Sunnyvale Planning Commission: Ordinances and Study Issues

Fairly straightforward night tonight. First, we adopted a recommendation that the City Council adopt an ordinance (and interim urgency ordinance) implementing by-right approvals on several parcels throughout the City that are currently zoned for high density. This is a requirement of the Housing Element, and it doesn’t really change much other than to streamline any residential development on those parcels that’s 20% affordable. (I have my doubts on how many such developments we’ll actually see, although I’d love to be wrong.) The zoning, objective standards, etc., all remain the same. City Council will consider these ordinances on January 30.

Next up was a recommendation that the City Council adopt an ordinance making minor clarifications to the Land Use and Transportation Element. This was also quite straightforward and easy to approve. City Council will consider this ordinance on February 27.

Finally we did our annual study issue ranking. This was actually a pretty hard choice —there are a number of very good study issues for consideration this year and rankings 3–8 were all clumped pretty close together. Ultimately the Planning Commission ranking was:

  1. CDD 23-02: Consider General Plan Land Use Designation Amendments and Rezoning for 26 Legal Non-Conforming Single- and Two-Family Dwellings
  2. ESD 24-02: Evaluate Adopting Transit-Supportive Policies for Sunnyvale
  3. ESD 24-01: Evaluate the Use of Artificial Turf versus Living Groundcover
  4. CDD 24-05: Review and Evaluate Appeals Fees and Process
  5. CDD 24-02: Explore the Creation of a Dark Sky Ordinance for all Private Property
  6. CDD 23-04: Explore Expanding Sunnyvale Municipal Code Chapter 19.52 (Art in Private Development) to Include a Public Art Requirement for High Density Residential Developments (Including Affordable Housing)
  7. CDD 24-04: Peery Park Specific Plan Amendment (area east of Mathilda Avenue)
  8. CDD 22-05: Consider Modifications to the Sunnyvale Municipal Code Related to Undergrounding Utilities

City Council is holding a public hearing on study issues tomorrow evening; they’ll rank them on Thursday, February 15.

Sunnyvale Democratic Club Endorsements: AD26 and Measure C

The Democratic Club of Sunnyvale met today to consider the upcoming elections for California Assembly District 26 (being vacated by Evan Low) and Sunnyvale School District Measure C. The Club voted to endorse as follows:

The candidate interviews for Assembly District 26 were recorded, and I’ll post them here once they get uploaded to YouTube.

Central Committee, January 2024

This was a long meeting, necessarily so due to the seriousness of the issues under consideration tonight.

The 11 January 2024 Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee meeting kicked off by hearing a poetry recital by high school student Avishawd Yarisaied entitled “Peace by Peace.” (Or maybe it was “Piece by Piece”—at any rate, the poem made excellent use of the homonym.) It was a much needed moment of unity before the more contentious discussions later in the meeting.

The first item of business was noncontroversial—a motion to accredit the Vietnamese American Democratic Club. It carried 44–0–0.

We then considered the first of two resolutions (which you can read in the agenda packet, and probably should or the rest of this post won’t make much sense) regarding the current conflict in Gaza. This resolution was proposed by Sousan Manteghi-Safakish and entitled “Resolution calling for a cessation of violence, protection of civilians, and a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine.” The following amendments were proposed:

  • By Sousan Manteghi-Safakish: In the first preamble clause, replace “anti-Semitism and Islamophobia” with “anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian bias”. Adopted by unanimous consent.
  • By Sousan Manteghi-Safakish: In the third preamble clause, replace “women that was part of the October 7th attack” (following “sexual violence against innocent” with “civilians on either side of this conflict”. This got further amended to replace “civilians” with “people, including children,” by vote of 15–12–3. However the primary amendment failed 15–16–6, so the third preambulatory clause remained the same. At this point, anyway.
  • By Sousan Manteghi-Safakish: In the first resolving clause, insert “captured by both parties involved in this conflict” after “the release of all hostages”. This passed 21–17.
  • By Peter Chiu: Reorder the first resolving clause to put the language about a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire first and negotiations towards a long-term solution at the end. So the entire clause reads like this:
    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Santa Clara County Democratic Party calls for a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire; the release of all hostages captured by both parties involved in this conflict; an end to terrorism; the cessation of violence and suffering in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel; and negotiations toward a long-term, two-state solution – previously undercut by the policies of the Netanyahu government – that provides both security and recognition between Israel and Palestine; and
    This passed 26–4.
  • By Adrienne Grey: In the third preamble clause, insert “and children” after “sexual violence against innocent women”. This passed 17–11–3.
  • By James Kastelman: In the first resolving clause (as amended to read as above), insert “, Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Yahya Sinwar of Hamas in Gaza” after “Netanyahu government”. This failed 14–19–1.
  • By Adrienne Grey: In the third preamble clause (as amended), strike “innocent” before “women and children”. This passed by unanimous consent.
  • By Yvonne Martinez Beltran: In the third preamble clause (as further amended), insert “gender-based violence and” before “sexual violence”. This passed 13–3–2. So the entire clause now reads:
    WHEREAS additional information about incidents of gender-based violence sexual violence against innocent women and children that was part of the October 7th attack and additional information about the scope of civilian loss in Gaza and the West Bank is horrifying and heartbreaking, and at the same time the horror of the violence over the past two months and magnitude of casualties makes clear the urgent need for change;

