creating a vision for moffett park
Through community meetings, surveys, and discussions with community stakeholders, the Planning Commission, and City Council, we have explored how individuals envision the future of Moffett Park. Identifying what makes the area unique and special, and what things residents, visitors, and businesses would like to change was an ongoing process.
Building off past engagement efforts, the following presents the vision statement for the Moffett Park Specific Plan:
drafting guiding principles
To achieve the vision for Moffett Park, guiding principles were developed that offer more specific direction regarding how strategies and activities within the plan area can develop over time. These principles offered an opportunity to revisit the aspects of the previous specific plan that were successful, and adapt this updated plan to uniquely address some of the contemporary challenges and issues that have also been studied.
Community engagement meetings and sessions with Planning Commission and City Council offered opportunities for people to weigh in on these principles and further refine the goals and strategies that drive the specific plan update.
1. Maintain Moffett Park as an integral part of Sunnyvale.
Moffett Park remains a natural extension of the City’s built landscape, providing residents, workers, and visitors an integrated and cohesive connection between the San Francisco Bay (which sits to the north of Moffett Park) and the wider neighborhoods of Sunnyvale. Through enhanced multimodal mobility connections, including transit, pedestrian, and bicycle improvements, and accessible parks and open space that support underserved neighborhoods in northern Sunnyvale, Moffett Park connects and serves all Sunnyvale residents with new amenities and destinations. Additional employment and housing growth support the fiscal health of Sunnyvale through increased property, hotel, and sales tax revenues.
2. Establish Moffett Park as a model community through its commitment to comprehensively addressing resilience, climate protection, and equity in all activities
Moffett Park is a model for the community in the face of climate change, as well as a template for equitable and sustainable development at the building, block, and neighborhood scale. New residential and neighborhood commercial uses support a sustainable land use mix in Moffett Park, improving the local as well as regional jobs-housing ratio, lowering travel distances, reducing greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and improving access, and improving access to daily goods and services. New development is all-electric phasing out natural gas use, while building materials and construction techniques prioritize the development of low carbon building. Policies, actions, and development standards are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from water and energy use and landfill disposal and minimize air and water pollution while maximizing waste diversion. The City prioritizes walking, biking, and public transit and requires aggressive single-occupancy vehicle trip reduction for all new developments. The City promotes the social and physical needs of all visitors, workers, and future residents.
To address flooding and climate change in Moffett Park, the City will continue to engage in additional efforts with multiple, integrated strategies to increase resilience. Opportunities to increase system resilience throughout Moffett Park include increasing detention capacity and using green infrastructure to remove pollutants and reduce runoff volumes entering the stormwater system. Likewise, Moffett establishes performance targets for the open space and urban tree canopy to mitigate and adapt to climate change through carbon sequestration, urban heat island reduction, air pollution filtration, and stormwater retention. These targets are implemented through the open space and urban ecology framework, street design standards, and landscaping and site design standards for new development.
3. Evolve Moffett Park into a vibrant and inclusive community where all people can thrive
Moffett Park establishes a network of active and unique neighborhoods that serve a broad range of users and cohesively integrate with the rest of Sunnyvale. Moffett Park will transition from an office and industrial area into an adaptable environment that also accommodates residential, neighborhood-serving commercial, and recreational activities. Through the Specific Plan, the City establishes numeric objectives to guide the transition of Moffett Park into a series of complete neighborhoods. Each neighborhood accommodates neighborhood-serving commercial square footage, housing, employment square footage, and parks and open space. New park and open space types promote recreation, active transportation, and social gathering. The City aspires for a minimum fifteen percent of the future housing in Moffett Park to be reserved for lower-income households, creating incentives for up to twenty percent affordable housing and providing much needed housing for a diverse workforce at all income levels.
4. Maintain and strengthen Moffett Park as a diverse economic engine that supports economic prosperity for all
Moffett Park continues to be a hub of economic activity and technological innovation, supporting a diverse economic base to ensure the long-term fiscal health of the plan area and the City. The economic activity and technological innovation include a mix of large, established high-tech companies, smaller spaces for start-ups, and a range of retail, services, hotels, and entertainment. The City supports a wide range of businesses, including small, local companies as well as large, multinational firms through the continued growth of Moffett Park. Policies to support the retention of existing local businesses and to encourage essential services, such as a grocery store, help maintain economy diversity. The City promotes the training and continued education of workers, residents, and students to support economic prosperity for all.
5. Create a connected, accessible district that prioritizes the movement of people over vehicles to reduce climate pollution and to support a healthy community
Moffett Park uses multimodal strategies and district-wide policy to redesign the district around people rather than vehicles. Streets are designed to promote a safe and comfortable mobility network for all individuals, regardless of which mobility option they use. All streets within Moffett Park are “Complete Streets,” balancing space for motorists, bicycles, pedestrians, transit vehicles, and other mobility options. New bicycle and pedestrian connections into and out of Moffett Park are essential to improving circulation and overall connectivity. These would include Mary Avenue Overcrossing, East Channel Trail, and a Multi-Use Path on Manila Drive. Moffett Park supports existing operations of public transit and facilitates opportunities for expansion and new connections like the Moffett Park Circulator. An emphasis on walking, biking, and transit use shifts travel away from single-occupant vehicles and promotes lower greenhouse gas emissions.
6. Cultivate dynamic and connected public spaces that accommodate the physical and social needs of all users
Moffett Park cultivates a network of welcoming, connected, and accessible parks and open spaces that support recreation, social gathering, health, and urban ecology. Moffett Park provides a high level of service with ample parks and open space through the development of new Natural Areas, Ecological Corridors, Greenbelt, Biodiversity Hubs, Community Parks, Neighborhood Parks, Mini-Parks, Plazas, and Laneways.
The interconnected spaces maintain and expand connections to the San Francisco Bay, while enhancing ecological value and resilience. The variety of open space types ensure recreational and social opportunities support different activities, age groups, and uses throughout the day and evenings.
7. Create a healthy, resilient, and biodiverse environment
The open space and urban ecology plan for Moffett Park creates an interconnected system of habitat areas that are supported by surrounding green features integrated into streetscapes and new development. Habitat patches are distributed across Moffett Park and connected by corridors along the channels and streets. Canopy cover along streets facilitates wildlife movement across Moffett Park while providing vital shade over multi-modal routes, reducing stormwater runoff, enhancing the character of Moffett Park, addressing heat island effects, and adding to the overall resilience to climate change. Additionally, new developments enhance ecosystems and support biodiversity through bird safe design, an Ecological Combining District, a transfer of development rights policy, and increased building setbacks along the East, West, and Lockheed Martin Channels. Infrastructure improvements and both active and passive strategies at the site and building level provide opportunities to manage stormwater and future challenges associated with climate change and sea level rise.
8. Integrate innovative and emerging technologies in the district to support community-wide goals
Moffett Park continues to leverage its position as an innovative hub to establish itself as a regional center for thought leadership and emerging technologies. The City accelerates Smart City design and district-scale infrastructure systems, fostering collaboration among the regional agencies, community, and property owners to develop innovative, multi-benefit solutions to complex challenges facing the San Francisco Bay Area.