Project History Summary:

September 2017 – November 2021

The project was initiated in September 2017 with the beginning of a Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study was approved in August 2018, and the design was funded at that time. Option “D” (see below, in “Trail Options”) was approved for construction on 9/17/19 by the City Council after review of the 65% design. The project was not moved forward, but was brought for a vote after another year, mainly due to Council direction for unprecedented amounts of outreach on fencing with local neighbors–in addition to the two years prior to design approval. (See below for a discussion on the fencing issues with this project.) The environmental study was completed and approved by Cupertino’s ERC, Planning Commission and Council in May 2020. Both the initial design phase and second design phase is complete.

On November 17, 2020, the City Council voted to allow the project to proceed to construction without another delay or vote, if the construction bids were on budget. They also declined at that time to add any more public taxpayer funds to the budget for the private home improvements of new fencing/walls that the adjacent neighbors have been granted.

On June 1, 2021, due to temporary rising lumber costs, the City Council approved another $1.2M toward the fencing funding, bringing the total fencing cost to approximately $2.0M (similar to the trail cost itself), and the project completion was subsequently delayed again until August 2022. For more information on this, see our article here.

The trail portion of the project was constructed by Redwood Construction, and was completed in December 2021. Nine bids were received for construction of the trail and the lowest appropriate bid was accepted. The official trail opening was delayed again to March 2023 due to delays in installation of fencing on personal property (paid through the City General Fund). The trail itself cost was paid through Measure B Funding, from the State of California.

The City Council approved construction funding on 9/17/19 of $2.1M which included new wooden seven foot fencing for all neighbors adjacent to and across the creek from (approximately 40 feet away or more). They also on that date added an additional $150K for fencing/privacy measures for all of those residents on top of the costs for the brand new standard seven foot wooden fences.

All fences would be constructed on the private land of the residents, not city land. A resident could opt for not getting a new fence, and keeping whatever fencing they had currently in their yard. This would allow residents to keep their gates to the trail, as any new fencing paid by the City of Cupertino would not include a gate at the request of Valley Water, who owns the land the trail will be built upon.

The following June 17, 2020, the City Council then approved an extra $400K for special noise abatement sandwiched fencing, or another type of fencing that the residents preferred. (If the cost was higher, the difference would be paid by the homeowner). Including the funds for new wooden fences from the original project estimate, this resulted in $765K in extra noise abatement funds for residents adjacent to and across the creek from the trail. With the total project costs now at $2.65M, the cost of these private-land fences is now almost 30% of the total project costs.

The city staff has been in negotiations with the neighbors about what they would like for fencing for three years now. For the first two years, despite many public meetings and hundreds of hours of 1:1 meetings held at residents’ homes, there were still very few of the residents adjacent and across the creek who were willing to discuss what they would accept for fencing. After the September 2019 vote when the project moved forward, City Staff has continued with extensive outreach including many more personal meetings. This work resulted in neighbors choosing a variety of new fences that the city would pay for, including seven foot wooden fences, open cell mass-loaded vinyl, composite PVC, and pre-cast concrete walls. All the options other than the concrete walls would be fully paid for out of city funds.

It should also be noted that for no other trail or walk/bike project in Cupertino has the city provided new fences or walls on residents’ private land, and it is also unknown for other neighboring cities. Municipalities don’t do this because it opens up public finances for potential corruption, by allowing public funds to be diverted to improvement projects on friends’ or families’ privately held land. The City Council has provided these funds in a good-faith effort to appease the neighbors abutting the trail that do not wish for it to be built, but this sets a terrible precedent for future public works projects.

The independent environmental review passed by the ERC, Planning Commission, and reviewed by the City Council did not show any increased noise expected for the project during its use (aside from noise created while the trail is being constructed, and only in one area). The Sheriff has stated the trail will be safe, and additional crime is not expected, based on local, state and national trails–including our own Saratoga Creek Trail only a mile away. There does not appear to be any scientific or objective reason to believe that specialty fences or walls are needed for “protection” or “safety” over what is currently existing.

On November 17, 2020, the neighbors who chose to have the city build a concrete wall (instead of specialty noise-attenuating fences which are fully funded) as their new fencing asked to have the complete cost of these walls covered by the city budget, for a total of about $28,000 per home in funding for improvements to their personal property. The City Council declined to do so at that time.

Due to temporary rising lumber prices (they fell again within a few months of this vote) the City Council voted on June 1, 2021 to allocate an additional $1.2 million for resident fencing, bringing the total amount for private amenities to almost $2 million. At that time, the project completion was also delayed by nine months to August 2022. This change made the fencing costs to just about half of the total project costs.

Location of Project

(click map for larger view)

City Council Trail Options from 9/17/19 meeting (Option “D” chosen)

(Click table for larger view)

How Walk-Bike Cupertino has actively supported this project

Walk-Bike Cupertino has:

Provided information, maps and data to residents, City Council and Staff regarding usefulness of Bike Boulevards to connect neighborhoods, to improve access for seasoned cyclists, for reduced traffic, and to encourage greener lifestyles;

Kept supporters up to date on upcoming events and milestones for the project via email newsletters;

Sent emails of support to City Council and encouraged other residents to do the same;

Coordinated and gave vocal support at City Council meetings, when this topic was to be discussed;

Met with City Staff, Bicycle Pedestrian Commission, and Cupertino City Councilmembers and attended public outreach meetings to discuss details of the various projects and to encourage progress and adequate staffing.