Find out what’s happening in Milpitas this week by reading the City Manager’s Weekly Report, a summary report of updates related to City projects, new businesses, construction updates, special events and more! You may also download a printable PDF of the latest Weekly Report.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Weekly Report Format and Posting Schedule
The Weekly Report will now be published to the website as a news item, which will allow for easier retrieval by the community leading to enhanced transparency to the public. This will also allow for translation of the content into the preferred language of the reader. The Weekly Report will continue to be transmitted to the City Council on Fridays and will be posted to the City’s website and social media channels on Mondays, which will allow the Council the weekend to review prior to the public posting. The format of the report was also modified for enhanced accessibility.
Building Official Begins Monday
It is my great pleasure to announce that Bill Tott has been hired as the City of Milpitas’ Building Official, after having served as a consultant for a few months. Within that short timeframe, Bill has assisted developers and contractors in moving their projects forward, and updated a number of Building Safety policies and procedures in collaboration with the Director of Building and Housing. These efforts were appreciated as evidenced by developers’ feedback at the Community Development Roundtables. Bill has also proved to be an outstanding supervisor and manager, with a reliable, dedicated, and collaborative approach. Bill brings over 30 years of building safety and building industry experience to Milpitas. Prior to Milpitas, Bill was the Assistant Building Official at the City of Santa Clara, where he oversaw the inspection function and assisted with management of plan review and permit administration. Bill also supervised the Code Enforcement Division at the City of Redwood City, where he developed various revisions to the municipal code. Bill is a certified building official as well as a certified building, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing inspector. He is also a registered Evaluator and Coordinator with the California Office of Emergency Services Safety Assessment Program. He began his official role on January 7 and reports to Sharon Goei, Director of Building and Housing.
Lieutenant Raj Maharaj Began the FBI National Academy
We are very pleased to announce Lieutenant Raj Maharaj began the FBI National Academy in Quantico Virginia on January 7, 2019. The FBI National Academy is a professional course of study for U.S. and international law enforcement managers nominated by their agency heads because of demonstrated leadership qualities. The 10 week program provides coursework in intelligence theory, terrorism and terrorist mindsets, management science, law, behavioral science, law enforcement communication, forensic science, and serves to improve the administration of justice in the police departments and agencies at home and abroad and to raise law enforcement standards, knowledge, and cooperation worldwide. Lieutenant Raj Maharaj will graduate from the academy on March 15, 2019.
Water and Sewer Open Community Engagement
Staff continues to outreach to the community to provide critical information on the water and sewer services and the need for the proposed rate changes. A community meeting was held on January 8 at Pearl Zanker Elementary School and this Saturday, January 12, an Open House will be held at the Community Center from 10 am – noon. The City’s website www.milpitas.gov/watersewer2018 continues to updated on a daily basis with information.
Ribbon Cutting for Celsius
Celsius is a quick service dessert shop serving rolled ice creams, ice teas & other drinks. They are the first rolled ice cream shop in Milpitas, a growing trend in sweet treats. On January 11, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for Celsius. Celsius hopes to soon offer delivery of ice cream and drinks to local residents and businesses.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Suspect Arrested with Loaded Firearm
On January 3, 2019, at 8:44 p.m., the Milpitas Police Department initiated a traffic enforcement stop for a stop sign violation and found a loaded gun with additional ammunition in the car. A press release was issued on January 10 regarding the matter and anyone with information is encouraged to call the Police Department at (408) 586-2400 or by anonymously calling the Crime Tip hotline at (408) 586-2500.
Milpitas Police Department Recruitment Team
The Milpitas Police Department Recruitment Team attended the following events this week actively looking for those interested in applying for police officer and dispatch positions:
- Wednesday, January 9th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.-Academy at San Mateo
- Saturday, January 12th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Academy at San Jose
BUILDING PERMITS AND OCCUPANCY
Building permits were issued to the following:
- Summerhill Apartments, for construction of the first building consisting of 333 units out of 684 multi-family units in a 5-story residential with commercial development located at 1500 Centre pointe Dr. at an estimated construction cost of $72.8M.
- LD Milpitas Lodging, LLC, for the construction of foundation only for Element Hotel, a new 5-story 194 room hotel located at 521 Alder Dr. at an estimated construction cost of $34.7M.
- Toll Brothers, Inc., for the construction of first three, 3-story buildings consisting of 20 units out of 59 townhomes residential development located at 1980 Tarob Ct., at an estimated construction cost of $6.36M.
Building permit applications were submitted by the following:
- Western Digital, existing (SanDisk) research & development of flash memory business, for tenant improvements at their facility located at 901 Sandisk Dr. at an estimated construction cost of $937,633.
