feed.

    For residents who are interested in preserving the character of their single family homes, a vote for JR Fruen would be a step in the wrong direction, increasing the chances of SB10 approval.



    Vote SmartTo preserve home values and our suburban life, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back the past decisions. They are not funded by special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost, supporting balanced growth.


    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They also receive extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on. 


  • How Regnart Elementary School was Shut Down

     

    In this mail, we go through two items: 

    (a) The painful journey to the closure of Regnart Elementary School

    (b) A note about who we are


    The Regnart Story:

    CUSD schools have one of the highest per-school enrollment in the region. A rational person would expect that the school board would prefer to distribute students evenly across different campuses. However, what happened at Regnart was exactly the reverse. 


    Regnart was one of the less crowded schools in the district. Instead of enabling open enrollment students to join Regnart, or open new programs there, the policy of the board was to do the reverse; i.e. to find opportunities to reduce the enrollment even further.

    1. The existing Transitional Kindergarten was shut down and relocated to another school.
    2. Open enrollment students who had applied to Regnart as their preferred school,were waitlisted and not allowed to enroll there..

    Regnart had a healthy enrollment of 426 in 2019. Meanwhile, neighboring Blue Hills had 361 students, and nearby Montclaire had about 445. However, those schools which also happened to be the home schools of two trustees (Lori-Montclaire & Phyllis-Blue Hills), received students during open enrollment who were channeled away from Regnart.

    This drop in enrollment, which was manufactured by CUSD by closing down the transitional kindergarten and not allowing open enrollment to Regnart was then used to justify the closure of Regnart!


    The Regnart community organized itself and offered CUSD many ideas. That included ideas for transforming Regnart into a magnet school, providing stop-gap funding to tide over the pandemic and even raising more than $100,000. However the Board Members refused to consider alternatives.

     

    Deception from the Board


    The primary reason given by CUSD to close school campuses was that they did not have enough funds. However, whenever parents dug into the data, they realized that the projections did not justify closing schools. There were two reasons:


    1. The expected savings from closing a campus was minimal because most of the expense goes to staff pay; and class sizes in CUSD were already near state mandated maxima, so staff cuts were minimal.


    2. CUSD itself was unlikely to face the funding shortage which would have justified cost cuts in the first place. CUSD had an ending fund balance of $45M at the time of closure. This has now risen to $53M and is projected to grow!

    Lack of Transparency

    A question to ask is why was CUSD in such a rush to close schools during a once in a 100 year pandemic?


    While CUSD was shutting down Regnart they were simultaneously expanding the CLIP program to a new site. That goes against their claim of funding gap leading to program closures. 

     

    PRA requests have also revealed that the CUSD board has been communicating withReal Estate Development consultants to evaluate the ‘attractiveness’ of various sites to investors. 


    Regnart is nestled in a quiet neighborhood in Monta Vista with multi-million dollar homes, and is prime land for development of expensive homes. 

     

    Choice For Voters?

    Is this the way you want your school districts to be run? Why were the lives of children and families disrupted during the pandemic, when there was no compelling reason to close already crowded campuses?

     

    Whose interests is CUSD serving: real estate investors or our children?

     

    If, like us, you feel the need for change, please do NOT vote for candidates sponsored by the coterie of ex-mayors for the Cupertino City Council (JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan) or CUSD (Ava Chiao) who also been endorsed by the three CUSD trustees who spearheaded the effort..

     

    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They will  work to roll-back school closure, and ensure that the local agencies work for the betterment of the residents.


    A note about who we are


    Cupertino Facts is an effort is by a group of long-term residents of  Cupertino, who have come together to inform our neighbors about the misinformation which the special-interests spread in our city. Most of us hold mid to senior level professional roles in the Tech Industry, and are united by our desire to preserve the wonderful city we call home. 

    We do not have any big donors, and would love to get your contribution to help fight the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) spread in our city by special interests. We would also like to hear from you about other topics you would like to learn more about.

    .

