Minutes 10-02-2013Page 1
1 CITY OF CUPERTINO
2 PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING
3
4
5
6
7 RE: APPLE CAMPUS II
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013
15 5:00 p.m.
16
17
18 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
19 BY APRIL HEVEROH, CSR 8759
20 STACY L. LOZANO, CSR 12831
21 CLARK REPORTING & VIDEO CONFERENCING
22 2140 SHATTUCK AVENUE, SUITE 405
23 BERKELEY, CA 94704
24 510.486.0700
25 WWW.CLARKDEPOS.COM
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1 INDEX OF SPEAKERS
2
3 Presenters
4 PIU GHOSH, Cupertino City Staff
5 ADAM WEINSTEIN,
6
7 DAN WHISENHUNT, Director of Real Estate
8 and Development, Apple.
9
10
11 Public Hearing Speakers
12
13 TIM MCRAE, Energy Director, Silicon Valley
14 Leadership Group.
15 ELEANOR (E.S.) FIELD, Sunnyvale Resident.
16 ROBERT NEFF, Palo Alto Resident.
17 NEIL STRUTHERS, Executive Officer of the
18 Santa Clara and San Benito County Building
19 Constructions Trades Council.
20 RACHELLE CONOVER, Sunnyvale Resident.
21 JOHN ZIRELLI, Recology, Cupertino.
22 DALE POLLEK, Cupertino Hoops.
23
24
25
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1 ---oOo---
2 P R O C E E D I N G S
3 DON SUN: Good afternoon. Welcome to the
4 Planning Commission of Cupertino. Wednesday, October 2nd.
5 Let's start with a salute to the flag.
6 ALL: (Salute to the flag).
7 DON SUN: Can I have a roll call?
8 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Commissioner Gong?
9 MARGARET GONG: Present.
10 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Commissioner Takahashi?
11 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Here.
12 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Vice Chair Brophy?
13 PAUL BROPHY: Here.
14 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Chair Sun?
15 DON SUN: Here.
16 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: And Commissioner Lee is
17 absent?
18 DON SUN: Yeah. Commissioner Lee is excluding
19 herself from the study session of the meeting today. It's
20 her parents that own the building at the 1698 South Wolfe
21 Road, and her place of business is located at the
22 building, so she excludes herself.
23 So, the first on is to approve the minutes.
24 I have one minutes is August 13, 2013. Anyone
25 make a motion?
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1 MARGARET GONG: So moved.
2 DON SUN: Since, I think the voting system have
3 problem, right? So, it's the...
4 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I believe we have a problem
5 with the voting system, so we might need either a raising
6 of hands or an "aye." And also the timing -- we can keep
7 the timing for the speakers.
8 DON SUN: Any second?
9 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Second.
10 DON SUN: If you for vote, yes, please raise your
11 hands.
12 MARGARET GONG: (Raises hand).
13 DON SUN: (Raises hand).
14 ALAN TAKAHASHI: (Raises hand).
15 PAUL BROPHY: Abstain.
16 DON SUN: Three yes, one abstain. Pass.
17 The second subject is of the minutes on the
18 August 27, 2013. Anyone make a motion?
19 ALAN TAKAHASHI: I'll motion to approve those
20 minutes.
21 MARGARET GONG: Second.
22 DON SUN: Vote for yes, raise your hand.
23 MARGARET GONG: (Raises hand).
24 PAUL BROPHY: (Raises hand).
25 DON SUN: (Raises hand).
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1 ALAN TAKAHASHI: (Raises hand).
2 DON SUN: Four, yes. Pass.
3 Written communication. We have a one letter is
4 coming from Golden River Co., it's an attorney office. We
5 have received a letter and we will pass it to the cities.
6 Thank you.
7 The postponement and removal from the calendar.
8 No.
9 Oral communication. This portion of the meeting
10 is reserved for person wishing to address the Commission
11 on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are limited to
12 three minutes. In most cases, State law will prohibit the
13 Commission from making any decisions with respect to the
14 matter not on the agenda.
15 Consent calendar. Anyone? No?
16 Consent calendar, no.
17 Now we start from the City staff report.
18 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Good morning, Chair, and
19 Commissioners -- or good afternoon, Chair and
20 Commissioners.
21 We're happy to present the Apple 2 Campus project
22 to you.
23 I just wanted to talk very briefly about the way
24 our presentation's going to be set up.
25 Piu Ghosh will start the presentation from staff,
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1 after which we will have LSA, our environmental consultant,
2 to present the environmental -- information about the
3 Environmental Impact Report.
4 Our consultant from Fehr & Peers will present on
5 traffic issues, and then we'll bring it back to our staff
6 to close the presentation with our closing remarks and our
7 recommendations.
8 After that, feel free to ask questions, and we
9 can proceed with the usual order of business.
10 PIU GHOSH: Good afternoon, Planning Commission.
11 The proposed project, Apple Campus 2, involves the
12 demolition of approximately 2.66 million square feet of
13 existing office, research and development buildings, and
14 the construction of a single unified office and research
15 development campus with approximately 3.42 million square
16 feet.
17 The project is located in the northeast quadrant
18 of the City, in the area identified in the general plan as
19 the Vallco Park North Special Center. The general plan
20 allows the retention of this area as an employment area,
21 predominantly office and light industrial activities, with
22 neighborhood commercial uses.
23 The project site is bounded by the City of
24 Sunnyvale to the north, and the City of Santa Clara to the
25 east.
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1 Starting in the north, there are predominantly
2 single-family uses in the City of Sunnyvale, with some
3 commercial usage located at the intersection of North
4 Wolfe Road and Homestead Road.
5 At the -- on the east, there are some existing
6 industrial office buildings located within the City of
7 Cupertino limits. And immediately south of that are
8 single-family homes and a public park in the City of Santa
9 Clara.
10 South of the project site, across from 280, are
11 existing offices that are either owned or leased by Apple,
12 and new and existing mixed use developments such as Rose
13 Bowl, Main Street and Metropolitan Condos and Vallco Mall.
14 There are existing apartments, hotels and a
15 commercial shopping center, Cupertino Village on the west
16 of the project site, and also a small church, which is
17 located along Homestead Road.
18 Apple proposes to develop the site in two main
19 phases.
20 The first phase of development encompasses
21 approximately 150 acres of the site, and is expected to be
22 completed in 32 months, with phase two commencing soon
23 after.
24 The first phase of development will include a
25 ring-shaped main building with about 2,385 parking spaces
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1 in the basement, a 120,000 square foot, 1,000 seat
2 corporate auditorium, a 100,000 square foot corporate
3 fitness center with associated fitness activities, like
4 basketball courts, et cetera, a main parking structure
5 located along I-280 with approximately 5,870 spaces, an
6 825-space parking structure at the northeast corner of
7 Pruneridge Avenue and North Tantau Avenue, which includes
8 60 valet and 165 visitor parking spaces. This parcel also
9 includes a 25,000 square foot valet reception area.
10 In addition, a central plant will be integrated
11 into the main parking structure, and other minor ancillary
12 buildings are also developed for security and landscaping.
13 Finally, this phase of development also includes a
14 135-space guest parking lot off of North Wolfe Road -- off
15 of the project driveway.
16 The next phase of development encompasses the
17 remaining 20 acres. It will include about 600,000 square
18 feet of office research and development buildings, which
19 includes some lab and testing space and a restaurant.
20 It will also include parking structures with
21 1,740 spaces, and satellite plants for energy generation
22 needs of this phase of development.
23 The project necessitates several general plan
24 changes to ensure that those projects are consistent with
25 the general plan.
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1 Apple proposes to potentially relocate a historic
2 resource located on this site, Glendenning Barn, to an
3 off-site location. Apple has currently indicated on their
4 plans that they have a proposed potential location for the
5 barn on site. If the barn gets relocated to City-owned
6 property, the public could have access to one of its
7 historic resources, which is currently not available.
8 Even if the barn is relocated off-site, the historical
9 status of the site would be retained.
10 The EIR has looked at the relocation of the barn
11 and has concluded that the location on or off-site is less
12 than significant impact with mitigation measures that have
13 been identified.
14 Apple's financial obligations for off-site
15 relocation of the barn are discussed in the DA, which I
16 will discuss a little later.
17 Apple is also proposing that the City vacate a
18 portion of Pruneridge Avenue, roughly between North Tantau
19 Avenue and the current Hamptons driveway.
20 This will result in amendments to some figures in
21 the general plan to indicate the removal of identified
22 bike lanes, and the identification of the street as a
23 minor collector in the general plan.
24 Since Apple is proposing improvements on other
25 streets around the perimeter of the site to mitigate the
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1 closure of this segment of the street, additional
2 amendments may result to reflect the addition of bike
3 lanes where currently there are none.
4 As I just mentioned, Apple will be enhancing the
5 pedestrian and bicycle experience along their project
6 frontage and in areas that are beyond the project
7 frontage.
