Residents urge council to reconsider Mary Avenue housing design over safety and traffic concerns

Speakers at the Cupertino City Council genda meeting on Oct. 21 urged the city to reconsider a proposed affordable housing project on Mary Avenue, saying a planned street narrowing would cut neighborhood safety and access.

Longtime resident Sean Fong told the council the proposal —or Mary Avenue Villas oes not oppose affordable housing but —riticized its street design. "The proposed street narrowing —9.5 foot reductions, a 26% of the current width, eliminates critical public right of way that families, cyclists, and pedestrians rely on daily," Fong said. He said the change would remove buffers that protect school commuters and seniors.

Why it matters: Speakers said Mary Avenue is used daily by students, cyclists, senior-center visitors and delivery vehicles; they warned narrowing the roadway could constrain emergency response and create recurring safety hazards.

At the meeting Nataraj, a Mary Avenue resident, said the project lacked a traffic study and urged staff and council to consider other sites, including an unused rail corridor between Stevens Creek Boulevard and Bub—or more housing with trail access. Michael Chu, who said his two sons bike to school on Mary Avenue, said the street s currently laid out lready works and additional units would increase congestion and safety risks.

Discussion and next steps: The speakers requested that council pause the current design and reassess alternatives, including other sites and additional traffic analysis. Council heard the comments during the oral communications portion of the meeting; no council action on the Mary Avenue project was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Context: Residents described the project as roughly 40 new units and said the design would reduce the street width and on-street buffers used by pedestrians and cyclists. Commenters framed their remarks as safety and access concerns rather than opposition to affordable housing generally.

What residents asked: Speakers urged the council to require additional traffic and emergency access analysis, to explore alternate sites and to delay approval until the neighborhood impacts are more fully evaluated.

For the record: The council did not vote on Mary Avenue during the Oct. 21 meeting; public comment will be part of the project record going forward.

Ending: Council members did not debate or take action on the project during the meeting. Staff will notify the public through the project file and future agenda items if the council places the project for formal consideration.