It was a marathon meeting Tuesday night for the Cupertino City Council, which didn’t adjourn until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday.
The big item on the agenda taking up nearly six hours was the . After a lot of back and forth it was approved after 1:30 a.m. But there were other issues on the agenda as well. Here’s our wrap-up.
Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks
Coming later this year to Cupertino: Big Wave Burgers, Island Fries, Chocolate Lava and a bar serving Big Island Iced Teas, Shipwrecks and Lava Flows (sense the tropical theme?).
Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks successfully countered an appeal by Councilmember Barry Chang to reverse an earlier Planning Commission approval of a conditional use permit for a bar and late night hours.
The new restaurant is currently under construction on the site of the former Marie Callendar’s in the Crossroads Shopping Center at 20750 Stevens Creek Blvd. The Planning Commission approval gives the restaurant and bar permission to be open until midnight Sundays through Fridays, and until 1 a.m. on Saturdays.
When there was no mention of the bar. After the bar was pointed out to the council at a later date,
“The bar and the late night (hours) were a surprise to me,” Chang said on Tuesday night. He expressed concerns over safety to patrons and the surrounding community.
Mayor Mark Santoro said he was also concerned by lack of initial information about the bar, mainly because of what impact it might have on parking.
“It was an oversight on our part,” said Crossroads architect Charles Kahn. “We hoped (Islands) would be the tenant, we didn’t have a confirmed lease with them, that’s why we applied for the core and the shell in those hearings.”
At a November meeting when the bar was discussed, Kahn assured the council Islands would apply for a conditional use permit for the bar with the Planning Commission.
The commission voted in favor of the permit in March, in part because of a favorable report from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and an agreement from Islands that the chain would cover city costs for Sheriff’s deputies in the event of an incident.
Council members Orrin Mahoney, Gilbert Wong and Rod Sinks praised Crossroads developers for the transformation of the shopping center, which recently saw
“Congratulations on what’s going on in the shopping center so far, it’s amazing, it’s a great transformation, and we look forward to a continued good effort there,” Mahoney said.
Bollinger Road Project
The council denied a reconsideration request from residents living adjacent to a proposed cul-de-sac development on vacant land at the western end of Bollinger Road.
The proposal calls for construction of five homes on a 1.14 acre parcel, with lot sizes ranging from 7,040 square feet to 11,096 square feet. The project was approved by the Planning Commission on March 27, followed by the council on April 17.
Neighbor Arthur Dong appealed the council’s decision claiming the city was not following proper procedures and codes. The city planning staff rejected all but one of his complaints, that the city did not give proper advance notice of the April 17 public hearing.
Planners acknowledged notices went out only nine days before the hearing, instead of the required 10. They recommended the fees charged to Dong for the reconsideration be returned.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Dong complained the project presented safety, noise and traffic issues for the neighborhood. He asked the council to change the approval to four homes instead of five.
Community Development Director Aarti Shrivastava said shrinking the project to four homes would create lot sizes that would be out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood.
The council voted 4-1 against Dong's reconsideration request, with Barry Chang voting to uphold it. He said that while he was not against development in the city, he disagreed with planning staff findings that the project was allowable under zoning codes.