8 In addition, the EIR identifies that a
9 contribution toward an alternate east-west connector in
10 the City is a potential mitigation measure. However,
11 because these mitigation measures do not provide an
12 equivalent east-west connector to the replace the removal
13 of Pruneridge, the EIR concludes that this impact is
14 significant and avoidable, even with the mitigation
15 measures identified. Again, the financial obligations
16 regarding the surrounding vacation Pruneridge are
17 discussed in the DA.
18 Currently there is language in Policy 2-35,
19 which is Vallco Park North, which refers to an existing DA
20 that the City had with a former property owner HP.
21 With the approval of this project, language in
22 this policy will be updated to reflect the project and the
23 associated Development Agreement.
24 The EIR concludes that most of the impact can be
25 mitigated, but there are still some significant and
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1 unavoidable impacts.
2 The EIR has also concluded that there are several
3 measures to mitigate the traffic and circulation impacts
4 of the project. One such mitigation measure includes
5 street widening at North Tantau Avenue between Vallco
6 Parkway and Stevens Creek Boulevard.
7 In order to implement this mitigation measure,
8 Apple will have to acquire some property, and -- which
9 could result in that property not conforming to the
10 requirements with respect to setback ratios that are
11 established in the general plan. And as a result, in
12 order to ensure the project does not cause an existing
13 project to then become legal and non-conforming, Apple is
14 proposing that the general plan amendment be made.
15 And additionally, other general plan figures and
16 tables will be updated to reflect the changes that have
17 been previously discussed.
18 Finally, the last general plan amendment that is
19 being proposed is to change the land use designation of a
20 1.1 acre area within the project site with parks and open
21 space to industrial/residential.
22 In addition to the general plan amendment, Apple
23 is also proposing to rezone that same area from Parks and
24 Recreation to a Planned Industrial Park. Most of the site
25 currently allows all of the uses that the Industrial Park
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1 designation allows.
2 A residential project that was approved in 2005
3 included the provision of a public park as a project
4 element. However, that park -- project was never
5 constructed, and as a result, the park was not constructed.
6 Currently, the area designated as a park is being used as
7 a parking lot and also has an office building.
8 With the change in the land's use and zoning
9 designations and the subsequent development of the
10 project, the acreage of land designated for future parks
11 in the City will be reduced.
12 Additionally, none of the private open space in
13 the proposed development is designated to be accessible by
14 the public as recreational use.
15 However, as a mitigation measure, Apple shall
16 either provide funds for the acquisition, construction and
17 maintenance of 1.1 acres of property to the City for
18 future park development or agree to purchase, unless they
19 already own property that they would like to designate as
20 a park, and dedicate that area to the City as a public
21 park, as well as provide plans for the construction and
22 maintenance of the park.
23 This mitigation measure reduces the significant
24 impact due to the change in lands use designation and the
25 rezoning of the property to less than significant.
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1 The general plan identifies an opportunity for a
2 trail along Calabazas Creek where the property along --
3 when the property along the creek develops.
4 However, Apple has significant security concerns,
5 having been the subject of intense public scrutiny and
6 industrial espionage in the past. There are also concerns
7 that the trail located along the creek would be secluded
8 and difficult to monitor. Therefore, they are proposing
9 an alternate creek, which would share the public sidewalk.
10 The trail segment would extend from the
11 intersection of Pruneridge Avenue and North Tantau Avenue,
12 down North Tantau Avenue to Vallco Parkway where it would
13 travel west along -- to the intersection of Calabazas
14 Creek and Vallco Parkway. The trail will include
15 appropriate landscaping, signage, pavement treatments
16 that reference the creek and/or water and
17 decorative fencing at the Tantau
18 overcrossing.
19 Apple is proposing to subdivide 17 parcels to
20 five parcels. Ideally there would be one large parcel for
21 the entire campus, but due to physical barriers, such as
22 streets and creeks, five parcels have been proposed.
23 A vesting tentative map confers the property
24 owner the vested right to develop under ordinances,
25 policies and standards in effect at the time of deeming
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1 doing the vesting tentative map complete. It also locks
2 in formulae for fee calculation at time of approval of the
3 map. However, as part of the DA package that has been
4 negotiated, certain fee increases would still be allowed.
5 The term of the vesting tentative map will run
6 concurrent to the DA, or until it is perfected by
7 recordation of a conforming final map and the completion
8 of associated street improvements.
9 The main building comprises of 2.82 million
10 square feet and 2,385 parking spaces in an underground
11 parking facility.
12 The outside radius of the building is 1,521 feet,
13 while the inside radius is 1,162 feet.
14 The building encompasses a central garden where
15 outdoor dining facilities will be located, and a large
16 water feature will be located, in addition to orchard
17 planting. It is our understanding that the fruit from the
18 orchards will be used at the on-site dining facility.
19 The main building comprises of nine pods. Six of
20 them are identical, and two smaller pods will include
21 office R&D spaces. These are designed to be modular and
22 flexible to accommodate the changing needs of different
23 business groups.
24 The last pod encompasses a 60,000 square feet,
25 four-story tall restaurant. It will provide 2,500 seats
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1 on the ground level, and an internal mezzanine level will
2 allow 600 seated guests. Four-story tall sliding glass
3 doors will allow outdoor dining at a 1,750-seat outdoor
4 dining patio.
5 The main building has a simple design ethic with
6 mostly a glass facade. The facade is broken up by the
7 installation of white opaque blade glass awnings at each
8 level. As mentioned before, the cafeteria will have
9 four-story glass panels for the facade. The blade glass
10 awning incorporates a filtering technique so that the
11 ambient air can be used to vent the building, thereby
12 reducing the need for mechanical heating and cooling. The
13 building also has a metal roof, which will have solar
14 panels installed on it.
15 The corporate -- the 100,000 square foot
16 corporate center includes fitness rooms, exercise rooms
17 and lockers on two levels. In addition, the
18 fitness center also provides exam and consult rooms
19 for visiting physicians, optometrists and physical
20 therapists to allow on-campus facilities for
21 employees.
22 It also includes a small cafe and offices for
23 staff members, and support areas for laundry facilities
24 for the fitness center are also available.
25 Additionally, a small parking lot with 25 spaces
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1 is available for the various service providers at the
2 fitness center.
3 Renderings of the fitness center indicate it will
4 be a stone clad structure with a metal roof and exposed
5 wood under the eaves.
6 The 120,000 square foot, 1,000 seat corporate
7 auditorium will be located mainly below grade. Only about
8 14,000 square feet of the auditorium, which serves as a
9 lobby area for arriving guests, will be visible above
10 grade.
11 The balance of the space, which includes the main
12 auditorium space, exhibition space, storage space and back
13 of house facilities like catering kitchen, green rooms, et
14 cetera, will be located below grade. Access to the back
15 of house facilities will be via a concealed at-grade
16 loading area accessed via the North Tantau projects
17 driveway.
18 The design of the visible portion of the
19 corporate auditorium reflects the design of the main
20 building in form, and materials used. The circular
21 structure has an all-glass facade with a large overhang
22 and a metal roof.
23 The three-level main parking garage with parking
24 on the roof is approximately 3.5 million square feet and
25 provides parking for approximately 5,780 vehicles.
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1 The roof parking level has a metal canopy with
2 solar panels. The garage consists of two structures
3 joined by ramps to different levels located between them.
4 The facade is made up of mainly concrete columns with
5 cable rails in between.
6 The 50,000 square foot central plant is also
7 integrated with the main parking structure, and
8 consolidates the mechanical and electrical equipment that
9 serves the buildings on the main site, contains fuel
10 cells, back-up generators, chillers, condensers, water
11 storage, hot water storage, electrical substation, water
12 and fire pumps, and is integrated into the main parking
13 structure, as I mentioned before. Some break room space
14 and a few offices are also located inside this area.
15 The facade of the structure near the central plant
16 has louvers on the exterior for screening and for
17 acoustic insulation.
18 The project involves a large amount of grading
19 due to the provision of a large number of underground
20 parking spaces, the below-ground portions of the corporate
21 auditorium and the tunnels from the Wolfe Road project
22 driveway leading to the main parking structure, and the
23 basement parking garage.
24 The excavated materials will be retained on site
25 and used to place berms around the site to screen the main
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1 building from the street and to screen the main parking
2 structure from the main building. The berms have been
3 designed to emulate the foothills and have been designed
4 to be planted with native oak and savannah woodland
5 vegetation.
6 Phase 1 of the campus development includes the
7 construction of the parking structure to allow parking for
8 the auditorium. This would be located on the northeast
9 corner of the intersection of Pruneridge and North Tantau.
10 This structure would have 825 parking spaces, including
11 valet and guest parking spaces.
12 In addition, this parcel will also include that
13 25,000 square foot of valet parking reception area that I
14 mentioned, which would allow visiting guests to valet park
15 their car and complete registration.
