1 CITY COUNCILMEMBER REPORT
Meeting: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Reporting Councilmember: Mayor Liang Chao
Report Dates: 9/1/25 to 9/30/25
● Last Activity Report in the October 7, 2025 Council Meeting Agenda
Section 1: Announcement - Message from the Mayor:
❖ Mayor’s Initiatives and other updates:
➢ Cupertino Stories: You are welcome to email entries to [email protected]. ■ Thank you to Cupertino Science Technology University (CSTU) for managing the project.
They have developed tools to convert audio/video stories to text. ■ The website will be redesigned soon to accept story submissions. ❖ Monthly Chat with Mayor Community Meetings: These meetings will be generally held on the second Monday at 5pm each month, but it might be moved to other Mondays if needed. The location will rotate so that we cover different businesses each month.
❖ Process to Request Certificate of Recognition or Commendation:
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2 ➢ To ensure such requests are handled as smoothly and efficiently as possible, the City Manager’s Office has implemented a dedicated process.
➢ We kindly ask that you complete the following form, which will allow Mayor Chao to present a certificate of recognition: https://cupertino.gov/councilmeetingrequest ❖ Proclamations at Council meetings: This year, I plan to follow a tradition upheld by some former Cupertino mayors and other mayors in recognizing organizations or individuals with proclamations during Council meetings. My goal is to honor those who have made consistent and/or significant contributions to Cupertino, with an emphasis on those who are less well-known. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
Proclamations for contributions will generally be presented at the second Council meeting of each month, while the first meeting will continue to recognize special observances (e.g., awareness months or weeks) as before. You are also welcome to submit suggestions for these recognitions.
Section 2: Committee Assignment
2025-09-11 attended the quarterly meeting with Mayors and City Managers from Cupertino, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, at the Levi Stadium
- We discussed the preparation for the 2026 Worldcup and Superbowl - Got a tour of the Levi Stadium
2025-09-11 Mayor’s meeting with Commission Chairs
- Reviewed the applications for CREST Awards and voted to select winners - We tasted moon cakes from the Taiwan Cultural and Economic Center and enjoyed tea provided by Zhao Zhao’s tea, a Cupertino business
Section 3: Activities by Date (Date, Title, and Description):
NOTE:
● This list does not include internal meetings with staff only, such as prep sessions or meetings with the City Manager. ● This list includes activities to “represent the community I am elected to serve”, “to respond to community needs and complaints,” and “to communicate policies and programs to residents,” among other responsibilities of a City Councilmember.
● Due to my work schedule, I have cut down on the event attendance for ceremonial purposes, especially those I have attended almost every year in the past. Instead, I focus more of my time on constituent services. 2025-09-05 visited the Tessellations School to understand the challenges they face running the school - There is a limit of no more than 7 events at the school so they cannot host events to meet the needs. - For each event, they need to fill out additional permit applications, including take photos of outlets etc, which take 12-18 hours for each event.
- They need to expand the number of students to be sustainable. - They have dropped the idea to expand to high school at Regnart 2025-09-06 attended the Community Coffee hosted by Assembly Patrick Ahrens at the Quinlan Center 2025-09-06 met with a resident from the neighborhood of the United Furniture project site - They are concerned that the project does not provide enough parking spaces for each unit and on- Councilmember Report City
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3 street parking around the area would be full.
- They said the 76 gas station uses the United Furniture parking lot for overflow parking now. 2025-09-06 meeting with Regnart neighborhood on the traffic issues of Tesselations School - Residents confirmed that they do appreciate Tesselations for leasing the school and invested in facility improvements to update the infrastructure. They don’t want to see an empty school that might be dilapidated and occupied by unwanted guests.
- Residents think that Tessellations has not complied fully with the existing Conditions of Approval for the permits and hope that the City does not approve their request to expand from 300 students to 425 students until the issues are addressed.
- With staggered start time, the traffic congestion has improved for some streets. 2025-09-08 international delegation visit from Lishu city, Hungzhu Province, China 2025-09-08 Monthly Chat with Mayor at the Rancho Rinconada Recreation Center 2025-09-10 participated in the stakeholder meeting, organized by Successful Aging Solutions & Community Consulting (SASCC), for gap analysis for senior services in Cupertino - Some survey results from the 2013 survey are presented and discussed. 2025-09-12 attended Educational Rosh Hashanah Gathering, organized by Silicon Valley Jewish Coalition in Los Altos
- Rosh Hashanah is the New Year celebration for them. We learned about the traditions to do and eat for the new year
2025-09-13 attended Cupertino Fall Festival at Memorial Park - Visited many booths
2025-09-13 attended Artison Fair by the Indian Community Center at the Garden House in Los Altos Shoup Park
- There were musicians playing and booths with arts and crafts 2025-09-13 attended Armenian Fall Festival at the St. Andrew Armenian Church - There were dances, booths with arts and crafts and various kinds of food 2025-09-17 participated in the second stakeholder meeting, organized by Successful Aging Solutions & Community Consulting (SASCC), for gap analysis for senior services in Cupertino - The attendees are providers for senior services. We are separated into three breakout groups to brainstorm ideas that would not require any funding and also ideas that might require some funding to provide services for seniors.
