Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Stevens Creek Corridor topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cupertino council approves resolution on Stevens Creek Corridor vision study, conditions VTA acceptance
Summary
After more than an hour of public comment, the Cupertino City Council approved a resolution that accepts the Stevens Creek Corridor vision study with conditions, authorizes letters to VTA and the project steering committee, and says the city will not commit further staff time or funds to the steering committee until those conditions are met.
At a Cupertino City Council meeting, the council voted to approve a resolution accepting the Stevens Creek Boulevard corridor vision study with added conditions and authorized the mayor to send letters to the Valley Transportation Authority and the corridor steering committee outlining the city’s concerns.
The action directs the mayor to ask VTA to reconsider having accepted the study without sufficient input from Cupertino and states that Cupertino will not invest additional city funding or staff time in the steering committee or working group until the conditions in the draft resolution are met. The motion passed; the council recorded two no votes (Mohan and Ferwin).
Why it matters: Stevens Creek Boulevard runs through several jurisdictions and any corridor-level design decisions — including lane reconfigurations, dedicated transit lanes or median changes — would affect traffic flow, school travel routes and grant eligibility across Cupertino, San Jose and Santa Clara. The council’s resolution aims to preserve Cupertino’s priorities in any future corridor funding or implementation steps while pressing regional partners for clearer decision-making and more complete outreach.
Council and staff said the steering committee voted earlier to move ahead with a work scope for complete-streets design, transit signal priority updates and grant-seeking for project delivery. Chad Mosley, the city’s director of public works, briefed the council on the committee meeting and said staff compiled the suggested items into the draft resolution now before the council.
Public commenters were split. Supporters urged the council to adopt the vision study so the corridor could be improved and gain coordinated funding across jurisdictions. Harry Neal, speaking for the Transbay Coalition, said, “Please vote to accept the study,” and listed local transit, college and advocacy groups among the study’s backers. Several residents said they feared lane reductions or dedicated bus lanes would reduce vehicle capacity on parts of the corridor; Jennifer Griffin said, “Let's not cut our trees down,” and urged caution about taking lane space for buses.
Council discussion focused on two topics: whether Cupertino’s draft language preserved the city’s existing standards and whether the steering committee’s bylaws and meeting materials had been adequately distributed to Cupertino representatives. Vice Mayor Moore and others described finding steering-committee bylaws online only after the June 2023 document was raised in committee, and flagged a bylaw provision that allows member removal by majority vote of the committee as a concern.
The council’s motion — introduced from the dais and seconded by Vice Mayor Moore — directed the mayor to send a letter to VTA asking the agency to reconsider accepting the study without Cupertino input and to the steering committee raising Brown Act and procedural concerns (lack of posted agenda materials, unclear voting representation). The resolution also includes the condition that Cupertino will not commit further city funding or staff time to the steering committee or working groups until the conditions in the resolution are satisfied.
Councilmember questions elicited staff clarifications that ongoing grant applications and CIP work already underway in Cupertino (including protected bike-lane construction on a portion of Stevens Creek) would not be blocked by the resolution and that staff would return with any recommended ordinance or procedural changes needed for interagency coordination.
The council voted; the clerk recorded the motion as carried with Councilmembers Mohan and Ferwin voting no. The council also authorized the mayor to transmit a copy of the adopted resolution to VTA and the steering committee and to include the council’s listed conditions in those letters.
Looking ahead: Staff was directed to continue coordinating with partner agencies but to return with any further recommendations or ordinance language needed to implement the council’s directions. The council’s letters to VTA and the steering committee are intended to clarify Cupertino’s expectations before additional regional commitments or implementation steps occur.