16 There are several ancillary maintenance and
17 security buildings that have also been proposed as Phase
18 1, and the design of these buildings is conceptual. And
19 therefore, while the buildings are being approved in
20 concept with this development permit, the final
21 architectural design of these buildings will be approved
22 at a later date.
23 The Phase 2 buildings are also approved in
24 conceptual form. The approval of this phase of
25 development includes the approval of the building envelope
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1 for these buildings. The final design and location of the
2 buildings will be approved at a later date, subject to the
3 terms of the DA.
4 The Phase 2 buildings are also approved in
5 conceptual form. The approval of this phase of
6 development includes the approval of the building envelope
7 for those buildings. The final design and location of the
8 buildings will be approved with an ASA subject to the
9 terms of the DA.
10 Apple is proposing that the main entrance to the
11 campus be considered the one that is located at the
12 terminus of Pruneridge Avenue and North Tantau Avenue.
13 Plans indicate the creation of a cul-de-sac plaza
14 with planted trees. Apple has also indicated that this
15 area could be the location of public art that is required
16 for the project.
17 We move on to parking. The parking ordinance
18 requires the provision of one parking space for every 285
19 square foot of office space. However, the parking
20 ordinance also allows the usage of site-specific data to
21 determine the amount of parking required for any use. In
22 the case of this project, the parking requirement was
23 determined as a result of the observed parking demand from
24 the Infinite Loop Campus.
25 The parking demand per employee was calculated,
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1 which yielded a required parking supply at this campus of
2 10,980 parking spaces. Of these spaces, 9,240 spaces will
3 be required as part of Phase 1, and 1,740 spaces will be
4 required for the second phase of development.
5 In order to address the special parking
6 arrangements that Apple has to make on event days, Apple
7 will also be required as a condition to provide a special
8 events parking management plan to be approved by the City.
9 This would address issues such as the large volume of
10 people crossing the street and managing parking on the
11 site on event days.
12 All the existing trees on the property are
13 considered protected trees at this point because they are
14 part of an improved landscape plan.
15 Apple is proposing to retain approximately 800
16 protected trees in place. In the event that any of these
17 trees die, replacements will have to be provided in
18 accordance with the Protected Tree Ordinance.
19 In addition, Apple is proposing to transplant
20 about 90 trees. The proposed transplant trees include a
21 large Valley Oak tree, which was planted as a memorial
22 tree to a past HP employee, and several large redwood
23 trees that were planted in a grove around the Glendenning
24 Barn. In case any of these trees do not survive
25 transplant, replacements have been identified.
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1 Additionally, Apple is proposing to remove about
2 3,620 protected trees from the site. They will be
3 required to replace these with at least 6,200 trees. The
4 replacement trees range in size from 15-gallon size to
5 132-inch box trees.
6 Finally, street trees will also be removed to
7 facilitate street widening in places, as required by the
8 provisions of the traffic mitigation. In these cases, the
9 least number of tree removals as possible will be
10 performed and, where required, replacements will be
11 planted to conform with the Tree Ordinance.
12 Apple is also proposing a central median on
13 Homestead Road which ranges from eight to ten feet in
14 width, down to four feet. Landscaping and trees will be
15 planted where feasible.
16 It's important to note that the southern half of
17 the street is controlled by Cupertino and the northern
18 half of the street is controlled by Sunnyvale.
19 Approximately one commercial property, 30
20 single-family homes and eight townhomes are located on the
21 stretch of Homestead where median is proposed.
22 It is expected that the maximum number of U-turns
23 that will have to be made will be during the a.m. peak
24 hours, and that would be about 19 U-turns.
25 The maximum number of U-turns expected during the
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1 p.m. peak hour is expected to be much lower. No on-street
2 parking is expected to be impacted with the installation
3 of the median. The Cupertino staff will work with
4 Sunnyvale staff to design the median.
5 Apple is also, in addition, offering to enter into
6 a DA, a development agreement or a "DA". The DA would
7 ensure development rights for Apple for a set period of
8 time. It would also set the understanding between the two
9 parties regarding funding and construction of
10 infrastructure, development standards, fees and scope of
11 development and the applicable law that would apply to the
12 project as construction proceeds, which means that it
13 would also set the applicable standards for the second
14 phase of development.
15 The Development Agreement also includes community
16 benefits to offset the assurance of the development for a
17 much longer period of time than normal.
18 Some of the terms of the DA cross over into the
19 mitigation measures from the EIR by fiscalizing the
20 mitigation measure, and in some cases crosses over into
21 conditions of approval.
22 It's important to note that the DA is in a
23 negotiated package and no one aspect can be viewed in
24 isolation.
25 The DA has a six-year initial term with
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1 provisions for two potential extensions, for a total period
2 of 20 years.
3 If Apple constructs 2.4 million square feet
4 within the first six years, the DA is extended by another
5 six years for a total of 12 years. If Apple constructs
6 3 million square feet within the first 12 years, the
7 DA is extended by eight more years, for a total of
8 20 years.
9 The DA stipulates that no new impact fees may be
10 imposed on the project, except to address future changes
11 in state and federal law. However, existing impact fees
12 can be increased by CPI.
13 With regard to application costs and utility
14 connection fees, the DA stipulates that Apple shall pay
15 all cost recovery fees that the City incurs to process
16 future applications received for the project components
17 being approved, and the utility connection fees shall be
18 paid at rates when they are payable in the future.
19 Apple also agrees to pay twice the fee applicable
20 in the planned industrial zone on the entire square foot
21 approved with this permit within 31 days of the effective
22 date of the DA.
23 Apple has agreed to pay approximately
24 $23.8 million for the portion of Pruneridge that they're
25 asking for vacation off.
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1 Twenty-five percent of this amount will be paid
2 into escrow within ten days of the effective date of the DA,
3 and the balance will be paid upon transfer of title of
4 property.
5 Apple has also agreed to pay approximately
6 $8.3 million to fund the acquisition of land, initial
7 capital improvement and endowment for maintenance and
8 capital improvements for 20 years if Glendenning Barn is
9 relocated. My mistake. That's $8.3 for the parks.
10 Apple is also proposing to designate Cupertino
11 the point of sale on all major contracts, which will
12 result in the FTB assigning the sales and use tax
13 generated on these contracts to the City. The City will
14 reimburse Apple for up to $600,000 in administrative costs
15 for setting up the tax localization plan once the City
16 receives $10 million in sales and use tax.
17 Apple also agrees to pay the construction tax on
18 the first 2.4 million square feet of development within
19 31 days of effective date of the DA.
20 Apple also agrees to pay $250,000 towards the
21 cost of the feasibility study for a trail along I-280,
22 which has been identified in the EIR as a partial
23 mitigation measure for the vacation Pruneridge Avenue.
24 In addition, Apple will also pay $2.6 million for
25 the 1.1 acre park and for site -- for site improvements
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1 and maintenance -- for the Glendenning Barn, Apple will
2 pay $2.6 million if located on the city-owned property for
3 the land and the maintenance of the barn.
4 Since Apple expects to excavate a good portion
5 along North Wolfe Road to relocate utilities, they're also
6 offering to install conduit for future communication cable
7 to assist the City in its effort to improve communication
8 between traffic signals.
9 As a mitigation measure, Apple is required to
10 install traffic signal preemption equipment on up to ten
11 traffic signals between the firehouse on Stevens Creek
12 Boulevard and the campus. Apple has also offered to fund
13 up to $320,000 for the installation of traffic signal
14 installation preemption on all of the City's traffic
15 signals to improve response time for emergency services
16 Citywide.
17 Finally, Apple has an existing tax consulting
18 agreement with the City as a term of the DA, if agreed to
19 reduce the percentage of compensation that is paid to a
20 consultant from 50 percent to 35 percent on new local tax
21 revenue amounts over $250,000.
22 They have also indicated that the DA offer and
23 their interest in moving forward with the project is
24 predicated on the approval of the three left-turn lane
25 configuration at the Wolfe Road driveway, and we'll talk
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1 about that a little later.
2 The DA package has several economic benefits to
3 the City. This includes a larger share of existing
4 ongoing sales tax revenue, funds for the provision of
5 parks elsewhere in the City, funds for the City to pursue
6 a low-income housing project, one-time revenue from
7 construction tax, improvement in public safety response
8 times City-wide.
9 There are two issues for consideration for the
10 Planning Commission where there has been an impact
11 identified due to the project proposals of three left
12 turns out of North Wolfe Road project -- at the North
13 Wolfe project driveway.
14 In the first case, the EIR identifies an impact
15 due to the configuration. Apple is proposing three left
16 turns to address the issue of employees exiting the site.
17 The safety concern with the three left-turn configuration
18 is that left-turning vehicles in the inside left-turn lane
19 off of project driveway onto southbound Wolfe Road may
20 attempt to merge into the right lane within a short
21 distance of 500 feet to access the I-280 freeway ramps.