    JR Fruen’s Campaign Finance Violations

    In closing, we would like to inform our readers that one of the candidates sponsored by the coterie of ex-mayors, JR Fruen, was issued a warning letter by the FPCC due to campaign finance reporting errors in 2020. In the 2022 cycle, there are two other violations by JR Fruen which have been reported to the FPCC under COM-08232022-02558 including Laundering Campaign Contributions.

  • Lobbying and CUSD Land Grab

     

    This email is an effort to inform you of special interest lobbying, and how CUSD schools are being closed to be sold to investors.

    Lobbyist Registration

     

    In the first half of 2021, the resident oriented City Council of Cupertino passed a lobbying ordinance asking entities who were receiving compensation to lobby with the city, to register with the city. Similar lobbying ordinances exist in many Bay Area jurisdictions including Santa Clara, San Jose and Palo Alto. At least ten entities who lobby in the city have voluntarily registered increasing the transparency and reducing conflict of interest.


    Who Opposes Registering as Lobbyists?

     

    You may have received inflammatory mailers from a self-styled coterie of ex-mayors, disparaging the council chosen by the voters in 2018. Not surprisingly, on Nextdoor, a leading member of the coterie cheered a lawsuit opposing the city’s requirement for paidlobbyists to register.

     

    The lawsuit, which challenges the requirement register as a paid lobbyist based on theFirst Amendment, was filed one year after the ordinance came to force, just in time for the elections. Multiple people, who strongly advocate for the coterie’s agenda like school closure, have had a close association with the particular local chapter of the organization (LVW) which is opposing the transparency ordinance.
     

    Special Interests Abusing Neighborly Trust


    As residents of the same city, we tend to trust our fellow residents’ view more than an entity we are not familiar with. However, this trust can be misused by special interests, when the special-interests compensate certain residents to act as lobbyists for their interests.


    The lobbying ordinance is designed to empower residents with the information to evaluate whose interests a particular person represents, and then make an informed decision. 

    That the leading member of the coterie of ex-mayors is not interested in transparency speaks volumes of their approach.

    Selling CUSD Land to Investors

    Another pet project of the coterie of ex-mayors is shutting down school campuses, in the already overcrowded schools of CUSD. During the recent school closure drama, residents were informed that CUSD has no money to run the schools; a claim debunked by many parents and invalidated by the huge surplus CUSD currently has.

    A CUSD parent discovered this email after a public record request, which clearly shows CUSD studying how attractive our closed school sites will be for real-estate investors!. 

    It should be obvious by now that our school going children and families went through the dislocation during the pandemic, so that wealthy investors could grab more land to profit from. 

     

    Note that this pattern of trying to sell the school land is not new; in 2017 CUSD, then led by another protege of the coterie of ex-mayors, tried to sell off the land for Luther School and Park in Santa Clara, to none other than the Vallco investor, Sand Hill Properties (SHP)

     

    Progress after 2018 Elections


    The resident focussed council first took charge after Nov 2018 elections, when the voters shunned the money power on display from special interests. Since then, the resident-focussed council has worked hard to fix financial loop-holes (Internal Audit, increase transparency (lobbying), ensure greater resident involvement (Engage Cupertino), and unblock sensible development.

     

    Many of the development projects like Westport and Canyon Crossing, which were stuck in the pipeline with the previous council have been approved with a usage-mix which addresses long standing city needs like senior care, without adverse impact on traffic. 

    The Vallco project is waiting for the cleanup of toxic waste which is being coordinated by the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health.


    Please Make an Informed Choice


    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They will enhance the dignity and respect of our Council and School District, work to roll-back school closure, and ensure that the local agencies work for the betterment of the residents.

    Please do NOT vote for the candidates backed by this coterie, who are also endorsed and supported by the three CUSD trustees who spear-headed the effort to close schools. These candidates, supportive of school closures, are JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan (City Council) and Ava Chiao (CUSD) are a risk to our home values and should be actively opposed. 

  • Restoring Financial Accountability in Cupertino

     

    Do you know that an employee swindled nearly $800,000 from the City of Cupertino, running an embezzlement scam which lasted from 2000-2014, and was finally addressed in 2018. 

