Cupertino zones for more housing

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

After a marathon, 10-hour council meeting, Cupertino leaders moved closer to allowing more office space, housing units and hotel rooms throughout the city — including at Vallco Shopping Mall, the long-struggling retail center.

Details were still sketchy on Tuesday, hours after the council wrapped up a highly contentious meeting at 5 a.m. But the result appeared to be a big win for Sand Hill Property Co., which has nearly completed assembling the entire 50-acre Vallco Mall site.

That's because a majority of city council members signaled willingness to approve land-use guidelines that could allow up to 2 million square feet of office space, about 580 residential units and 600,000 square feet of retail space there. Those numbers are roughly what Menlo Park-based Sand Hill was asking for as it contemplates a major redevelopment plan, which I wrote about earlier this month.

The changes would come as part of a broader citywide update of the city's general plan (a kind of land-use bible) and "housing element." The latter is a state-mandated document that shows the city has zoned an adequate amount of new housing units to support growth. Council members took a straw vote only early Wednesday morning, and city staff will bring their recommendation back Nov. 18 for adoption.

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