22 It is suggested that about 85 percent of the
23 traffic leaving the campus will be headed in the direction
24 of the on-ramps. In some cases, if there are three
25 left-turn lanes, drivers may attempt to make two lane
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1 changes, making it an unsafe maneuver.
2 In addition, a traffic progression model was
3 prepared for the Wolfe Road corridor between Homestead
4 Road and Vallco Parkway. The model indicated that the
5 three left-turn configuration would increase operational
6 delay on the Wolfe Road corridor. The delay would be to
7 general street traffic headed in the southbound direction
8 during the p.m. peak hours due to the increased volume of
9 cars exiting the campus.
10 On the other hand, the two left-turn option would
11 increase wait time for Apple employees, and increase
12 travel time for vehicles exiting the project site.
13 With the three left-turn lanes compared to two
14 left-turn lanes, the delay during the p.m. peak hour for
15 general street traffic on southbound Wolfe Road from the
16 project driveway to the southbound I-280 on-ramp would
17 increase from two-and-a-half minutes to three-and-a-half
18 minutes, an increase of approximately one minute.
19 The two left-turn option would increase the
20 travel time for Apple vehicles exiting the site from the
21 garage to the northbound I-280 onramp from 9.3 minutes to
22 about 14.5 minutes, an increase of approximately five
23 minutes. The operational delay is not a significant
24 impact under CEQA.
25 The EIR identifies two alternate mitigation
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1 measures for this impact. With the first mitigation
2 measure, the driveway configuration would be changed to
3 two left-turn lanes out of the project site. This would
4 mitigate both the safety impact and the operational
5 impact.
6 The alternate mitigation measure allows the
7 operation of three left-turn lanes with monitoring until
8 nine months after full occupancy of the project.
9 Additional striping on Wolfe Road and signage is
10 also required as part of this mitigation.
11 If monitoring indicates that there are still
12 potential safety impacts associated with the three
13 left-turn lanes, the City can require Apple to modify the
14 project entrance to reduce the number of lanes to two.
15 The mitigation measure allows the City to conduct
16 video monitoring of the intersection and assign fines to
17 Apple for violations.
18 While both mitigation measures mitigate the
19 safety impact, since the first mitigation measure also
20 mitigates the operational delay and there is no additional
21 monitoring requirement, staff recommends that the two-lane
22 configuration be adopted as the mitigation measure for the
23 impact.
24 However, if Planning Commission wishes, it could
25 recommend the alternate mitigation measure. And as a
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1 reminder, when the motion for the certification of the
2 final EIR and adoption of the CEQA findings and the MMRP
3 is made, please also include some language about the
4 adoption of the alternate CEQA findings and the alternate
5 mitigation measure, which you have as a desk item.
6 The other impact identified where we would like
7 Planning Commission to recommend -- make a recommendation,
8 is the issue with the Cupertino Village Shopping Center
9 driveway. They have a driveway on Wolfe Road that
10 is directly north of and adjacent to the new
11 propery driveway intersection proposed on Wolfe Road
12 by Apple.
13 It is conceivable that vehicles exiting the
14 Cupertino Village Shopping Center at this driveway might
15 attempt to maneuver across the three southbound through
16 lanes on North Wolfe Road to access the left-turn lanes to
17 either turn into the project site or make a U-turn,
18 resulting in hazardous conditions for vehicles.
19 Additionally, during the peak commute periods,
20 the southbound traffic volumes are high and may create
21 queues that effectively block driveway access, which could
22 potentially lead to impatient drivers merging into traffic
23 when there are insufficient gaps.
24 The EIR identifies two alternate mitigation
25 measures to mitigate this impact. Both mitigation
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1 measures reduce the impact to less than significant.
2 The first mitigation requires the closure of this
3 driveway. The alternate mitigation requires modification
4 to the driveway to allow right turns in only. Staff
5 recommended that this driveway be closed due to the
6 potential safety hazards that the location of the
7 driveway poses.
8 Preliminary discussions with the property owners
9 of Cupertino Village indicate that they are not opposed to
10 the closure of this driveway. However, again, if the
11 Planning Commission wishes, they could recommend the
12 alternate mitigation measure. And as a reminder, please
13 include some language in your motion for the findings.
14 Extensive outreach has been conducted for this
15 project. Notice has been provided by signage on the site
16 and a legal ad in the Mercury News, as required in the
17 Municipal Code. Expanded radius noticing has also been
18 provided for the project. In addition, mailed notices
19 have been sent to all interested parties for whom mailing
20 addresses were available. For other interested persons who
21 signed up on the project web page, which stands at about
22 2,000 people, emailed notices have also been sent out.
23 Three postcards were sent out with regard to the
24 different community meetings and public hearings regarding
25 the project to all postal customers in the City of
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1 Cupertino and to postal customers within 1,000 feet of the
2 project site, including customers in the cities of
3 Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
4 The three postcards announced the date of scoping
5 session in August 2011, the availability of the draft EIR,
6 public review period and the public comment meeting in
7 June 2013, and the availability of the final EIR and
8 public meetings in September 2013.
9 Community meetings were held on, as I mentioned,
10 September 2011 and June 2013. In the first meeting there
11 were comments collected to identify the scope of the site,
12 the studies to be conducted in preparation for the EIR.
13 In addition, Apple has also conducted extensive
14 additional outreach for the project by providing regular
15 updates to residents in Cupertino and neighboring
16 residences in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. In Sunnyvale,
17 they have provided prepaid response cards and emailed
18 contact information with the campus information packages
19 they have mailed.
20 They have convened over 140 stakeholder outreach
21 meetings, ranging from one-on-one meetings to large
22 groups. They met with over 20 neighborhood groups and
23 organizations and over 2,000 stakeholders in three cities,
24 including business individuals and other community groups.
25 Finally, they have sent email updates to more
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1 than 2,000 interested parties and entities.
2 Now I'll turn the presentation over to Adam
3 Weinstein of LSA for a presentation of the Environmental
4 Impact Report.
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1 ADAM WEINSTEIN: Hi, Chair Sun and Vice-Chair
2 Brophy and Commissioners. It's great to see you again.
3 I'm going to preemptively apologize and ask for your patience.
4 A lot of this presentation was done last night, as well, so a
5 lot of the material will be the same as you heard last night.
6 And then also Piu talked about the interrelationships between
7 the mitigation measures and development agreement and the
8 conditions of approval. Obviously, some of that, as it
9 relates to specifically the mitigation measures in the
10 EIR, will be discussed in the next couple of minutes, as
11 well.
12 So -- just one more thing, too: The
13 transportation analysis, similar to last night, will
14 also be described independently of this presentation by
15 Jane Bierstedt of Fehr & Peers. And as an introduction
16 to the EIR content, I just want to provide a short
17 reminder about what the California Environmental Quality
18 Act, or CEQA, is all about since CEQA is really the
19 reason that this EIR has been prepared.
20 CEQA's primary purpose is to disclose the
21 environmental effects of projects so that sound
22 development decisions can be made, and these effects
23 would also include growth-producing impacts. And in
24 disclosing the impacts of a project, CEQA requires that
25 environmental documents identify ways to reduce or avoid
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1 project impacts where possible, and then also to discuss
2 the environmentally-sound alternatives to the project.
3 And so an important point I want to make about
4 CEQA is that the environmental review process doesn't
5 yield a directive on whether to approve or reject a
6 project; it simply provides the information needed for
7 decision makers and public to understand the
8 environmental impacts of a project so that that
9 information can be taken into account when project
10 approval is considered.
11 So the question at hand tonight, and as we
12 approach the final hearings on this project, is whether
13 the document EIR is adequate. So in other words,
14 whether the EIR provides you with enough information
15 about the project to make an intelligent decision about
16 approving the project.
17 So that is CEQA's purpose in a nutshell. In
18 terms of the CEQA process, we're now getting into the
19 final stages. We actually are at the final stages of
20 the CEQA process. Last June we released the draft EIR,
21 and then the public review period for the draft EIR
22 culminated at the end of July, and then from that point
23 until about two weeks ago or a week and-a-half ago we
24 prepared a Response to Comments Document which addresses
25 all of these substantive comments submitted on the draft
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1 EIR during the public review period as part of the
2 response and comments process. I'll discuss this in a
3 little more detail in several minutes.
4 We made minor changes to the text of the draft
5 EIR. We didn't identify any new project impacts or new
6 project alternatives or brand new mitigation measures.
7 And so together, the draft EIR and the Response to
8 Comments Document comprised what we call the final EIR,
9 which is what would be certified if Planning Commission
10 and City Council determine it to be adequate.
11 All right. Let's get into the good stuff.
12 These are the EIR contents. The first topic that we
13 looked at in the EIR is planning policy, and in the
14 planning policy analysis we look at the consistency of
15 the project with policies in documents that guide land
16 use planning in Cupertino. Cities include things like
17 the city's general plan, the zoning ordinance --
18 (Reporter admonishes speaker.)