    What is surprising is that a coterie of ex-Mayors of Cupertino, who were in the council prior till 2018, have been sending extremely inflammatory mails about the resident focussed council, which was elected for the first time in November 2018. This is the coterie which presided over this period of embezzlements and weak financial controls!


    In order to avoid such scams, the residents focussed Cupertino City Council,  instituted an external audit (via Moss-Adams) of the financial operations of the City. The audit identified serious gaps in the City’s Processes, and a plan to fix them has been put in place. You can read the report here

    As the Moss-Adams report shows, the coterie of ex-Mayors presided over serious gaps, including what the auditors called a Full Gap in the most critical portions: the Accounts Payable, Revenue and Accounts Receivable, and Payroll & Timekeeping.

    Please continue to support your resident oriented city leaders who are working hard to steady the ship in Cupertino since being elected in 2018, after many years of mismanagement. They are putting in financial controls to ensure transparency and prevent scams. (Learn more here).

     

    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council

    Restoring School System (CUSD) Vitality


    Our school system, CUSD is being run into the ground with 33% of all eligible studentsnow choosing to attend non-CUSD schools. The recent closing of three campuses has accelerated this flight. This coterie of mayors also exerted a lot of influence in the board of the CUSD with cross endorsements and campaign finance support.

     

    Please vote for Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stance against school closures, and will work towards rolling them back.

    Coterie of ex-Mayors backed Candidates

     

    Please do NOT vote for the candidates backed by this coterie, who are also endorsed and supported by the three CUSD trustees who spear-headed the effort to close schools. These candidates, supportive of school closures, are JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan (City Council) and Ava Chiao (CUSD) are a risk to our home values and should be actively opposed. 

    Note that the three trustee of CUSD who led the school closing efforts are facing their own recall by CUSD parents living across multiple cities.


    Getting things in Order

    In order to fix the problems the coterie of mayors have left behind, it is important that both the City Council and CUSD work together to address residents’ interests, including putting an end to school closures, reopening closed campuses and adding school capacity for the thousands of new homes in the development pipeline.

    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They will enhance the dignity and respect of our Council and School District, and ensure that the local agencies work for the betterment of the residents

  • Save CUSD, Save Home Values

     

    It’s no secret that homes in Cupertino command a significant premium due to the stellar reputation of CUSD schools. However, due to the anti-children policies of the CUSD board, 33% of all eligible children are now attending private schools. This number has grown 3x in the past decade. 

    With parents fleeing CUSD due to lower desirability of schools, our home values are at risk.

     

    One of the big reasons for the flight was the mismanagement by CUSD including overcrowding, and the deeply unpopular decision to close three campuses on extremely flimsy and unsubstantiated grounds. In order to restore vitality to CUSD, it’s critical that we do not close any more schools, and  reopen the recently closed campuses.

     

    In order to secure the future of our children and preserve home values, please do NOT vote for any candidate who is  supported (eg: campaign funding, endorsed) by those who spear-headed the effort to close our schools or construction interests who covet the land under our schools

     

    To preserve home values, please VOTE for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board. They have taken a public stand to keep school closure off the table and roll back the past decisions. They are not funded by external special-interests and will keep the interests of residents foremost.

     

     

    Please do NOT vote for JR Fruen, Sheila Mohan for Cupertino City Council, and Ava Chiao (CUSD).  They have been supportive of school closure and giving the land to developers, and have strong endorsements from the three CUSD trustees who closed the schools.  They have also receive extensive funding from construction interests, who covet the land our schools stand on. 

  • Restoring Financial Accountability in Cupertino

    Do you know that an employee swindled nearly $800,000 from the City of Cupertino, running an embezzlement scam which lasted from 2000-2014, and was finally addressed in 2018. 

    What is surprising is that a coterie of ex-Mayors of Cupertino, who were in the council prior till 2018, have been sending extremely inflammatory mails about the resident focussed council, which was elected for the first time in November 2018. This is the coterie which presided over this period of embezzlements and weak financial controls!
    In order to avoid such scams, the residents focussed Cupertino City Council,  instituted an external audit (via Moss-Adams) of the financial operations of the City. The audit identified serious gaps in the City’s Processes, and a plan to fix them has been put in place. You can read the report here

  • Whose interests does Ava Chiao Represent?