After all of that we finally took a vote on the resolution, as amended, and it was adopted, 25–19–8.

Following a bit of a break, we discussed the second resolution on this subject, proposed by Margaret Okuzumi and entitled “A Call for Immediate Cease-fire in Gaza and Provision of Humanitarian Aid.” There were no amendments made to this resolution and it was adopted, 27–20–6.

After some announcements we adjourned in memory of Fran Cochran, a former Peninsula Democratic Club board member.

Sunnyvale Planning Commission: A Couple Consent Items

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to do more local government blogging, so I figured I’d start with tonight’s Sunnyvale Planning Commission meeting. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, it was a very very uninteresting meeting, with the agenda consisting of just two consent items:

  • Approval of the previous meeting’s minutes
  • Continuance to a date uncertain of the hearing on a project with an incomplete plan set submittal

Honestly, I suspect we wouldn’t have even met tonight if the second item hadn’t been specifically continued to tonight at the last meeting. And hey, unlike last time, we didn’t have a couple Nazis trying to comment on it! (I suspect they were intending to speak under Oral Communications and raised their Zoom hands too late.)

The Planning Commission meeting gavelled in at 7:02 p.m, and we were able to adjourn just eight minutes later. That’s certainly not our typical meeting length, although it was in line for what I expected tonight—the main thing that could have prolonged it was another Zoombombing.

Our next meeting is on January 22, and we’ll be considering an urgency rezoning ordinance to keep Sunnyvale compliant with the just-adopted Housing Element.

New Stuff in 2023

Vehicles owned: +1 (A 2022 Ford Bronco Sport, Big Bend trim, Cyber Orange color. Fresh off the dealer lot, discounted a bit because I guess nobody wanted a new car with a sweet color. And yes, I really do want to take it to Big Bend National Park at some point.)

State high points summited: +1 (Jerimoth Hill, R.I.)

County high points summited: +1 (see above)

Hundred Peaks Section peaks summited: +6 (Sunset Peak, Mount Lawlor, San Emigdio Mountain, Cerro Noroeste, Grouse Mountain, and Frazier Mountain. Sunset and San Emigdio are also P1Ks; Frazier is a P2K.)

Bay Area Ridge Trail miles hiked: +26.7

Airports visited: +3 (YYC, YWG, BOS. Doesn’t really count for anything but this was also my first time in the new Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at SFO. I also visited the outlying environs of PVD to pick up the rental car for my Jerimoth Hill expedition but I’m going to say that it doesn’t count if I don’t enter security.)

United States visited: +1 (Rhode Island.): 36/50

Canadian provinces visited: +1 (Manitoba. It only counts if I leave the airport.): 4/10

Airlines flown: +1 (WestJet.)

Musicals seen in-person: +3 (1776, Singin’ in the Rain, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.)

Great-circle map with SFO-YYC, YYC-YWG, and SFO-BOS routes.
Flights I took in 2023.

El Sereno Open Space Preserve

Here’s a view east from the Aquinas Trail in the El Sereno Open Space Preserve, looking towards Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and points in the vicinity. St. Joseph’s Hill (1253′) is visible as the greener-than-average bump just above the foreground ridge on the right.

This segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail clocks in at 3.5 miles between the trailhead at the end of Montevina Road and the Serenity Trail Overlook. The latter was a bit of a disappointment as it’s directly under the power lines, but there are a lot of great views elsewhere on the hike.