19 ADAM WEINSTEIN: So in the planning policy
20 analysis we look at the consistency of the project with
21 planning policies in Cupertino and other agencies such
22 as the city's general plan, the zoning ordinance, and
23 then also water district creek planning guidance. And
24 then a related topic to planning policy is land use.
25 Is that better?
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1 THE REPORTER: Yes. Thank you.
2 ADAM WEINSTEIN: In that analysis we look at
3 the effects of the project on the physical configuration
4 of the community, and in our analysis of planning policy
5 and land use we found that the project would be
6 consistent with numerous policies in the federal plan,
7 including those related to employment group, the
8 retention of businesses in Cupertino, and then also the
9 development of office uses on the project site.
10 However, the project would redesignate, as Piu discussed
11 in detail, a portion of the site currently designated
12 for parks and open space, and then it would also not
13 implement -- or fully implement policy initiatives in
14 the general plan related to the provision of trails and
15 bike and pedestrian access. And so the redesignation of
16 that one-acre parks and open space portion of the
17 project site would reduce the acreage of land designated
18 for future parks in the city that could be available to
19 the public for use. So as mitigation for that impact,
20 Apple will be required to provide funding or purchase
21 and dedicate an equivalent property elsewhere in the
22 city for future development of a park.
23 The other significant issues in the planning
24 policy and land use sections are primarily related to
25 two issues: One is that vacation of a segment of
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1 Pruneridge Avenue, and then also what we also discussed
2 previously, the non-implementation of a trail segment
3 along Calabazas Creek that's shown in the general plan.
4 And so this slide here shows the segment of
5 Pruneridge Avenue that would be vacated as part of the
6 project. It extends from The Hamptons on one side on
7 the west to Tantau Avenue on the east. And the segment
8 of Pruneridge is proposed for vacation to help achieve
9 Apple's key objective of having a secure campus. And
10 while this vacation would not have a significant impact
11 on motor vehicle drivers in terms of the distance that
12 motor vehicle drivers have to drive to bypass that
13 vacated segment, it would significantly affect
14 pedestrians and bikes, and bikers, namely because they
15 would need to detour along busy roads surrounding the
16 project site, and that detour may take longer than an
17 equivalent route under existing conditions.
18 Similarly, for privacy and security reasons,
19 Apple would not construct a trail on Calabazas Creek,
20 the one identified in the general plan. Apple
21 would implement an alternate route around the perimeter
22 of the campus, and that route would be of high quality
23 but would not provide the higher quality and experience
24 of a stand-alone trail.
25 So for the impacts related to the vacation of
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1 Pruneridge, several measures would be required of Apple
2 to improve that pedestrian environment in the area, and
3 these would include things like extensive bike
4 pedestrian landscaping improvements around the project
5 site. A coordinated wayfinding scheme would also be
6 required so that visitors and residents can find their
7 way between the two sides of the campus without having
8 Pruneridge there, and then also Americans with
9 Disability Act, or ADA improvements, at five targeted
10 locations in the vicinity of the project site.
11 Regarding the creek trail segment, the
12 mitigation is to construct an alternate creek trail, and
13 this slide here shows that alternate trail. This is,
14 again, something that was initially proposed by Apple
15 but would be enhanced by the mitigation identified in
16 the EIR. And so these enhancements would include
17 additional signage, plantings, lighting, and then other
18 elements to improve the pedestrian environment to make
19 it a little better experience to walk around the project
20 site.
21 And then Apple would also be required to
22 partially fund a study of a Class I trail along the
23 drainage channel that runs parallel to southbound
24 Interstate 280 between De Anza and Calabazas Creek, and
25 then south along Calabazas Creek -- or south along the
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1 creek to Vallco, and this alternate -- this Class 1
2 trail is showing the solid blue on the slide.
3 However, even with these extensive mitigations
4 that are identified in the EIR, the impacts related to
5 these policy issues would be significant and
6 unavoidable.
7 In the Population, Employment and Housing
8 Analysis, we explore how the project might change the
9 demographics of the region, including the effects on
10 local and regional population growth, and then, of
11 course, a topic that's dear to everybody's hearts, which
12 is on how that might affect demands for housing. And so
13 as part of this analysis we looked at where Apple
14 employees currently live, and then we thought, as well,
15 about what the distribution of existing Apple employees
16 might tell us about the population growth that would
17 result from the project. So the piechart here shows the
18 percentage of current Apple employees that live in
19 various communities in the region, and we assume that
20 future Apple employees would have the same geographic
21 distribution in the region, or roughly the same
22 geographic distribution in the region. And the results
23 of our analysis indicated that the demographic changes
24 that would result from the project would generally be
25 beneficial because this site is appropriate for
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1 employment growth and higher employment densities; it's
2 a location that's served by transit and regional transit
3 infrastructure; it's a place that is designated in
4 Cupertino planning documents as a place that's important
5 for population growth in the future.
6 The aesthetics analysis looks at how the
7 project could change the visual character of a project
8 site, including whether proposed buildings could block
9 views of scenic resources around the project site at
10 scenic view sheds, and then to what extent the project
11 could change levels of light and glare.
12 And so to assist in this analysis, we prepared
13 photo simulations of the project. These are
14 photographs, essentially, that show the look of the
15 project from certain viewpoints, before the project
16 would be built and then after the project would be
17 constructed. We did this again for several viewpoints
18 around the project site, and this slide here shows one
19 such simulation which is from Peacock Avenue and
20 Homestead Road looking south into the project site. So
21 this is just more of the project site.
22 In general, you can kind of see this in the
23 photograph on the right, as well. We found that the
24 extensive landscaping and perimeter improvements that
25 would be implemented as part of the project would
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1 improve the visual environment of the site and its
2 surroundings which are currently characterized by sort
3 of low-slung 1960s, '70s, '80s office buildings and then
4 surface parking lots. And no scenic views will be
5 blocked by the proposed buildings which, from many
6 viewpoints, would be generally less obtrusive than the
7 existing buildings on the site.
8 These are some of my favorite topics,
9 biological and cultural resources. These catalogue the
10 natural resources on this site, so things like birds and
11 Calabazas Creek. Calabazas Creek is shown in the
12 photograph on the left and in trees, and then also, of
13 course, historic resources including Glendenning Barn
14 which is in the photograph on the right.
15 Piu talked about the trees that would be
16 removed and transplanted on the site and then also
17 replaced with new trees. We found that, in our
18 analysis, that the removal of trees from the project
19 site could affect nesting birds and protected trees, and
20 that buildings constructed on the site, due to the
21 extensive windows being incorporated into the design,
22 could result in bird collisions with the implementation
23 of mitigation measures in the EIR, including the
24 incorporation into building design of bird-safe design
25 features. These impacts, these bird-collision impacts
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1 would be reduced to a less than significant level.
2 We also discussed before about the project
3 requirement of relocation of Glendenning Barn, which is
4 a historic resource under local criteria. This
5 relocation from the barn's historic location would be
6 considered a significant impact, but the EIR includes
7 two alternate sets of relocation and design protocols;
8 one is for an on-site relocation, and the other is for
9 an off-site relocation, and both sets of protocols for
10 both on-site and off-site would ensure that the barn is
11 relocated in a place that allows for some public
12 visibility of the barn, at least some sort of public
13 access to the barn, and then also protects the historic
14 integrity of the barn itself and requires landscaping
15 improvements around the barn that reference the barn's
16 agricultural character, because obviously, that
17 agricultural character is an important part of the
18 architectural integrity of the barn.
19 The geology, hydrology and hazards analyses
20 evaluate the development constraints on the site
21 regarding things like soil conditions, earthquake
22 faults, flooding, and then past hazardous materials,
23 cleanup efforts. There have been extensive hazardous
24 materials cleanup efforts on the site, and then how all
25 these constraints, in combination with the project,
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1 could affect the environment.
2 And so significant impacts were identified for
3 all of those topical areas. Similar to many development
4 projects in the Bay Area and Northern California in
5 general, the project will be built in an area that is
6 subject to seismic hazards, and this slide here shows
7 all of the earthquake faults in the region. The site
8 may also contain residual groundwater and soil
9 contamination even after those extensive remediation
10 activities, and then the project could also generate
11 local stormwater infrastructure, and the stormwater
12 infrastructure around the project site might not be able
13 to handle all the runoff that could occur from the
14 project.
15 And so all of these impacts would be reduced to
16 a less-than-significant level with the implementation of
17 standard measures, including compliance with the
18 recommendations and the geotechnical report or
19 geotechnical investigations, the preparation of
20 something called an environmental site management plan
21 which guides how hazardous materials should be handled
22 on the project site, and then also the construction of
23 necessary modifications to the stormwater system around
24 the project site.