- Orchard Investors LLC, for tenant improvements for a new fitness center located at 800 Tasman Dr. at an estimated construction cost of $675,950.
The following businesses have received final inspection and are now open for operation:
- Renesas, a semiconductor manufacturing company that acquired Intersil Corp., relocated from Santa Clara to 915 Murphy Ranch Rd.
- Sporton International, a hardware testing company located at 1175 Montague Expy.
- Lite-on, Inc., a computer storage devices company, located at 726 S Hillview Dr.
- Kate Spade, retail store at Great Mall.
- Alsan Marketing LLC, computer related services and online retail business located 1453 N Milpitas Blvd.
- Xian Kitchen, Chinese hometown style restaurant located at 300 Barber Ct.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Centre Pointe Townhomes, 241 townhomes development by DR Horton located at 1501 Centre Pointe Dr.: Two more 3-story buildings with a total of 15 units were finalized at the development, bringing it to a total of 130 completed units in the development.
District 1, 7-story mixed used project with commercial retail space and 371 apartments by Lyon Community Developments located at 1315 McCandless Dr.: To allow an earlier start of operation, a temporary occupancy permit for residential units in Phase 6A, 6B & 7 were issued.
PDF Solutions, located at 1469 N Milpitas Blvd.: To allow an earlier start of construction, a temporary building permit was issued to PDF Solutions, a developer company for process-design integration technologies for integrated circuits.
District Lot 2, 7-story mixed used project with commercial retail space and 207 residential unit apartment, wrapped around 7-story parking garage building development by Lyon Communities Developer located at 1415 McCandless Dr.: The construction of 2nd floor garage walls continues to proceed on the 7-level parking garage and the foundation of apartment building will be starting soon. See the aerial photos taken on Dec 21, 2018.
RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Senior Center Orientation
On Tuesday, January 8, a New Member Orientation was held and one new Senior Center member participated. The participant was given a tour of the facility and found out about the various programs and activities offered through the Center.
Upcoming Event: Senior Center Open House
On Saturday, January 12, the Senior Advisory Commission and select Senior Center staff will be hosting its inaugural Open House event for our Milpitas senior community members. The Open House event will serve to offer community members a close-up look at the many programs offered to senior adults’ ages 50+ at the Senior Center as well as its many facility amenities. The game room will be open for participant use, as well as a refreshments center, craft station, fitness demonstration, fitness room orientation and scheduled tours of the facility. Transportation will be arranged to pick-up Terrace Garden residents who need assistance in getting to the event.
Senior Center Activities
Monday, January 13: Afternoon Movie, 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 15: Book Club, 10:30 a.m.
Friday, January 18: Speaker: Benefits of Holistic Care, 10:00 a.m.
Friday, January 18: Fitness Room Orientation, 1:00 p.m.
Youth Programs
Milpitas Jr. Warriors
Recreation and Community Services is partnering with the world Champion Golden State Warriors as part of the Jr. Warriors and Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA to offer Milpitas youth the opportunity to partake in an 8 week program to have fun and learn the fundamentals of basketball. They will also have an emphasis on skill development, encouraging positive attitudes towards winning and losing, other teams and the officials. The program is broken into grade levels, 1st & 2nd/3rd & 4th/ 5th & 6th and will compete in a “semi-competitive” basketball league with on Saturdays beginning January 12, 2019 from 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. The 213 registered youth will each receive a reversible Warriors jersey and participation award as part of their registration in the program, which is co-sponsored by Jr. Warriors and the Jr. NBA.
Citywide Special Events
Lunar New Year
This years’ Lunar New Year event will be held on Saturday, January 19, 2019 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Milpitas Community Center and Civic Center areas. This yea
r we are celebrating the Year of the Pig! The celebration will include traditional Chinese music performed by the Fire Bird Youth Orchestra, the traditional Lion and Dragon dances, and Vietnamese live vocalists. There will also be a fun kid’s craft area provided by the Mandarin Language and Cultural Center. In addition to all of the great entertainment, there will also be food provided by Sheng Kee Bakery. The evening will conclude with a fantastic firecracker display. This will be a great evening celebrating the Asian-American community!
Black History Month
To honor Black History month, the City of Milpitas will be celebrate and remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy with a youth poetry contest. This year’s contest theme is “#Unity”. The writers may relate this theme to themselves or others in their family, school, neighborhood, or the world. There will be certificates for first, second and third place in pre-determined age categories. Awards will be given at the City Council meeting on February 19, 2019.
