Form Name:
Unique ID:
Boards and Commissions Applicat ion
1449030272
Applicant Information
Name
Are you a Sunnyvale resident?
How long have you lived in
Sunnyvale?
Annette M Phan
Yes
30 years
DaeRleoefle:I:
4/7/26
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Annette Phan
Description Area Residence Notice:Unless otherwise noted , your principal place of residence must be in Sunnyvale . You must live in Sunnyvale at the time of appo intment and at all times during serv ice on a board or comm ission.
Current Main Residence
Email
Phone
Description Area Employment NoticeCity of Sunnyvale emp loyees may not serve on a board or comm ission.
I am a current City of Sunnyvale No
employee.
Have you ever served on a City of No
Sunnyvale board or commission?
Have you attended a meeting of No
the City Council, or a board or
commission?
Have you attended meetings of No
the board(s) or commission(s) for
which you are applying?
Board or Commission Selection
First Choice
Apply for another board or
commission?!
Second Choice
Apply for another board or
commission?2
Heritage Preservation Commis sion (R)
Yes
Planning Comm ission (R)
Yes
Third Choice Housing and Human Services Commission
Apply for another board or
commission?3
Yes
Fourth Choice Sustainability Commission
Applicant Qualifications
What motivated you to apply for
this board or commission?
I want to apply my education and experience in architecture at the government level. Even while I was in school, there was a licensed architect who stated that members of the architecture industry should make more efforts to have a say in the
government. Architects and architectural designers have places outside of work to make differences for the industry-
development, politics, and social media. My later years in education showed me how important policy and codes in shaping our built world- planning, heritage conservation, housing, and sustainability are all impacted by policy and code.
Recent events in federal politics showed how much more respect that we architects and designers need. Ben Carson's tenure as the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development showed how little architectural education and experience is valued when appointing someone relevant. Trump's "additions and remodels" to the White House was the beginning of increased urgency. Then the Trump administration labeling architecture not as a "professional field" was the last straw even when it was "merely" for graduate student loan eligibility.
By applying to the Heritage Preservation, Planning, Housing and Human Services, and Sustainability Commissions, I will have an opportunity to highlight the field of architecture. While serving the federal level will consist of delayed results, serving at the local level will allow me to make a more immediate impact. When I am not drafting a construction drawing set, I am researching codes and history relevant to the projects at hand. Since I already can do it for the office, why not do it for the board?
Annette Phan
What skills or attributes can you
bring to this board or
commission?
I can identify, research, and analyze relevant codes for the projects at hand. My mindset embraces sustainable housing development without sacrificing historic locations. Heritage preservation and development when done right should not be used against each other. Listening to various constituents and narrowing down to the best solution has been a part of my work experience, as the goal is for win-win solutions over self-serving "quick" fixes. Collaboration is a necessity in architecture as projects are delivered by an interdisciplinary team, and knowing how to communicate with folks of different backgrounds is key. I have also worked on mixed use developments that are currently considered "signature projects"- these signature projects require multiple meetings with neighbors and politicians to ensure the new development would meet the city's goals and become a source of local pride.
The primary role of a board or
commission member is to provide
advice to City Council on policy
issues that are within the scope
of the board or commission. What
steps would you take to
effectively exercise this specific
board or commission role?
I would first find out the timeline for the policy issues to time myself to research and reach out to the relevant parties. Then I would research the issues at hand and attend any introductory meetings to understand the issue from the perspective of those affected by the issues, both directly and indirectly. Then I would work with the other commission members as allowed to
understand their perspectives on the issue. As needed, I will follow up with citizens and officials that are affected by the policy issues to ask any further clarifying questions- email, additional meetings, etc. My emphasis would be to collect all the feedback needed to help narrow my research. Once I come to a solution within the required time limit to advise the City Council on the issues, I can explain next steps.
Education – List college degrees,
majors and any relevant training
or experience that demonstrates
your ability to effectively serve
on this board or commission.