25 The noise, air quality and greenhouse gas
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1 emissions analyses look at a range of issues, including
2 the noise generated by project traffic, the effect of
3 project energy use and traffic on regional air quality,
4 and then the energy and sustainability features that are
5 incorporated into the project, and then how these might
6 reduce the project's greenhouse gas emissions.
7 So, similar to other large development projects
8 in the Bay Area -- and this is one of the biggest -- the
9 project, by nature of its size and vehicle trips, would
10 generate amounts of pollutants that would exceed the Air
11 District's thresholds. So the Air District essentially
12 establishes thresholds for various pollutants and if a
13 project exceeds those thresholds and the impact is
14 significant. And the emissions generated by the project
15 would also be cumulatively considerable, so that means
16 that when you take the emissions generated by the
17 project into account in the context of regional
18 emissions, the project would make a significant
19 contribution to those emissions.
20 And then construction-period emissions would
21 also be considered significant, and even with the
22 implementation of rigorous construction period emission
23 controls, and then also reducing trips for the
24 transportation demand management program, the
25 contribution to the project of regional -- the
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1 contribution of the project to regional air pollution
2 would be significant and unavoidable. And again, this is
3 really a function of just the overall size of the
4 project. This is a very, very big project and with lots
5 of vehicle trips.
6 We also look at the effects of project traffic
7 on roadway noise levels, and in doing so we found that
8 the project would not substantially affect noise levels
9 on the vast majority of roadways or on the project site.
10 However, the project would make a significant
11 contribution to cumulative traffic noise on two
12 segments, one on East Homestead Road, you can see it's
13 the blue segment outlined in red, the north project
14 site, and then one on North Wolfe Road, same thing, a
15 blue segment outlined with red on the slide. That's
16 just to the west of the project site, and these
17 contributions, the project's contributions to cumulative
18 noise levels would be reduced to a less-than-significant
19 level for resurfacing those roadway segments with quiet
20 paving, so pavement that actually reduces the noise
21 contributions of vehicles.
22 The project would result in no significant
23 greenhouse gas emissions impacts, which is a function of
24 the extensive alternative energy systems and green
25 features that would be employed throughout the project
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1 site. So these are things like the use of design that
2 passively cools and heats buildings to the fuel cells
3 and photovoltaic systems on the project site. These are
4 either things that produce energy for the project but
5 they do so without generating carbon emissions.
6 And I noted last night, too, that the project
7 would generate -- it's kind of an interesting site, that
8 the project will generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions
9 than if the existing site and its existing buildings
10 were to be repopulated with employees up to its full
11 occupancy. So again, this is a function of the
12 sustainability features that are being incorporated into
13 the project.
14 The public services and utilities analysis
15 looks at the current operation of a wide range of
16 services and infrastructure, so we look at things like
17 emergency protection, fire protection, wastewater and
18 water service schools, and then we look at how the
19 project might affect the physical elements of these
20 services.
21 So in our analysis, we found that the project
22 would result in two significant impacts related to the
23 public services. One is related to an increase in
24 demand for Santa Clara County Fire Department service,
25 and that would be mitigated with the implementation of
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1 signal preemption at key intersections around the
2 project site, so that would allow the fire department to
3 more speedily access the site, more speedily provide
4 fire and emergency protection to the project site.
5 And the other impact relates to the
6 redesignation of the parks and open space portion of the
7 project site, and that's something that I talked about
8 and Piu talked about, as well, and we discussed policy
9 considerations.
10 So this slide summarizes the impacts identified
11 in the EIR. The vast majority of the impacts, as you
12 can see in the top two rows, fall into the categories of
13 less-than-significant impacts either with or without
14 mitigation. However, even with implementation of
15 feasible mitigation measures that are identified in the
16 EIR, certain impacts related to planning policy, land
17 use, transportation and circulation, air quality and
18 public services and utilities would remain significant
19 and unavoidable.
20 CEQA requires that EIRs evaluate what we call a
21 reasonable range of alternatives, so not an exhaustive
22 range of alternatives, but one that can provide us with
23 insights into how the effects of the project might be
24 mitigated.
25 The alternatives need to achieve the project's
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1 basic objectives, and so with these objectives in mind,
2 with trying to maintain compliance with the project's
3 objectives and also trying to reduce the impacts of the
4 project, we looked at different configurations of uses
5 on this site, and we evaluated four alternatives in
6 detail. We also considered lots of other alternatives
7 that are described in the EIR but we did not analyze
8 them in detail.
9 So the first alternative that we identified --
10 that we analyzed in detail is the No Project
11 Alternative, which is an alternative that's required by
12 CEQA which essentially assumes the continuation of
13 existing conditions in the project site, and in this
14 case it would include full occupancy, full employee
15 occupancy of the project site. So the employment on the
16 project site would increase from its existing level,
17 4800, and would go up to 9800 employees on the project
18 site.
19 The second alternative is the Pruneridge Avenue
20 alternative which assumes that the project would be
21 built essentially as planned, but that Pruneridge Avenue
22 would remain a public road through the project site.
23 And the third alternative that we looked at is
24 the reduced construction alternative which assumes that
25 overall development within the project site will remain
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1 approximately the same as proposed prior to the project,
2 but that the campus would resemble a more conventional
3 office park. So more similar to what you see on the site
4 today with more low posts on buildings or surface
5 parking lots, as opposed to subgrade parking lots, and
6 that would allow for a lot less excavation to happen.
7 And then also a shortening construction period, so the
8 reduced construction alternative really looked at
9 eliminating or reducing the impacts during the
10 construction period of the project.
11 And the very last alternative that we looked at
12 in detail is the Reduced Density Alternative
13 which assumes a reduction in the overall development on
14 the project site, and then a concurrent reduction in
15 employment on the project site from 14,200 to 8,000. So
16 employment on the project site under this alternative
17 would be even below what's allowed under full occupancy
18 on the current project site.
19 And so we evaluated these four alternatives for
20 all of the environmental topics that we previously
21 discussed, and our conclusion was that the
22 environmentally-superior alternative -- so that's
23 something that CEQA requires us to identify what
24 alternative is the best in terms of environmental
25 impacts -- we found that to be the reduced density
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1 alternative which would avoid or reduce the significant
2 traffic noise and air quality impacts of the project
3 primarily due to lower levels of employment on the site
4 compared to the project. So there would be fewer
5 employees on the site; there would be less people
6 driving to and from the project site, fewer cars
7 generating emissions and less noise being generated, as
8 well.
9 And with that, I will turn it over to Jane
10 Bierstadt at Fehr & Peers. Thanks for your attention.
11 GARY BAUM: We'd like to point out that
12 tonight's meeting is being recorded by a court reporter
13 or two, and it's very important to us that we get a
14 complete and accurate rendition of the meeting.
15 Therefore, if all speakers could speak slowly and
16 clearly, it would very much help us in making a record
17 tonight. Thank you.
18 JANE BIERSTEDT: Good evening. I'm Jane
19 Bierstedt of Fehr & Peers with an overview of the
20 transportation study, and as Adam said, I also gave this
21 presentation last night, so I'll try to maybe go a
22 little bit faster in some areas.
23 The transportation analysis was using the same
24 guidelines that we do for all large development projects
25 in Santa Clara County, but it was tailored to meet the
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1 unique characteristics of this project.
2 As you know, traffic conditions are dynamic.
3 They change hour by hour, day by day and through our
4 economic cycles, and so the analysis was done using
5 conservative assumptions and updated information to try
6 to account for these variations. The analysis focuses
7 on the a.m. and p.m. peak hours, and these are the time
8 periods on the roadway system where traffic volumes are
9 highest and they occur during the commute time.
10 The traffic analysis evaluated a large study
11 area. We looked at over 50 intersections and numerous
12 freeway segments. We looked at freeway segments on 85,
13 280, and then also extending off this map onto I-880 and
14 State Route 17.
15 We also did some focus study on the roadways
16 surrounding the site on Wolfe Road, Tantau Avenue and on
17 Vallco Road. We looked at three different time
18 horizons, existing conditions based on traffic counts,
19 background or near-term conditions where you include
20 traffic from other approved development projects in the
21 area and then cumulative conditions.
22 When we do transportation analyses, we look at
23 intersections and freeway segments, where you evaluate
24 their operations, and the term we use is "level of
25 service". For intersections, the level of service is
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1 based on the delay that's experienced by drivers driving
2 through the intersection, and on freeway segments, the
3 level of service is based on the volume of vehicles on
4 those segments and the ability or ease of making reading
5 maneuvers.
6 So I have a couple of illustrations for
7 intersections. And so this is an intersection operating
8 level service B. Level service B is a relatively good
9 level of service where traffic volumes are relatively
10 light. And this is an illustration of level service D.
11 Now, when the City of Cupertino level service D
12 is considered an acceptable level, a limit of acceptable
13 levels -- and this is developed by -- it comes from
14 general plan policy. And again, these levels of service
15 standards are based on the a.m. and p.m. peak hours, so
16 that other times of the day traffic volumes and traffic
17 conditions would be a little better.
