Cupertino
General Plan
C i t y o f
2 0 0 0 – 2 0 2 0
City Council
Patrick Kwok, Mayor Dolly Sandoval
Richard Lowenthal, Vice- Mayor Kris Wang
Sandra James Michael Chang, Emeritus
Planning Commision
Gilbert Wong, Chairperson Taghi Saadati
Marty Miller, Vice Chairperson Marc Auerbach, Emeritus
Angela Chen Charles Corr, Emeritus
Lisa Giefer Geoff Pattnoe, Emeritus
City Staff
David W. Knapp, City Manager
Steve Piasecki, AICP, Director of Community Development
Ciddy Wordell, AICP, City Planner
Gary Chao, Associate Planner
Piu Ghosh, Assistant Planner
Vera Gil, Senior Planner
Aki Honda, AICP, Senior Planner
Colin Jung, AICP, Senior Planner
Kiersa Witt, Administrative Secretary
Beth Ebben, Administrative Clerk
Peter Gilli, AICP, Senior Planner Emeritus
Aarti Shrivastiva, AICP, Senior Planner Emeritus
Nancy Czosek, Administrative Secretary Emeritus
Ralph Qualls, PE, Director of Public Works
Glenn Goepfert, PE, Assistant Director of Public Works
Carol Atwood, Director of Administrative Services
Therese Ambrosi Smith, Director of Parks and Recreation
Charles Kilian, City Attorney
Eileen Murray, Assistant City Attorney
Consultants
Michael Fornalski, Graphics Consultant
Planning Resource Associates, Planning Consultants
Melanie Shaffer Freitas, Freitas & Freitas, Engineering and Planning Consultants
Adopted by the Cupertino City Council, November 15, 2005
City of Cupertino General Plan
General Plan
Acknowledgements
Fari Aberg
Charlie Ahern
Stan Barkey
Cynthia A. Bartlett Wong
Girish Bhat
Dave Blau
Rodney E Brown
Mark Burns
Pat Bustamante
James Cai
Nolan Chen
Cary Chien
Matthew Cohn
Erve Conens
Roger Costa
Nina K. Daruwalla
Michael Di Tore
Linda Espinoza
Suzanne Ford
Mike Foulkes
Lisa A. Giefer
Andrew Golkar
Bob Graber
David Greenstein
Mary Jo Gunderson
Andrea Harris
Robert Hendrickson
Mary Holaday
Roberta Hollimon
Shawna Holmes
George Hsing
Raymond Hsu
Michelle Hu
Olivia Jang
Beez Jones
Zack Kolev
John E. Kolski
Sally Larson
Nicol Lea
Todd Lee
Robert Levy
Brian Low
Jon Moss
Shishir Mukherjee
Malka Nagel
Mahesh Nihalani
John Noone
Peter Pau
Zahra Pavlovic
Betsy Randolph
Kathy Robinson
Douglas Rowe
Joe Sluga
Maty Soha
Kathy Stakey
Homer Tong
Joanne Tong
Joseph Walton
Kris Wang
Dennis Whittaker
F. Edwards Winslow
Joann Yamani
Frank Yap
City of Cupertino General Plan
Planning Commission Meeting
General Plan Task Force Meeting
The Cupertino General Plan Task Force met from July to October 2003 to recommend
policy changes to the City Council. The Task Force General Plan Draft was used as the basis
for the public hearings on the General Plan.