- SASCC will provide a complimentary report from the gap analysis to the City. 2025-09-18 gave a speech at the League of Women Voters’ virtual monthly meeting - The presentation was a combination of the State of the City Address and the TEDx speech at California Science and Technology University (CSTU)
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4 2025-09-19 attended the De Anza College Welcome Day
- There were many booths where new students learn about each department. Students also form a long line to get student IDs.
2025-09-20 attended the performance by group with mixed abilities from Taiwan in Milpitas - The MC was on wheel chair, but he is a well know radio host and TV host. A movie has been made about his story
- One performer was deaf, but his comedian silent show brought a lot of laughs - The final performer has 4 limbs, but no hands, no feet and a big smile. She danced on stage and played piano so well with the 2 limbs. She also rode bikes on an 18-day trip, climbed the highest mountain peak in Taiwan and swam across the famous Sun Moon Lake.
2025-09-20 attended the annual event at the Glenbrook Apartments - They had food trucks and free food for the residents. Residents concerned about Mary Avenue housing had a booth there.
2025-09-20 International delegation from Xuhui District, Shanghai visited Cupertino City Hall - The Xuhui district has the business district of Shanghai and a few universities. - The City provides free space for startups to use to incentivize innovation. 2025-09-21 attended the exhibition of Herstory 3, the third volume of a series on the legal history of Chinese women in the U.S.
- Herstory 1 and Herstory 2 have had exhibitions in Cupertino Library. Herstory 3 is coming to Cupertino soon.
2025-09-21 attended the annual Independence Day reception at the Chinese Embassy in San Francisco 2025-09-20 International delegation from Danzhou, Hainan, China visited Cupertino City Hall - The island of Hainan is developed into a free trade zone similar to Hong Kong - Danzhou is a harbor city and developing into an industrial city with universities and warehouses 2025-09-25 attended the Legislators’ Day at the Santa Clara County Supreme Court in San Jose - Judge Julie Alloggiamento, the Chair of the Legislative Liaison Committee hosted the meeting. There was a panel of judges focused on different areas and each describes the difficulties they face due to lack of funding or resources to implement newly adopted state laws, even though they are well intentioned. - We observed different court rooms, such as family court, juvenile court, mental health court, etc. 2025-09-26 attended the Korean Full Moon Festival, hosted by the Korean American Community Services (KACS)at the Bascom Community Center
- KACS provides free meals daily to seniors at the Bascom Community Center, but they are looking for a permanent hom.
- The seniors performed dances and instruments
2025-09-26 attended the Grill and Govern Fall Harvest BBQ by Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens at the Central Park Pavilion in Santa Clara
- I arrived late and missed the Assemblymember. The Central Park Pavilion is a really nice area for event.
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5 2025-09-287 attended the Dinner Banquet of Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association (CASPA)
- Lisa Xu, the CEO of AMD, gave the keynote speech. Many elected officials attended the event 2025-09-287 attended the Durga Puja by Women Now at Monta Vista High School - The high school cafeteria is transformed into a temple where people prayed and received blessings from Gods
- There were booths with merchandise, music and dances.
Section 4: Information of Interest to My Constituents: (updated on 4/8) ● Builders’ Remedy (BR) Projects (Status of Projects)
★ BR Projects with incomplete application status (pursuant to Government Code Section 65941.1.) ● 20739 Scofield (one block from Faria Elementary School, zoned R1-10): The project will replace one single-family home with 20-unit, 5 story, condominium on 15,004 sqft (0.34 acre) lot
● Vista Heights (near entrance of Linda Vista Park) : The vacant site, zoned RHS, will build 33 units (8 condominiums and 25 single family homes on vacant hillside property of 86.1 acres.
● Upland Way (11841 Upland Way, zoned RHS-70): 6 single family homes, including 2 affordable units, on vacant hillside property of 1.56 acres with average slopes greater than 30%
★ Other active BR projects:
○ Dividend Homes (20085 & 20111 Stevens Creek Blvd), to the east of the Fire Station, on 2.6 acres, zoned R4 and commercial mixed use. The project will replace two existing office buildings with 57 for-sale townhomes., including 12 affordable units. ○ Dividend Homes (20045 & 20065 Stevens Creek Blvd), to the east of the Fire Station, on 1.77 acres, zoned commercial mixed use. The project will replace existing office buildings with 32 for-sale townhomes., including 6 affordable units.
★ Relevant News on the determination of incompleteness for BR projects:
○ “Los Gatos Files Declaratory Relief Action to Resolve Land Use Uncertainty ” (Press Release from the City of Los Gatos)
■ “That section [Gov. Code 65941.1] provides that applicants for land use approvals have 90 days after an initial 180- day deadline to submit any missing information needed to complete a formal application for a so-called “builder’s remedy” housing project. That section further stipulates that if the missing information is not submitted “within the 90 -day period, then the preliminary application shall expire and have no further force or effect.”