    School Closures amid Over Crowded Schools

    CUSD has among the most crowded schools in the region. In spite of that there are certain elements who want to close our school campuses.

    Ava Chiao & School Board Future

    One such candidates is Ava Chaio for CUSD Board. 
    Ava has stated that she supports school closure. Beyond supporting school closure, she has even proposed plans on how the land of the closed schools should be used to build housing. 
    Ava is backed by unions who are pouring in tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign; she will not be representing the parents’ or the children’s interests on the board.

    Ava is being supported by other candidates who have championed for school closure like JR Fruen. Ava has contributed to JR Fruen’s campaign.

    No Plans to Adress Students’ Challenges

    However, we have seen little from Ava on how the problems created by over crowded schools will be addressed.
    Whether it is the lack of lockers in middle school, children not having table space to have their lunch (they sit on the ground), the large traffic bottlenecks, Ava has no plans to address those.

    School Closure & Property Values

    With more than 30% of children in CUSD going to private schools, one of the major reasons why people paid premium prices for Cupertino homes is fading away. This will impact the desirability of Cupertino and will impact property prices negatively.

    Save Cupertino Schools and Your Home Values

    Even if you do not have school going children, your home values are strongly impacted by the quality of schools.
    In order to ensure that CUSD schools thrive and your homes do not lose value, please do not vote for any candidate who supports school closure.
    Ava Chiao has even proposed plans for how to use land under the closed schools; she has no plans on how to reduce the exodus to private schools from CUSD.
    To preserve home values, please vote for Govind Tatachari, Liang Chao, and Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council, and Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board.

  • Home Values will Decline with CUSD Decline

     It is no secret that homes in CUSD command a premium to neighboring communities because of the high quality of schools. Real Estate listings in Cupertino specifically mention the Cupertino schools the children in the home will attend.

    But This May Not Last Forever

    In 2021 CUSD shut down three school campuses claiming a financial shortfall, even though their own projections show a surplus of over 39 Million dollars over the next five years.
    CUSD has the most crowded schools in Silicon Valley

    And parents are now increasingly sending their children to private schools
    The percentage of children in CUSD who are attending private schools has been rising dramatically. It has tripled in the past decade.
    The word is getting out that in spite of their high test scores, the overall educational experience being offered in CUSD is falling below the standards parents expect. 
    And they are voting with their wallets, by spending tens of thousands of dollars every year to send their children to private schools.

    Home Values Impacted Negatively

    This trend of falling confidence in CUSD schools will impact home values negatively since one of the primary reason homes command high value is not as relevant any more.

    We have already observed this with homes in parts of Sunnyvale School District (Cumberland area) commanding similar prices to homes in Cupertino, for homes of comparable size and age. A decade ago these homes used to about 15-20% less expensive than Cupertino.

    Preserve Home Values: Restore Vitality in CUSD Schools

    In order to ensure that Cupertino homes command a premium value, it is important to preserve the quality of CUSD schools. 
    • We need to roll back school closures
    • We need to plan for additional capacity as the thousands of homes in the pipeline are built
    Updated 12/25/2022

  • Whose Interests does JR Fruen Represent?

     JR Fruen is running again as a candidate for Cupertino City Council. The questions for voters to ask is:

    Whose Interests does JR Fruen Represent?

    This election is primarily a battle between

    • Those who want to preserve their neighborhood, and vote out those who support school closures
    • Those who want to serve investor’s interests which include closing schools to free up land for construction.

    Who Funds JR’s Campaign?