Task Force Members
City Council Meeting
Section 1 INTRODUCTION
1- 2 Building Community
1- 2 Guiding Principles
1- 4 Purpose of the General Plan
1- 5 Organization of the Plan
1- 6 General Plan Adoption
1- 6 General Plan Implementation
Section 2 LAND USE/
COMMUNITY DESIGN
2- 1 Introduction
2- 3 Planning Context
2- 3 Development History
2- 3 Land Use Pattern
2- 3 Transportation Pattern
2- 3 Cupertino Community Form
2- 4 Urban Centers
2- 6 Neighborhoods
2- 7 Circulation
2- 7 City Gateways
2- 8 Urban Service Area
2- 9 Community Design
2- 10 Building Form
2- 11 Building and Site Design
2- 14 Streetscape and Transitions
2- 15 Community Development
2- 15 Balancing Land Uses
2- 16 Allocating Development Potential
2- 16 Neighborhoods and
Non- Residential Centers
2- 16 Neighborhoods
2- 22 Commercial Centers
2- 29 Employment Centers
2- 32 Education/ Cultural Center
2- 33 Economic Development
2- 33 Citywide
2- 34 Office/ Industrial Development
2- 35 Commercial Development
2- 36 Hillsides
2- 39 Public Services and Facilities
2- 39 School Districts
2- 40 Library Services
2- 41 Historic and Cultural Resources
2- 41 Historic Resources
2- 44 Cultural Resources
2- 44 Open Space, Parks and Trails
2- 44 Regional Resources
2- 45 Midpeninsula Regional Open
Space District
2- 45 Santa Clara County
2- 45 Santa Clara County Parks
Program
2- 46 Santa Clara Valley Water District
2- 46 Community Resources
2- 48 Private Open Space Resources
2- 48 Trails
2- 49 Stevens Creek
2- 50 Calabazas Creek
2- 50 San Tomas- Aquino/
Saratoga Creek
2- 51 Union Pacific Railroad
2- 51 Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge
2- 52 Neighborhood and Community
Parks
2- 52 Accessibility
2- 56 Implementation
2- 58 General Policies
i
City of Cupertino General Plan
General Plan
Table of Contents
ii Table of Contents
City of Cupertino General Plan
Section 3 HOUSING
3- 1 Introduction
3- 2 Community Profile
3- 2 Population and Households
3- 2 Ethnic Composition
3- 3 Age Distribution
3- 3 Households
3- 3 Housing Units and Type
3- 4 Projected Housing Needs
3- 4 New Construction
3- 4 Adequate Sites For ABAG
Estimated New Construction Need
3- 4 Affordable Housing
3- 4 Conservation Of Existing Housing
3- 4 Special Housing Needs
3- 4 Equal Access To Housing
Section 4 CIRCULATION
4- 1 Introduction
4- 2 Regional Transportation Planning
4- 5 Encouraging Alternatives to the
Automobile
4- 6 Pedestrians and Bicycles
4- 9 Public Transit
4- 10 Roadways
4- 16 Neighborhood Protection
4- 17 Traffic Projections
4- 18 Future Year Traffic Conditions
Section 5 ENVIRONMENTAL
RESOURCES/
SUSTAINABILITY
5- 1 Introduction
5- 1 Planning For Sustainability
5- 2 Sustainability Principles
5- 3 Energy Conservation/ Efficiency
5- 3 Planning and Regulatory Processes
5- 6 Green Buildings
5- 7 Air Quality
5- 8 Regional, State and Federal
Planning
5- 8 Responsibilities of the City
5- 10 Wildlife and Vegetation
5- 10 Streamsides
5- 10 Grasslands
5- 11 Brushlands
5- 11 Foothill Woodlands and Forests
5- 13 Mineral Resources
5- 15 Water Resources
5- 15 Preservation of Watersheds
5- 16 Ground Water Recharge Facilities
5- 17 Other Water Resources
5- 18 Urban Conservation
5- 19 Urban Runoff Pollution
5- 20 Government Action
5- 21 Solid Waste
5- 23 Wastewater
5- 25 Resources
Section 6 HEALTH AND SAFETY
6- 1 Introduction
6- 2 Geologic and Seismic Hazards
6- 6 Acceptable Level of Risk
6- 9 Fire Hazards
6- 10 Potential Fire Hazards
6- 10 Fire Hazards in the Foothills and
Mountains
6- 12 Fire Hazards in the Urbanized
Valley Floor
6- 13 Building Codes, Fire Codes and
Other Regulations
6- 14 Constraints to Firefighting
6- 14 Access Roads
6- 15 Access to Residential
Developments
6- 15 Water Availability
6- 15 Water Supply on Montebello Ridge
and Stevens Canyon
6- 15 Water Supply for Foothill Regions
within the Urban Service Area
6- 16 Water Supply for Foothill Regions
6- 17 Crime and Police Services
6- 18 Park Design
6- 18 Residential Design for Defensible
Space
Table of Contents iii
City of Cupertino General Plan
6- 18 Non- Residential Design for
