CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting: April 3, 2024
Subject
Two-year FY 2023-2025 City Work Program
Recommended Action
Reaffirm and accept minor modifications to the two-year FY 2023-2025 City Work Program Reasons for Recommendation
Background
The Council maintains a City Work Program (CWP) as a two-year effort, revisiting annually to make minor adjustments and redirect efforts. Typically, CWP items take significant staff effort and one or even two years to complete. Normal daily operations encompass approximately 90 percent of city staff time, with variations from department to department depending on many influencing factors. By establishing the Work Program in a collaborative manner, weighing workloads and priorities, staff is better able to communicate where there is capacity, and the Council is better able to see meaningful results over the two-year timeframe.
As established last year, all City Work Program items should:
Fall under at least one of the five Council Goals
Public Engagement and Transparency
Transportation
Housing
Sustainability & Fiscal Strategy
Quality of Life
Have timelines that are finite in nature, with an expectation of completion within the next two fiscal years.
Be unique to the Work Program and not duplicated in other funded efforts.
For example, Capital Improvement Program Projects should not be included Be large significant projects that are not operational in nature Be considerate of budget and staff time/capacity
On April 4, 2023, the City Council approved a two-year CWP for FY 2023-2025 and directed staff to bring it back for Council review in one year. The FY 2023-2025 CWP includes a total of 24 projects. As part of the City’s budget balancing strategy, the City Council approved funding for 15 of the 24 projects for FY 2023-2024. The remaining nine projects were placed on hold to be considered this year. These 15 projects have been separated by scope and department into 26 individual projects on the CWP Dashboard to ensure better quarterly updates. Each project and status update can be found in Attachment A and on the dashboard at cupertino.org/cityworkprogram.
As of March 2024, five of the 26 projects have been completed and 10 more projects are expected to be completed by the end of this fiscal year. The chart below illustrates that over half of the projects that were adopted into the CWP last year are still pending completion. The list of these projects and their status can be viewed in Attachment A.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council reaffirm its commitment to completing a two-year CWP as adopted in April 2023. This will include the following 11 projects on the adopted FY 23-25 CWP that will be ongoing next year:
#
Project
Description
1 Tree List (CDD)
Review and revise development tree list (per Ch. 14.18: Protected Trees) with an emphasis on appropriate trees and native species. 2 Tree List (PW)
Project phases:
1) Review, revise, and communicate street tree list with an emphasis on appropriate trees and native species. 2) Develop an Urban Forest program scope and cost for future consideration. 3 Public Safety (License Plate Readers)
Deploy city-owned license plate readers and implement policies to allow neighborhood-owned ones. 4 Public Safety (Block Leader)
Strengthen Block Leader/Neighborhood Watch programs to ensure the leaders are active and expand the coverage of active neighborhoods. 5 Preserve existing and develop new BMR/ELI Housing
Explore opportunities to preserve existing expiring BMR housing.
Develop ELI (Extremely Low Income) and BMR housing units for Developmentally Disabled individuals (IDD) on City-owned property as well as the County-owned sites. 6 Whole City Policy Review
Repeat the 2013 process of compiling and reviewing all City Policies including 1) Administrative and 2) Council policies and provide recommendations/updates, e.g. Green Purchasing, Property Acquisition 7 Fiscal Procedures and Policies Handbook
Develop the handbook to ensure standardization of accounting, budget, investment, procurement policies, procedures, rules and regulations. 8 Support for the unhoused
Collaborate and fund jointly with West Valley efforts to address regional needs and find workable support for the Unhoused. 9 Municipal Water System
To analyze and recommend options for the continued operation of the system currently and at the end of lease with San Jose Water Company in September 2024. 10 5G Ordinance
Update 5G Ordinance
11 Residential and Mixed-Use Residential Design Standards Create objective design standards for residential projects, including ensuring adequate buffers from neighborhood low-density residential development In addition, staff has reviewed the CWP both internally and with each Commission to ensure continued relevancy. As a result of this review, Commissions, in their advisory capacity, provided recommended adjustments (Attachment B). Staff recommends the following additions based on Commission insight and the internal staff review:
#
Project
Description
12 Art in Public and Private Areas
(Proposed by Sustainability Commission)
Revisit Municipal Code standards for art in public and private development, including the standards in the Municipal Code and developing an Art-in-lieu fee policy. 13 Speed Limit Lowering (AB 43)
(Proposed by Bike Ped Commission)
Lower speed limits where feasible pursuant to state adopted Assembly Bill 43 (Signed by Governor in 2021) 14 Homestead Bike Lane Study & Safe Routes to School
(Proposed by Bike Ped Commission)
Support collaboration efforts on multi-jurisdictional projects along Homestead Road that include upgrading pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. 15 Poet Laureate Playbook Update
(Proposed by Library Commission)
Update the Cupertino Poet Laureate Playbook to streamline processes, outline clear expectations, and expand applicant qualifications. The playbook has not been updated since 2016. 16 Electrification Study
(Proposed by Sustainability Commission)
Conduct public outreach, policy research, and coordinate with regional efforts to develop policy options for electrification of Cupertino's buildings in light of recent legal rulings inhibiting certain electrification efforts. Note: This item is necessary to ensure the continued legal enforceability of the City’s building electrification measures in light of California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, 89 F.4th 1094 (9th Cir. 2024). 17 Recycled Water Feasibility Study
(Proposed by Library and Sustainability Commissions)
Develop Recycled Water Feasibility Study. Include Blackberry Farm focus and extension of recycled water from SCVWD. 18 Sign Ordinance
Update Sign Ordinance
Note: Staff is recommending this item as a result of numerous requests from Council and the Public and a clear need to update this ordinance. 19 The Rise: Construction stakeholder engagement
Improve engagement with stakeholders to ensure progress with construction and reduce barriers. 20 New Bike Ped Plan
1) Update the current Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans and combine them to create a comprehensive Active Transportation Plan. 2) Consider Complete Streets concepts to enhance the interface between Active Transportation improvements and public and private transportation systems.
The proposed City Work Program for FY 24-25, including all staff recommended items, is included in Attachment C.
Staff looks forward to receiving Council direction to continue the work on the two-year FY 23-25 CWP.
Sustainability Impact
The proposed updated CWP includes projects that advance the City’s sustainability goals (e.g., Electrification Study). Project-specific impacts will be analyzed in connection with approvals required for projects included in the updated CWP.
Fiscal Impact
Any necessary budget changes will be addressed as part of the proposed budget in May.
California Environmental Quality Act
Environmental review will be conducted as required for projects included in the updated CWP. _____________________________________
Prepared by: Astrid Robles, Senior Management Analyst
Reviewed by: Tina Kapoor, Deputy City Manager
Matt Morley, Assistant City Manager
Christopher D. Jensen, City Attorney
Approved for Submission by: Pamela Wu, City Manager
Attachments:
FY 2023-25 City Work Program as Adopted April 2023 and Status Updates Commission Proposals
Proposed FY 2024-2025 City Work Program