MCG Architecture- Project Specialist; Project types: Commercial (retail, office); 4 years 6 months
Kenneth Rodrigues & Partners- Junior Architectural Designer, Project types: Mixed-Use Development, Commercial (office); 1 year 5 months
Wiss Janney Elstner- Intern, Project types: Historic
preservation/adaptive reuse;
Cal Poly, SLO- Senior Thesis, 16th Street Station Revitalization, Oakland, CA
Cal Poly, SLO- Bachelor's in Architecture, Minor in Architectural Engineering
Annette Phan
Describe your involvement in
community activities, volunteer
and civic organizations.
Volunteer work has always been a part of my upbringing and even as a working adult, I still make time to volunteer whether during work or outside of it.
Growing up, I was a frequent volunteer at summer art classes hosted by the City of Sunnyvale and at Full Circle Farms. I already enjoyed the arts and wanted to connect my interests with the community. Volunteering at Full Circle Farms taught me the amount of work it takes to grow vegetables and gave me insight on how sustainability can be integrated into life and be less inconvenient than contrarians may fear.
As of recent, I participated in a toiletry kit drive by my old office in support of Project Open Hand. Outside of work, I participated in the Turkey Trot as a Directional Exit & Santa Run Promotion Volunteer. I also was a Food Distribution Volunteer for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.
Description Area The City has a Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials and an Attendance Policy (7.2.19), 2 G (II) that appointed members are required to follow.
Do you have any concerns related
to the above code and policy?
No
Are you willing to accept a
temporary appointment for the
remainder of an unexpired term?
Yes
Board or Commission-Specific Questions
Heritage Preservation Commission
Annette Phan
Describe how you have engaged
with local history and heritage
within Sunnyvale?
I signed a petition for the development at North Sunnyvale to better retain existing ethnic grocery stores and restaurants, as well as small businesses in the shopping centers to be
redeveloped into housing. I grew up on being able to walk to New Yuan Wing Supermarket to pick up groceries for my mother's cooking and would not want the market to go away as a result of new development. I also used my experience to explain my perspective on the petition that development does not mean having to erase the parts of Sunnyvale that matter to the locals, especially of BIPOC identity.
Reading the Historical Context Statement made me realize how little BIPOC representation has been mentioned besides as an afternote or only as static part of Sunnyvale's history. This could be an opportunity to have a separate statement for ethnic diversity to improve visibility of the people of Sunnyvale yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is a great description of Ohlone history in the beginning of the statement, but the statement never mentioned where their descendants went and what can be better done to acknowledge their history today.
Chinese and Japanese folks were briefly noted as farm workers.
Joseph Eichler was one of few developers who sold homes to Asian and Black homeowners, which is a big deal in American history of redlining- a chapter on that would be interesting.
Meanwhile today there is a higher Asian demographic in
Sunnyvale's population. A stronger bridge between the past and present can improve community support.
While I understand that increasing housing should be encouraged, I also think that places with authentic ethnic stores and restaurants enhance Sunnyvale as a place that welcomes others while retaining its small town origins.
Annette Phan
What historical features or
structures in our community do
you think are at risk? What
course can the City take to
preserve them?
The Olson Barns and Sunnyvale Heritage Orchard are at a point where more care is needed to balance preservation of multiple facets of Sunnyvale's history. With the recent news of Charlie Olson's retirement, the City is right to determine how to continue the management of the orchards and related properties. Historic properties are successful when they encourage active
engagement with the public, so perhaps incorporating supervised volunteering/community service opportunities can provide hands on experience for younger folks to understand the labor that goes behind the orchards and even an opportunity to see how to carry this aspect of the past to the present. There is the concern that the museum expansion could require removal of more trees than preferred, so being able to reuse existing parking space for the expansion could help limit the number of trees lost.
What factors would influence
your recommendation to preserve
a particular building or site?
I would take into account historic relevance, architectural style, ability to retain or repurpose building use, cost, and analysis of design replacements/modifications. In the case of Sunnyvale, relics of Sunnyvale's agricultural past can help to remind longtime locals of a time before tech while encouraging the younger generation to bring back aspects of farming (eg. vegetable gardens, chickens) and to appreciate the labor to know where their food comes from. Historic buildings authentically built in a particular architectural style are unique to their time period and cannot be easily replicated with today's means of design and construction. The harder it is to replicate or to provide repairs that do not detract from the authenticity of the building, the more important it is to preserve it. True heritage preservation does not discourage development, so evaluating whether a building can retain or repurpose its use is key.
