City Council Meeting Wrap-Up

In case you missed the Cupertino City Council meeting on April 3, following is a brief wrap-up of some of the items covered.

Ceremonial

Toyokawa Sister City

Mayor Mark Santoro presented an $11,350 check for to the committee. The money was donated by Kaiser Permanente and Sister Cities International. Chair of the Toyokawa Sister City, Asif Kausar accepted the check and said the committee’s own fundraising, when combined with the check, would total close to $40,000 of relief sent to the sister cities.

City Manager Dave Knapp

Outgoing City Manager Dave Knapp’s service to the city was remembered with a flurry of proclamations and honors by the city. Knapp said it was “a supreme joy and privilege” to serve Cupertino and that he truly enjoyed coming to work, “maybe not every single day, but at least 95 percent of the days.”

Santoro praised Knapp calling him a kind person who “is always willing to learn, to do things better and to try new things.” Knapp will be leaving Cupertino for Highland Park Ill. where he will serve as city manager and be closer to his grandchildren.

Tax Equity Allocation

The Council agreed to support Assembly Bill 1816, a tax equity allocation formula, which would solve a property tax imbalance dating to implementation of Prop. 13 and subsequent allocation changes. AB 1816, introduced to the State Senate by Assemblymember Jill Beall, Jr. (D-San Jose), would give the affected cities $1.96 million not currently vested to them. The imbalance will be corrected over a five-year phase in period. Cupertino would receive a projected total of $1.2 million at the end of the phase in period.

When Prop 13 froze property tax income across the state at the 1978 levels it also locked in cities’ then current tax levels. Cupertino had, at the time, a low property tax level, which deprived the city of revenue. Amendments were made to the tax code to correct the issue known as the Tax Equity Allocation.

The state proposed a deal with counties, if a county received state funding for court trials the county was required to provide seven percent of its property tax to allocated cities. However, Santa Clara County said it would lose money as the court funding would not cover the cost of tax allocation. Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga and Monte Sereno were subsequently limited to their funding at 55 percent of what other allocated cities were getting. In 2006 the cap was lifted but the cities still remain under funded.

Tree Ordinance

Amendments to the public tree ordinance passed unanimously after the addition of an appeals process.

“While the changes are numerous they are minor,” Public Works Director Timm Borden said.

The changes reflect a tightening of the definitions for those who remove or damage public trees and change the act from a misdemeanor to an infraction. The previous definitions for infractions were considered too vague Mayor Mark Santoro said.

“If you pay someone on the street to cut down your tree they were considered an expert,” he said.

The city also has 1,400 “missing” trees or spaces where there could be trees but where none currently are. In reality, Borden said, there are 1,100 spaces where trees could be planted and funding for these trees will be submitted later in the year.

Monta Vista High School Government Team on Vallco

As part of a class exercise the Monta Vista High School Government Team presented its plan to revitalize the Vallco Shopping Mall.

Government team advisor Eric Otto said the government team is a social-science class that gets students involved in government, not just learning about it. The students’ plan for Vallco included adding more teen-centered stores to the mall such as an Apple store, Forever 21 and H&M apparel stores, a Chipotle restaurant in the food court and the inclusion of live entertainment to draw student traffic. The students stressed the importance the city had with making the new stores feel welcome and needed by its residents.

The council also discussed the master plan for . A separate article on that subject will appear later on Cupertino Patch.