Regnart Creek Trail Project Updates
Date: 04/22/2020 11:35 am
The Cupertino Environmental Committee met on April 15th and unanimously accepted the negative environmental declaration for the Regnart Creek Trail project. The next step will be the submission of acceptance by City Council at the June 2nd council meeting.
The minutes from the February 25, 2020 and March 23, 2020 meetings that City staff had with Valley Water staff are now available to view/download on the project webpage.
The local resistance continues to be consistently active so it’s always a good idea to show up at these meetings if you can, and plan to speak in support of the trail. It reminds the city that there is broad support for the trail and we are watching closely.
For example, at the ERC meeting to approve the MND, there were several speakers against the trail and Council member Liang Chao questioned the trail’s environmental feasibility for 1.5 hours before eventually voting in its favor. From our side, Jennifer Shearin and Seema Lindskog attended the ERC meeting and spoke in favor of the trail.
Since the ERC approved the MND, it should normally be fairly routine for the council to accept the MND also, but you just never know.
Latest arguments against the trail are:
– It will harm the trees on library park (not true. City arborist has signed off on this)
– All homes along the trail should have a concrete wall (to drive up the cost of the trail. Factis most don’t want a concrete wall as it would block their access to the trail)
– Given the projected budget shortfall due to COVID-19, the city should cancel any non-essential expenditures. (Jennifer and Seema had a call this week with Deb Feng, the city manager, and were told that all projects that have been already fully funded by the council, are already budgeted to move forward. This includes Regnart Creek Trail.
Do we need to be concerned about the May 19th city council meeting where the City Council will consider adoption of the MND (Mitigated Negative Declaration).
Is this a back door for local resistance may show up, on the web, to create problems?
https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/public-works/transportation-mobility/bicycle-and-pedestrian-travel/bicycle-transportation-plan-implementation/regnart-creek-trail