Council approves final map for RISE/Valco site after residents and unions press for SB 35 oversight

The Cupertino City Council approved a final map and subdivision improvement agreement for the RISE redevelopment (the former Valco site) on July 13, authorizing public-road dedications and easement adjustments needed to move the project toward construction.

The approval, taken as an item removed from the consent calendar, followed extensive public comment. Chuck Adamo, a field representative for the North Coast States Carpenters Union, asked the council to "direct staff to report back on how the city will collect, review, and monitor the required monthly workforce compliance reports" required under SB 35 and the project's earlier commitments. Adamo said the union is seeking clear, enforceable checks to ensure the developer meets prevailing-wage and skilled-and-trained requirements.

Harvey McKeown, also speaking for the union, pointed to a July 2024 settlement and section 6(c) in that agreement and said the developer's modifications under SB 35 reduced affordable housing obligations "from 890 units to 356," and asked whether the settlement's exhibit D reevaluation of below-market-rate fees had been performed before permits issue.

Several residents spoke about neighborhood impacts. Jennifer Griffin asked that mature trees along the North Portal neighborhood and the long-standing privacy wall shared between the neighborhood and the project be preserved, saying the trees and wall provide privacy and have been contested, "we need to make sure that those trees are retained for privacy for that neighborhood." Staff and the developer told council that trees closest to the property line are proposed to remain and that some removals would be limited to unhealthy specimens; staff also said improvements to the wall separating properties are not part of the ministerial final-map approval and would have been addressed during earlier entitlement phases.

City staff and the public worked through technical clarifications about the nature of the final map: public-right-of-way improvements (curb, gutter, detached sidewalk and driveway aprons) would be part of the subdivision improvement agreement; elements such as private separation walls are not standard subdivision improvements and therefore were not included in the map approval. Staff also noted the map allows for condominium-style air parcels and that the packet referenced potential condominium units recorded through separate processes; staff described the map as ministerial under SB 35.

Council members debated procedural issues raised by residents who asked for more time; the city attorney advised that because this is an SB 35 project, the normal discretionary review paths (for example, routing to the planning commission) are limited and that delaying approval could jeopardize tax-credit timelines for the project's affordable-housing component. The council approved the final map and authorized the city engineer to record the subdivision improvement agreement; the vote carried with Mayor Moore abstaining.

Next steps: the developer may record the map and begin ministerial permitting steps; union and resident speakers requested a staff report on how the city will monitor SB 35 compliance and workforce reporting before major construction begins.