    JR has had close ties with the investor community. In 2018 he ran a PAC which received tens of thousands of dollars from investors and construction related entities:
    • Vallco owners $29,000.00
    • Plumbers / Steamfitters Union $10,250.00
    • Electrical Union $10,250.00
    • Sheetmetal Union $10,000.00
    • Sprinklers Union $10,700.00
    His 2022 campaign contributors include:
    Construction Related Entities:
    CREPAC (California Real Estate PAC) $2500
    IFTPE 21 (Worker’s Union PAC) $2000
    Plumbers Steamfitters & Refrigeration Fitters (Worker’s Union PAC) $1000
    Real Estate Broker (Milpitas) $1000
    People who advocated for School Closures:

    Richard Lowenthal who sponsors and nurtures a lot of the anti-resident candidates  ($4900)

    Hung Wei the Cupertino Council Member who opposed the City Council writing to CUSD to reconsider school closure ($4900)
    Rod Sinks who made a U-Turn to not put height limits on Vallco ($1000)
    Lorien Cunningham the CUSD Trustee who spearheaded the campaign to close schools
    Sheila Mohan who is standing for the Cupertino City Council because others asked her to un

    Ava Chiao the CUSD candidate who wants to shut down more schools and construct over the land

    Who is Endorsing JR’s Campaign?

    JR is endorsed by all the three CUSD trustees who voted to close CUSD schools in spite of strong opposition by the residents.

    SB10: Scott Wiener endorses JR!

    Senator Scott Wiener who authored SB10 which gives cities the choice to allow up to 14 units on a single family lot, has endorsed JR Fruen. JR is much more likely to to support SB10 than resident oriented candidates. Learn more about SB10 here.

    What is JR’s Past Record?

    As part of the Citizens’s Advisory Committee he was supportive of closing schools (and hence endorsed by all the three CUSD trustees who led the campaign to close schools)
    He runs an organization called Cupertino For All, which endorsed Prop-16, the proposition which was soundly defeated by the voters of California, and would have led to more discriminatory practices against Asian students.

    Please do not vote for JR Fruen if you do not want more schools to be shut down
    Please do not vote for JR Fruen if you do not want investors to control your city and SB10 construction permitted


    Please vote for Govind Tatachari, Steven Scharf & Liang Chao for Cupertino City Council


    Please vote for Darcy Paul, Satheesh Madhathil & Jerry Liu for CUSD Board.

  • Responsible Governance in Action: Cupertino City Council on SB9

     What is SB9?

    SB9 is a California state law that allows single family homeowners to split their residential lot into two separate lots. Further it permits the construction of up to two new housing units on each of the separate lots.

    SB9 requires all cities to comply with the law.

    How did the City Respond?

    In order to respect the letter and the spirit of the law the City of Cupertino has taken steps to define objective standards to govern lot splitting and the building of new units on them.

    Interim Urgency Ordinance

    The first step was to issue an Interim Urgency Ordinance 21-2235. The city followed the following principles. (Page 4 of Staff Report [2])
    The key guiding principles in development of the Interim Urgency ordinance were to: 

    1. Preserve neighborhood character while accommodating increased density; 
    2. Maintain privacy protection for existing residents; 
    3. Minimize pedestrian, motor vehicle, and bicyclist conflicts from changes to sidewalk and roadway infrastructure necessary to accommodate increased density; and 
    4. Protect environmental resources while maintaining the ministerial level of review required by State law. 

    This ordinance was temporary and is going to expire by the end of the year, 2022

    Public Comments & Feedback

    In September 2022, the City conducted multiple sessions to gather community feedback about the interim ordinance and what changes the residents’ preferred before it became final. 
    One specific area of feedback was on flag lots: many residents expressed that the city permit the creation of flag logs when the existing lot is larger than a typical lot. As a result the City is now proposing a revised draft which clearly defined rules on when the lot split could be used to create flag lots (Pages 6-7 of Staff Report [2])

    Transparency & Objective Standards

    While the city does not control what laws are passed at the state-level, we do have influence on how the laws are interpreted. The objective standards allow for clear guidelines, which reduce uncertainty both for the property developers and the residents.
    The City also demonstrated how the residents have a say on how the objective standards are set by incorporating the suggestions on flag lots.

    Thank You, City Council!

    Laws which bring objectivity and reduce discretion enable a level playing field, for all developers and property owners. That transparency ensures that special interests are not able to exert influence to get undue favors for themselves, without incorporating the interests of the residents, especially the neighbors of the property under redevelopment.
    [1] https://www.myhomestead.com/sb9-handbook-for-homeowners