Defensible Space
6- 19 Hazardous Materials
6- 20 Electromagnetic Fields ( EMF)
6- 20 Hazardous Waste
6- 22 Disaster Planning
6- 23 The Cupertino Emergency Plan
6- 23 City Employees as Disaster Service
Workers
6- 23 Volunteers as Disaster Service
Workers
6- 24 Amateur Radio Operators
6- 24 Emergency Operations Center
6- 24 Community Preparedness
6- 25 Accessibility to Medical Facilities
6- 25 Flood Hazards
6- 25 Flood Hazards from Rainstorms
6- 26 Flood Hazards From Landslides
6- 26 Flood Hazards From Dam Failure
6- 27 Multiple Occurrences
6- 27 Infrastructure
6- 28 Acceptable Level of Risk
6- 28 Flood Plain
6- 30 Noise Pollution
6- 32 Community Noise Fundamentals
6- 33 Noise Contours
6- 33 Noise Monitoring
6- 34 Land Use Compatibility
6- 36 Transportation Noise
6- 37 Train and Aircraft Noise
6- 37 Truck Traffic
6- 38 Non- Transportation Noise Sources
6- 39 Adjoining Dissimilar Land Uses
6- 39 Noise Attenuation
6- 40 Barriers
6- 40 Landscaping and Setbacks
6- 40 Building and Site Design
6- 40 Insulating Buildings From Noise
APPENDICES
A- 1 Land Use Definitions
B- 1 Housing Element Technical Report
C- 1 Air Quality
D- 1 Community Noise Fundamentals
E- 1 Geologic and Seismic Hazards
F- 1 Slope Density
Section 2 LAND USE/
COMMUNITY DESIGN
2- 2 Figure 2- A. Cupertino Regional
Location
2- 5 Figure 2- B. Community Form
2- 8 Figure 2- C. Planning Area
2- 11 Figure 2- D. Maximum Building
Heights
2- 17 Table 2- A. Development
Allocation
2- 19 Figure 2- E. Special Centers
2- 43 Figure 2- G. Cupertino’s Historic
Resources
2- 47 Figure 2- H. Existing and Proposed
Public Open Space
2- 49 Figure 2- I. Trail Linkages
2- 50 Figure 2- J. Public Open Space in
the Stevens Creek Flood Plain
2- 54 Table 2- B. Existing Park and
Recreation Acreage by Area
2- 55 Figure 2- K. Cupertino Park Areas
2- 56 Figure 2- L. Cupertino One- half
Mile Radius Park Accesss
2- 57 Table 2- C. Proposed Park and
Open Space Acreage Acquisition
by Area
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
iv Table of Contents
City of Cupertino General Plan
Section 3 HOUSING
3- 2 Figure 3- A. Cupertino Population
Growth
3- 3 Figure 3- B. Ethnic Composition
3- 16 Figure 3- C. Housing Allocation
Section 4 CIRCULATION
4- 4 Figure 4- A. Valley Transportation
Authority 2020 Projects
4- 8 Figure 4- B. Bikeways
4- 11 Figure 4- C. Circulation Plan
4- 12 Table 4- 1. Level of Service
Definitions for Signalized
Intersections
4- 18 Table 4- 2. Level of Service at
Signalized Intersections
4- 19 Figure 4- D. Intersection Levels of
Service
4- 20 Figure 4- E. Traffic Volumes
Section 5 ENVIRONMENTAL
RESOURCES/
SUSTAINABILITY
5- 11 Figure 5- A. Vegetation
5- 14 Figure 5- B. Mineral Resources
Section 6 HEALTH AND SAFETY
6- 2 Figure 6- A. Diagrams Exhibiting
Faults Within the Cupertino
Planning Area Characterized By
Horizontal ( A) and Vertical ( B)
Displacements
6- 3 Table 6- A. Explanations: Geologic
and Seismic Hazards Map of the
City of Cupertino Planning Area
6- 4 Figure 6- B. Seismic and Geological
Hazards
6- 5 Table 6- B. Maximum Earthquake
Magnitudes and Recurrence
Intervals
6- 7 Table 6- C. Acceptable Exposure
to Risk Related to Various Land
Uses
6- 8 Table 6- D. Technical
Investigations Required Based on
Acceptable Risk
6- 11 Figure 6- E. Fire Service Area
Boundaries
6- 17 Figure 6- D. Water Service Areas
6- 21 Figure 6- E. Generalized Location
of Potential Hazardous Waste
Management Sites
6- 26 Figure 6- F. Areas Potentially
Isolatable in a Seismic Emergency
6- 30 Figure 6- G. Extent of Flooding as a
Result of Failure of Man- Made
Water Storage Facilities
6- 31 Figure 6- H. Extent of Flooding as a
Result of a “ 100- Year” Flood
6- 32 Figure 6- I. Typical Sound Levels
Measured in the Community,
Industry, and Home
6- 33 Table 6- E: Noise Monitoring
Summary
6- 34 Figure 6- J. 2000 Noise Contours
6- 35 Figure 6- K. 2020 Noise Contours
6- 36 Figure 6- L. Land Use
Compatibility for Community
Noise Environments
6- 41 Table 6- F. Approximate Exterior-to-
Interior Noise Reduction
Achieved by Structures