The Guiding Principles survey presented by Opticos Design, the city’s lead consultant for the Vallco Specific Plan process, is available online for those who were not able to attend the March 13 meeting. The public also has the opportunity to leave comments on the draft Guiding Principles on the process website.
The purpose of the comments section is to allow the public to share their ideas and feedback about the Guiding Principles that were presented at the first feedback session of the Vallco Specific Plan process on March 13.
The online comment sections have become a platform for anti-housing groups, such as local organization Better Cupertino, to attempt to discredit the project consultant’s work and the City process as a whole. Some online commentators claim the survey questions are “leading” and not reflective of the community’s desires. In a recent email communication, Better Cupertino even invited all its followers to disagree on most of the survey questions and leave comments on the website, because the group doesn’t agree with the guiding principles, “supposedly derived from the not well-publicized and the not transparent-nor-inclusive small group interviews.”
But many others, seeking to address Cupertino’s growing housing crisis through development at Vallco, seem to disagree with attempts to “disrupt a meaningful process”. They praise Opticos’ development of the Guiding Principles, which were drawn from the February 5th Vallco kick-off meeting as well as the Interviews held on February 6th.
The Opticos Design team will use the comments to revise the draft Guiding Principles and will present the reassessed principles at the April 9 meeting, the first night of the Design Charrette. The first public charrette will be a multi-day workshop event for the community to collaborate and create a vision for the Vallco Special Area. The charrette will include Public Presentations, Brown Bag Lunches and Open Studio at Cupertino Community Hall, 10350 Torre Ave. The public has the ability to comment online until April 4.