18 So at level service D what you'll see is some
19 approaches to the intersection will be full, and usually
20 when the traffic signal turns green, vehicles are
21 proceeding through the intersection, but there might be
22 a couple cycles during the peak of the peak where
23 vehicles will have to wait one or two seconds to get
24 through. But usually some of the other approaches are
25 underutilized. And so when we average out the delay for
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1 all vehicles, that's what we call level service D.
2 One thing that was a little bit unusual about
3 this study is Apple already occupies buildings in the
4 area, so we were able to survey these buildings to get
5 some information about their travel characteristics.
6 One piece of information we wanted to look at is how
7 Apple employees get to work, what modes of
8 transportation do they use. And in response to their
9 shuttle bus service, about 13% of employees use shuttle,
10 private shuttles or other transit vehicles to get to the
11 site, and about 10% carpool, 3% walk and 2% bike. So in
12 response to their transportation demand management
13 program, about 20% of employees use a mode of
14 transportation other than the single-occupant automobile
15 to get to work.
16 Another piece of information that we were able
17 to gather is what's the vehicle trip generation of Apple
18 facilities, and so we did surveys where we counted all
19 the vehicles entering and exiting the site and we divide
20 those by the number of employees to get trip generation
21 rates for the employee. But I kind of want to make it
22 clear that even though we're using it on a per-employee
23 basis, all vehicles are explained in that way. So it
24 would be deliveries, visitors, if there's any tourists
25 who are coming to the site, those would be included in
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1 the counts.
2 So we apply those rates to the number of
3 employees at the Apple Campus 2, which is 14,200, and we
4 got estimates of the number of a.m. and p.m. peak-hour
5 trips going on the site. Now, some of the buildings are
6 currently occupied, so we need to give credit to that
7 traffic so that we would just look at the amount of
8 traffic added to the roadway system. That's what we
9 were basing our impacts on. And so we estimate the
10 project at about 3,300 trips during the a.m. peak hour
11 and about 3,100 vehicle trips during the p.m. peak hour
12 traffic added to the roadway system.
13 So we had one other question was, "Well, where
14 are these trips coming from? How are they going to
15 approach the site and how are they going to depart the
16 site?" When Adam was giving his presentation, he had --
17 he showed that piechart that showed Apple employee
18 residence locations. Well, we used that also to develop
19 our approach to the departure patterns. And so this
20 kind of shows, for all the traffic entering the main
21 campus, the directions that they come from. So it's 18%
22 coming from the north on Wolfe Road, and then you can
23 see traffic heading off 280 interchange at Wolfe Road.
24 So this gives you an idea of how the traffic would
25 approach, the directions it would approach from in the
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1 morning, and we have similar information for how they
2 would depart in the evening. So you can see the Wolfe
3 Road driveway is going to be the main driveway, and
4 that's because of the interchange with 280, and the
5 left-turning vehicles when we talked about the
6 three versus two lanes, that's about 55% of the traffic
7 exiting the site would be making that left turn
8 movement.
9 And this graph just shows kind of the daily
10 traffic variations for Apple Campus 2 traffic and
11 traffic on this roadway system, where Apple Campus 2 is
12 in the gray and the traffic on Wolfe and Tantau is in
13 green. And you can see both project and surrounding
14 traffic on the roadway system reaches a similar peak in
15 the morning, but you can see in the afternoon and
16 evening the traffic on the surrounding roadway system is
17 higher.
18 So when we did our analysis, we wanted to --
19 the purpose of our analysis is to identify impacts of
20 the project in the transportation system and to come up
21 with mitigation measures.
22 So the project was found to have significant
23 impacts at 10 intersections, so 22 of the impacts
24 occurred at 10 of the intersections. So that was 35
25 impacts in total. And of these, we were able to come up
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1 with physical mitigation measures to mitigate the
2 impacts to a less-than-significant level at all of the
3 intersections except for one, and the one intersection
4 was at Stevens Creek and De Anza. So there's a
5 significant unavoidable impact there. So we did come up
6 with a mitigation measure that would lessen the impact,
7 and that is contribution of money to go to a traffic
8 signal system that would optimize traffic flow.
9 We also identified significant unavoidable
10 impacts on the freeway system. Now, the freeway system
11 is their regional facilities, and so therefore, the
12 mitigation measures are also regional in nature, so the
13 mitigation measure is to contribute funds to regional
14 improvements, such as express lanes on 85, bus rapid
15 transit or other improvements along 280, and removal of
16 the bottleneck on 280. But even with these mitigation
17 measures, the impact would still occur and would not
18 reach to a much less significant level. And Piu and
19 Adam talked about some of the other impacts to the
20 transportation system.
21 Now, one thing that Apple is proposing to do is
22 they're proposing to expand their transportation demand
23 management program to increase the percentage of
24 employees that use alternative modes from the current
25 20% to 34%. We did not use that as an analysis
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1 assumption, so you can see as a mitigation measure this
2 increased participation to the TDM program will also
3 lessen some of the impacts, especially impacts to the
4 freeway system. And there's been an identified
5 monitoring system with the penalty structure to ensure
6 that Apple does meet that, an increase in the TDM
7 participation.
8 That's it.
9 PIU GHOSH: All right. So as Adam and Jane
10 described, some of the significant environmental impacts
11 of the project, even after the implementation of
12 feasible mitigation measures, remain significant and
13 unavoidable. However, the project with it brings
14 several benefits. The project offers several
15 environmental benefits in the form of Net Zero, being a
16 Net Zero energy campus, an enhanced TDM program that
17 Jane just described, increased landscaping on the site,
18 they had -- in their presentation last night they talked
19 about increasing the amount of landscaping from 20% to
20 80%.
21 The project itself also promotes several other
22 general plan policies that we have. It promotes
23 policies surrounding economic development, retaining
24 existing businesses in the City of Cupertino, and it
25 also promotes policy of prioritizing expansion for major
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1 companies for positive fiscal impact on the city.
2 Finally, the DA which Apple is offering
3 includes several public benefits for the community at
4 large, as well. As Adam mentioned, there was a 45-day
5 public comment period for the draft EIR, and during that
6 time frame we received about 305 comments. About half
7 were in support of the project; many had concerns about
8 the traffic. Responses to all of these comments were
9 provided in the Response to Comments document that was
10 published on September 23rd.
11 The City continues to collect comments on the
12 EIR and the project even after the close of the public
13 comment review period, and a summary of the comments
14 received up until September 19th had been provided with
15 your agenda packet. There were about 32 comments
16 collected between July 23rd and September 19th.
17 Approximately half were in support again. None of the
18 comments raised any issues that required them to use
19 impacts mitigation measures of changes to findings in
20 the draft EIR.
21 Additionally, comments that were received after
22 September 19th and up until 3:00 p.m. today have been
23 provided as a desk item, and none of the comments,
24 again, based any new environmental concerns or -- that
25 have not already been addressed in the EIR.
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1 Staff recommends that the planning commission
2 make a recommendation to the council on the following
3 two issues, which is the Wolfe project driveway
4 configuration and the Cupertino Village driveway
5 configuration.
6
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8 ***NECESSARY PAGE BREAK FOR REPORTER SWITCH***
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1 ***
2 ***
3 ***
4 I would also like to let you know that between
5 the time that the Planning Commission received the agenda
6 packet and now, staff has reviewed and carefully compared
7 all the approvals and aspects of the project in order to
8 ensure that all documents are internally consistent. And
9 as a result, we've also tried to make sure the project
10 itself matches the conditions of approval.
11 Consequently, you'll see some changes and
12 corrections that have been presented tonight as a desk
13 item for you. And for ease of reference, the desk item
14 includes a clean copy and the redline copy of the items.
15 And with that, staff recommends that the Planning
16 Commission approve resolution recommending certification
17 of an EIR adoption of findings and statement of overriding
18 considerations, and adoption of mitigation measures and an
19 MMRP in substantially similar form to the attached
20 resolution and to the resolution presented to you,
21 approve the general plan amendment in substantially
22 similar form to the attached resolution that
23 that is presented as a desk item tonight, approve
24 the zoning map amendment in substantially
25 similar form to the attached resolution in the
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1 agenda packet, approve the vesting tentative
2 map in substantially similar form to the
3 resolution as presented as a desk item tonight,
4 approve the devlopment permit, use permit,
5 architecture and site approval permit, and
6 the tree removal premit in substantially
7 similar form to the resolution presented
8 to you as a desk item tonight, and approve
9 the DA in substantially similar form to the
10 attached -- to the resolution that's presented as a
11 desk item.
12 And with that, actually, I'll move to the next
13 step.
14 I just want to also remind you that upon
15 recommendation by the Planning Commission, the City
16 Council will consider all of the approvals at their
17 October 15th meeting, and they will conduct the first
18 meeting of the rezoning and the development agreement
19 ordinances at that time.
