County of Santa Clara
Office of the County Executive
County Government Center, East Wing
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, California 95110
(408) 299-5105
Board of Supervisors: Sylvia Arenas, Betty Duong, Otto Lee, Susan Ellenberg, Margaret Abe-Koga County Executive: James R. Williams
March 4, 2025
TO: Tina Kapoor, City Manager, City of Cupertino
FROM: Consuelo Hernandez, Deputy County Executive
SUBJECT: Update on Cupertino Housing Development
Background
The County through the Office of Supportive Housing (OSH) has actively been identifying sites for possible acquisition throughout the County to accelerate the implementation of the 2016 Measure A Affordable Housing Bond and in a manner consistent with the strategies of the 2020- 2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness. As part of its agenda on March 14, 2023 (Item No. 78), the Board approved a delegation of authority for administration to enter into a Property Exchange Agreement with Wolfe Properties, LLC, to potentially exchange County-owned real property located at 10591 N. De Anza Boulevard, Cupertino for real property located at 10333 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino.
Subsequently, on February 6, 2024 (Item No. 64), the Board approved the selection of Eden Housing to serve as the County’s development partner. On March 25, 2024, County staff provided a housing development update to the City of Cupertino to introduce the Eden team and the project timeline. The following provides a brief description of the community engagement conducted to date and details about the proposed project.
Community Engagement Summary
Since the last update to the full City Council, the project team has continued to make progress by building upon the connections made from the project’s initial outreach to community leaders.
The County, Eden, Architects and Engage FORA initiated the engagement process with two concurrent objectives:
1. Engage 15 School Districts throughout the West Valley of Santa Clara County, Districts identified by former County Supervisor Joe Simitian, to understand how the project can best serve educators and school staff.
2. Engage project neighbors and the broader Cupertino community to ensure the design reflects local values, incorporates community insights, and fosters neighborhood support.
Our engagement began in early 2024 with the Connection Phase, where we interviewed a broad range of Cupertino community members and School District leaders and educators. Next we
began the public Listening Phase, where we collected feedback on priorities from educators and the Cupertino community at a variety of events. These insights informed the subsequent Co- creation Phase workshops and activities, in which community members were invited to shape the design in meaningful and relevant ways, based on those priorities. During the Co-creation Phase, we confirmed the requirement for a distinct secondary emergency access to the site with the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Until this point, community members had not voiced any existential issues with the proposed project. However, discussions around a potential emergency connection at Auburn Drive through the wall along the shared property line raised concerns among neighbors, prompting heightened community interest.
In response, we held additional listening sessions with North Portal neighbors and postponed our final co-creation workshop to ensure these perspectives were fully considered. We largely heard that the neighbors did not support any connection through the wall. This input sparked an alternative call from the broader community for a public bike and pedestrian connection through the existing wall.
A full summary of the community engagement efforts are documented in a Community Engagement and Impact Report published on the project website, which is part of the Accountability Phase https://www.wolferoadhousing.com/home/#CommunityEngagement.
Since the initial kick-off in 2024, this project have formally hosted over 27 engagement sessions in addition to numerous informal email and conversation updates and discussions with stakeholders and the community.
Project Status and Next Steps
The County worked closely with the property owner and the City to include the property as an opportunity site in the Housing Element
After receiving significant community input the County, Eden, Architects and Engage FOR A developed the following two phased housing plan for the property.
Phase 1: Educator + School District Employee Housing
Unit Count: 94 Homes
Mix of Two-Story Townhomes and Walk-up Flats
Parking Count: 95 Spaces
Ratio: 1.01 Spaces Per 1 Unit
100% Income-Restricted with mix of Low-Income and Moderate-Income units City BMR Units: 0
Phase 2: Affordable Housing for Low-Income Families
Unit Count: 157 Homes
Mix of 3BD, 2BD, 1BD and Studio Apartments
Parking Count: 145 Spaces
Ratio: 0.93 Spaces Per 1 Unit
100% Affordable Housing with mix of ELI, VLI and LI units City BMR Units: 51
County of Santa Clara
Office of the County Executive
County Government Center, East Wing
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, California 95110
(408) 299-5105
Board of Supervisors: Sylvia Arenas, Betty Duong, Otto Lee, Susan Ellenberg, Margaret Abe-Koga County Executive: James R. Williams
An entitlement application was submitted to the City Cupertino in June 2025. Eden is working diligently to resubmit their Land Review application and respond to all outstanding comments with the intent of meeting the deadline for an April Planning Commission Hearing. In addition, there are several pending secondary access items that need to be resolved and the County is working closely with CalTrans to secure the preferred alternative as further summarized in the presentation.
We thank the City of Cupertino for their continued partnership in brining a mixed income community to reality.