Housing and Human Services Commission
Evaluate the quality and
adequacy of the housing
programs that serve the
Sunnyvale community.
The housing programs currently offered are a great start to improving the housing crisis in Sunnyvale. There are resources to assist everyone from transient folks to first-time home buyers to current homeowners and renters. The focus so far seems to be on providing resources to help people figure out their next steps.
With the economy's current state and the political environment, it is understandable that the programs are not as proactive as they could be. If the programs have a little more visibility via more marketing then there's a chance they might be better utilized.
Annette Phan
Evaluate the quality and
availability of the human services
programs that serve the
Sunnyvale community.
The programs themselves are contributing but they are a little hard to find information on. Giving the programs better visibility can improve on the availability of the programs.
Share your thoughts on how the
City might better improve
housing affordability, prevent
displacement and serve our
unhoused residents.
The City can continue to push for more affordable housing by encouraging new housing development and working with
developers to expedite housing and commercial construction.
Affordable housing is typically a financial loss for the developers and even so-called market rate housing is becoming less profitable with the economy's current state. Investing in mixed use developments with residential above and commercial at ground level will diversify the profits to be made after construction while giving people places to live and hang out. In the meantime, there are underused offices and office parking lots that can be demolished and used as a site for temporary housing until more affordable housing can be built.
Description Area View Homelessness Response
Have you read Homelessness
Response?
Yes
What are your thoughts on
Sunnyvale's support for the
unhoused community?
The City of Sunnyvale does have good starting points with their current city initiatives. Temporary hotel stays and Dignity on Wheels are some concrete temporary solutions to transient folks until they can get back on their feet for something more permanent. The best option is to encourage development of more affordable housing and that is a challenging yet most long term solution to assist transient folks to get settled. As mentioned earlier, improving housing affordability means building more housing for all to account for the developers' financial feasibility to continue building. Ideally new developments should be mixed used ones with commercial ground uses and residential above.
Once new housing and/or affordable housing fees are paid, more action can be done to let the support be more concrete solutions.
Planning Commission
Annette Phan
Sunnyvale has limited vacant
land for new development. This
could increase pressure for
redevelopment of existing
developed areas. How can
Planning respond to this
situation?
Planning should encourage redevelopment of existing developed areas. The ideal existing developed area to reuse would be an underused shopping center or office space that is near public transit (eg. bus stop). However, these spaces tend to be in areas that were known to be more low income and within ethnic neighborhoods. There should be more mixed used developments that allow for ground level commercial uses and residential uses above ground so we may not have to push out every single mom and pop store still there. The small businesses that do get pushed out should be relocated and/or heavily compensated. Older trees that could potentially conflict with new developments should be tested to see if they are alive so that there would be clearer direction to remove, relocate, or retain the trees.
Planning Commissioners are
often asked to consider social,
economic and environmental
issues when reviewing proposals.
How do we achieve a balanced
community?
Social, economic, and environmental issues all affect each other; one solution will lead to another question that determines if the solution is still viable. Therefore having a priority list for reach issue will help maintain that balance. The first priority items are determining who lives in the area affected by the issue and what do they want in the short and long term. Understanding the who will help to identify the socioeconomic status of the people as well as potential reservations they may have against solutions that the City may prefer. If the area in particular has major environmental issues that can hinder the bigger issue, then we should pay attention to that. Then the party that wants to make changes to the area will have to account for these needs while doing the studies to determine what is economically viable to resolve the issue. No one solution settles every concern but the best solution tries to solve as many as possible. There would be meetings with the public to share the progress on the issue and they can speak up to let us know if we are heading the right direction or not.
Annette Phan
What do you see as the greatest
land use challenges facing the
City? How do you propose
addressing them?
The greatest land use challenges are already ongoing, but these are the issues where a redevelopment is proposed in a formerly low-income ethnic neighborhood's shopping centers. The issue worsens when the shopping center contains ethnic stores and allows residents to access specific ingredients without a car or crossing borders into another city. The redevelopment is good for the City's long term growth as we need more housing. But it should not come at a cost for the small businesses. Mixed-use developments should be encouraged over mostly residential developments as part of what makes a city great is having places to hang out at. As mentioned in response to achieving a balanced community, communication with the public via meetings would be critical to ensure that we are taking the development in the right direction.
