Planning commission backs Westport Building 1 changes with conditions including retail increase and park-fee refund

The Cupertino Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend city council approve amendments to the Westport project’s Building 1 development permit and architectural site approval, adopting an addendum to the project’s environmental impact report and attaching conditions that require the developer to increase retail area and implement employee parking controls before permits are issued.

The commission’s action, taken after a three‑hour hearing on the proposal, approves the development‑permit amendment and architectural site approval and forwards a draft resolution recommending that city council adopt the first addendum to the Westport EIR. The commissioners retained staff’s parking conditions and added a requirement that the developer increase the Building 1 retail footprint by 4,000 square feet (to a total of roughly 8,000 square feet) in exchange for refunding the project’s parkland‑in‑lieu fee; the approval also requires a transportation demand management (TDM) plan addressing employee travel and parking. The commission’s vote was recorded as unanimous.

Why it matters: The Westport site on Stevens Creek Boulevard is one of the largest redevelopment parcels in western Cupertino. The changes approved Tuesday affect whether Building 1 will be built as an assisted‑living and memory‑care facility with ground‑floor retail, how much retail and parking the site will provide, and how much the developer will pay into the city’s parkland fund.

What the commission approved and why: Staff presented the application as a modification to the previously approved Westport entitlement. John Martier, senior planner in the community development department, told commissioners the developer is asking to use a remaining density‑bonus concession to reduce Building 1 retail from roughly 17,600 square feet to about 4,000 square feet, increase the assisted‑living unit…