■ “In an apparently conflicting reading, in letters dated August 30, 2024 and February 12, 2025, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) stated its view that there is not just one 90 -day period but that successive 90-day periods can run indefinitely . By filing this lawsuit, the Town is acting in good faith so that it will know how to comply with the law and ensure it can continue to serve its residents and property owners, while lawfully processing land use applications.”
★ Other docs:
○ The July 25, 2024 info memo, titled “Scofield Drive SB330 Preliminary Application pursuant Councilmember Report City
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6 to Builder’s Remedy”, has information about proposed BR projects and their review process. ● Other Residential Projects - complete applications submitted, not yet approved:
○ Pizza Hut/Staples/ Fontana's (20770, 20830, 20840, & 20850 Stevens Creek Blvd ). adjacent to the Cupertino Crossroads Shopping Center): on 2.97 acres, zoned commercial mixed use. The project will replace existing retail stores with 59 townhome condominium units across eight, three -story buildings
○ United Furniture (10065 & 10075 Stevens Creek Blvd, across from Vallco), on 2.72 acres, zoned commercial mixed use. The project will replace existing retail stores with 55 townhome condominium units, with 10 ADUs, three-story buildings
○ Stevens Office Center (20813, 20823, 20883 and 20807 Stevens Creek Blvd ), on 6.93 acres, zoned commercial mixed use. The project will replace two office buildings and one retail building with 122 for-sale units (66 small-lot single family and 56 townhomes), including 24 affordable units ○ 20865 McClellan Rd: on 0.99 acres, zoned R3TH. The project will replace one single-family home with 27 townhomes, including 4 affordable units, in three-story buildings ○ Evulich Court (10857, 10867, 10877 & 10887 Linda Vista Dr): on 2.53 acres, zoned R3TH. The project will replace 4 single-family homes with 51 townhomes, including 11 affordable units ● Other Residential Projects - SB 330 preliminary application submitted, but not complete applications:
○ Wolfe Road Housing Project (10333 N. Wolfe Road): 250-300 total units across the 5-acre property. It will be 100% rental apartments. The affordable housing will benefit those making 80% or less of the area median income (AMI).
■ a full report on our Listening Phase at this link.
■ February 12 Community Co-Creation Event at Collins Elementary School ● Other Residential Projects - Revision of already approved projects:
○ Westport Senior Assisted Living Housing (revision submitted): The developer Related has submitted a revision to add more units, reduce retail space, remove the underground garage and request a waiver of Parkland dedication Fee. It is going to the Planning Commission in May ■ Previous approval in 2021 and 2024: Westport (21267 Stevens Creek Blvd) ○ Marina Plaza (10145 N. De Anza Blvd, 10118 Bandley Dr.), on 5.1 acres, zoned commercial and mixed use: The project will add more units, slightly reduce retail space, deliver over smaller for- sale starter homes under 1500 sq. ft. and an outdoor amphitheater. ■ Previous approval in 2022L Marina Plaza.
● License Plate Reader Camera - City-operated or personal ones ★ The Council has adopted the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Camera program (Resolution 24-094) in order to alert the police when a license plate with previous record is detected. Some cameras are placed at major roads entering Cupertnio.
★ The residents or businesses can connect your home or business surveillance camera with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. The registration form is at the bottom of this page .
Section 5: Information Access Useful to My Constituents (not updated):
1. Public Comments Webpage and Email
A new page has been added to the City’s website on how to submit public comments for Council Councilmember Report City
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7 meetings. It explains the process for submitting written comments on City Council agenda and nonagenda
items. A dedicated email address, [email protected], was created for members of the public to send in their comments. This email address is also posted on City Council agendas.
The intent of using this dedicated email is to ensure comments are efficiently routed and tracked. Emails sent to this address are automatically distributed to the City Council, City Manager, Deputy City Manager, and City Clerk, and an autoresponder confirms receipt. This process is especially helpful during periods of high public input.
Comment Submission Guidelines:
2. Information Memo posted on the City website:
City Council Informational Memos are now available on the City website. The information can be accessed from the City website at cupertino.org/memos and the City Council page. You can also find the page by entering search terms “info memos” at the top of the website. ★ Anyone may use the eNotification signup to receive informational memo updates by email.
★ The info memos are now hosted in the digital archive as all other city records. ★ Click “+” to zoom in.
★ On a laptop:
○ To open the document as PDF, click on the Print icon and then click on “Download & Print”. The downloaded PDF will appear in a new tab for viewing. ○ This does not work on Safari browser on an iPhone.
★ To copy and paste text, you must open it as PDF and then copy & paste from there.
New memos posted, since last report:
● No new info memos published since February 28
● Recordings of Commission Meetings:
Starting in June, commission meetings will be recorded for viewing later, although no teleconferencing to allow remote participation.
- Find the recordings here under each commission.
4. How to Search an agenda item:
A community member showed me a way to search for items on the past city meetings:
● Go to this page: https://cupertino.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx ○ Make sure that “Calendar” is selected from the top row of tabs and the “List View”
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8 is selected from the bottom row of tabs.
○ Enter the search term, such as “investment report”. Choose the year or select “All Years”