Description Area View the Housing Element
Have you read the Housing
Element?
Yes
What are your thoughts on the
Housing Element? How should it
be implemented?
The Housing Element is a comprehensive resource that shows the demographics of who lives in which part of Sunnyvale based on race, income, disability, and other factors over the years. It is very helpful for someone to get an overall sense of how Sunnyvale is.
Even for a local of 30 years like me, I learned so much about the socioeconomic differences between the various neighborhoods in the area. I like how it includes survey answers from various neighbors in different languages so that we can reduce the impact of the language barriers. The findings in the Housing Element can be used to review the differences between Northern and Southern Sunnyvale and find solutions. Northern Sunnyvale runs the risk of becoming almost residential only with less commercial uses to be accessed without a car. Southern
Sunnyvale in particular is vulnerable to NIMBY influences as it has a more established downtown and more long-term affluence.
Sustainability Commission
Category One: I’m a Sunnyvale
resident.
Yes
Category Two: I’m a Sunnyvale
business community member.
No
Annette Phan
Sustainability is a new and
emerging concern in many
communities. What do you think
are the primary sustainability
policy issues this commission will
be addressing over the next few
years?
The primary sustainability police issues include conversion from natural gas to electric and increased emissions and traffic as more companies welcome employees back into the office. Per the Climate Playbook, it seems that drivers are returning to the road with shelter in place no longer deemed necessary for work. The silver lining is the part that drivers are likely to use electric and hybrid vehicles which would help cut down emissions. In terms of natural gas, it seems that phasing it out will take time, especially with restaurants that use natural gas for cooking purposes.
Residential buildings would be somewhat easier to incentivize into converting into all electric.
Description Area View the Climate Action Playbook
Have you read the above version
of the Climate Action Playbook?
Yes
What are your thoughts on the
Playbook? How might the actions
("Plays") be improved?
The Playbook compares the goals set in the previous climate action plan with whether the goals are completed or worth continuing to meet. This comparison helps show we are in terms of our goals and next steps to consider to make sure we continue to meet or exceed these goals. We can improve the Plays more by giving examples of incentives to push us closer towards the goals.
Strategy 2D for example encourages incentives programs to switch to all electric appliances and referencing ongoing and potential programs such as rebates would help. A lot of folks feel that sustainability require personal sacrifice whereas true sustainability is a mix of change and accommodation.
Fair Political Practices Commission Statement of Economic Interests Description Area If you are appointed to the Arts Commission, Heritage Preservation Commission, Housing and Human Services
Commission or the Planning Commission, you must electronically file the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700), which will be a public
record.Statement of Economic Interests - Form 700Understanding of Filing RequirementI understand and agree that if I’m appointed to the Arts Commission, Heritage Preservation Commission, Housing and Human Services Commission or Planning
Commission I must electronically file the Fair Political Practices Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700). This form reports my economic interests and those of my spouse or domestic partner, if applicable. I understand this will be a public record.
Annette Phan
Radio Button Yes
Voter Registration Requirement
Description Area If you are a applying for the Board of Library Trustee, Heritage Preservation Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Personnel Board or the Planning Commission, you must be a registered voter in Sunnyvale.
Are you currently a registered
voter in Sunnyvale?
Yes
When was the last time you
voted? Month/Year
November 2025
Your Agreement
Description Area IMPORTANT NOTICE – READ BEFORE SIGNING:By selecting both “Yes” and “Submit Form” below I am adding my digital signature to this application. I am also agreeing with the following statements:All statements I have made on this application are true and correct.I authorize the City of Sunnyvale (City) to investigate the accuracy of this information.I release the City from all claims and liabilities arising from such investigation.I acknowledge that any false statement on this application will be grounds for the City to deny my appointment. A false statement discovered later, will be grounds to dismiss me from my appointment at any time.I acknowledge that any false statement on this application could lead to criminal charges. Charges could fall under California Penal Code, Section 115 or other applicable law.
I agree Yes
Your full name Annette My Phan
Date Mar 26, 2026
Annette Phan