20 And it is anticipated the City Council will
21 conduct a second meeting of both of the ordinances at its
22 November 19th meeting.
23 Thank you very much. And we're available for
24 questions.
25 DON SUN: Now, any questions for the staff?
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1 Commissioner Gong, go ahead.
2 MARGARET GONG: I have questions on the TDM
3 penalties that -- as stated in the EIR.
4 Currently it's stated at the lowest rate of $5
5 per trip, and it seems insignificant compared to the
6 penalty assessed to the weaving, which is $500. Would you
7 talk to that?
8 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: There was a difference because
9 with the weaving improvement, and in the case of the $5
10 per trip per day, it's multiplied by the time period that
11 we are going to be reviewing it for. So, we were
12 averaging out.
13 So it does get multiplied by that time period
14 that we're reviewing it for, so there is a difference in
15 how we're applying it, which why it's lower. Because you
16 assume a certain number of -- if you -- if you take
17 counts, for example, and figure out that they exceed the
18 trip counts and we are taking these counts for 60 days,
19 you're going to multiply it 60 times. So, that's why it
20 was to generate it at that rate.
21 I would like to note that most cities don't apply
22 these penalties at all; it's pretty rare in most
23 circumstances. And so we do consider this a pretty good
24 mitigation measure.
25 MARGARET GONG: I have another question. On
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1 Page 147 of the EIR, the final -- the responses, it
2 mentions that the land is currently zoned for residential, and
3 will remain so. We won't change the zoning on that. Does
4 that allow for future residences to be built?
5 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: As I understand it -- so a
6 portion of it would allow that. We're not proposing to
7 change that at this time. So, for a portion of it, yes,
8 we would continue to allow it.
9 Well, we basically base this on the applicant's
10 requests. At this point, the applicant did not request
11 for a change to the zoning, and that doesn't mean it
12 doesn't allow the existing industrial uses or future
13 industrial uses to occur.
14 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Sure. I guess I'd like to
15 expand a little bit on the penalties from the standpoint
16 of the duration of the monitoring versus the occupancy
17 timeline for the campus, i.e. It seems that monitoring
18 during the initial phases wouldn't really yield any
19 meaningful data versus full occupancy. So, how is that
20 dealt with in general?
21 In other words, I read somewhere about 90-day
22 monitoring for one of the elements, and then the flow
23 chart. And in the initial, the draft, Page 447 has a
24 little bit different timelines.
25 So, any monitoring is a good idea, I guess, I --
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1 it just seems like it needs to be at full occupancy. I
2 mean, is that timeline consistent with that element?
3 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: You bring up a good point. We
4 did consider, though, that the main building is going to
5 consist of about 13,000 employees, and that being the
6 first phase.
7 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Right.
8 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: We understood that that's
9 going to be the first phase. If this was going to be in
10 smaller phases, where you might have smaller buildings
11 built in the beginning, that might have made sense. But
12 because of the size of the first phase and the fact that
13 most of the employees, 13,000 out of the 14,200 employees
14 are going to be housed in that first phase, our decision
15 was to begin monitoring six months after occupancy of the
16 main building.
17 ALAN TAKAHASHI: So, was there any discussion
18 with Apple from the standpoint of what their move-in
19 schedule looked like, i.e., "We plan to occupy the
20 building fully after 'x' months"?
21 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Well, yes. We don't know.
22 And we have to -- we have to assume -- we don't know what
23 the move-in schedule is, but we wanted to make sure we
24 were ready, should they want to move in as many people. So
25 it does give Apple some flexibility in moving people
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1 faster into a project than if you'd assumed a slower
2 schedule.
3 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Okay.
4 DON SUN: Commissioner Gong?
5 MARGARET GONG: May I ask a follow-up
6 question?
7 What is the time line for -- what is the building
8 schedule for Phase 2?
9 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: At this point, Apple is going
10 to make the presentation. They might be best, you know,
11 they might answer that question better than I can.
12 DON SUN: Vice Chair, Paul Brophy?
13 PAUL BROPHY: It seems that the traffic analysis
14 is built in kind of this cascading levels of conservative
15 estimates. For instance, we used the base case of the
16 existing employment of, what was it, 4,500 employees, even
17 though the existing buildings there already standing on
18 the site would house 9,000 and 9,500 if nothing were done,
19 is that correct on that point? Do I understand that?
20 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: You are correct.
21 PAUL BROPHY: And we're also assuming on the TDM
22 we used a 28 percent number they're currently using, even
23 though the agreements we're looking at tonight and that
24 Apple has indicated that they feel comfortable that they
25 can live with that, they'd be going up 34 percent?
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1 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: You are correct.
2 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. And there's no -- in the
3 EIR, there's no assumption in terms of alternatives that
4 if this project had not come about that in the normal
5 course of events that a lot of the one- and two-story
6 tilt-up buildings that are left over from the 1970s would
7 be replaced most likely with a higher density, but that's
8 more of just speculation, but what's based upon what's
9 happening elsewhere in town; would that be a reasonable
10 conclusion?
11 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I would say that the
12 alternatives did not include a higher density alternative.
13 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. So, I guess I'm a little
14 concerned about that. I guess in terms of the specific
15 transportation alternatives on the one that's 27 dealing
16 with Cupertino Village, what is the preference of the
17 people who actually own the site?
18 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I would ask Timm Borden,
19 Director of Public Works.
20 TIMM BORDEN: I think that they're amenable to
21 conversations on whether it is closed or reduced to a
22 right turn only. So, we've just begun conversations with
23 them, so I can't commit to which preference they have at
24 this point.
25 PAUL BROPHY: Right. Okay. So, I mean, we do
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1 recognize though that this is not necessarily Apple's
2 decision to make?
3 TIMM BORDEN: That's absolutely true.
4 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. I have some more discussions
5 on 23, but I think that's a major item, so I'll probably
6 wait 'til later. Thank you.
7 ALAN TAKAHASHI: On the -- I think it's -- on
8 Item 8, the exit, it seems like closing it does have a
9 detrimental impact elsewhere, i.e., the exit on the
10 Homestead. Has that been studied, the traffic impact,
11 i.e. if you did close that Village entrance, specifically
12 on the p.m. to Homestead Avenue -- Homestead Road?
13 TIMM BORDEN: If you didn't close the Cupertino
14 Village driveway, would it have an impact on --
15 ALAN TAKAHASHI: If you did close it.
16 TIMM BORDEN: If you did -- no. It's our
17 thinking that that with -- currently there's three
18 driveways accessing Cupertino Village -- right turn in and
19 right turn out already. So, we believe that -- that with
20 going down to two, there would still be adequate
21 circulation onsite.
22 You can actually also access the shopping center
23 from the hotel driveway to the south, so there's actually
24 four driveways that can serve the property right now.
25 DON SUN: Go ahead.
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1 MARGARET GONG: I have a question on the traffic
2 and the housing, the overlay. In the EIR, the draft EIR
3 on Page 227, it noted that the increase -- the projected
4 increase in resident -- employee residents location in
5 Los Gatos and Saratoga is significantly increased.
6 I'm wondering if you took a look at the
7 intersection of 85 North to Stevens Creek?
8 JANE BIERSTEDT: Can you -- I think you actually
9 said our city intersection? Can...
10 MARGARET GONG: Well, from Saratoga and Los
11 Gatos, the natural in flux of traffic would -- there's
12 already a large congestion on 85 North.
13 And then from Los Gatos and Saratoga, it would be
14 natural to take 85 North to Stevens Creek perhaps. And
15 I'm wondering if you included that increase in your study
16 doing the overlay of increased --
17 JANE BIERSTEDT: So, the segments of State Route
18 85 ready of our study locations. We even looked at the
19 intersections of Saratoga -- Saratoga Avenue and State
20 Route 85, those ramps junctions.
21 So, we looked at the impact of the projects.
22 There are Apple employees living in Saratoga and Los
23 Gatos, driving on 85. That was our first study.
24 MARGARET GONG: So, you took into account the
25 potential increase?
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1 JANE BIERSTEDT: Yes.
2 MARGARET GONG: Okay. Thank you.
3 DON SUN: Go ahead. Takahashi.
4 ALAN TAKAHASHI: And just so I know how I'm
5 interpreting the data correctly, on the final EIR, Page
6 52, 53, there's several traffic load tables on the --
7 specifically on the freeways.
8 So, if we were to look at one example, say on
9 Page 53, I-280 Winchester Boulevard to Saratoga,
10 northbound a.m., 76 density going to 87 density, or
11 10.55 percent increase with projects, that's the -- all
12 those percentages, that's what that reflects, how much
13 added traffic, on 280 in that segment?
14 JANE BIERSTEDT: That's correct.
15 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Okay. Thanks.
16 DON SUN: Okay. Jane, I have a quick question.
17 Last night I have a question about the traffic, is it
18 going to -- on the Wolfe on the 280. It's the first --
19 it's actually the outside from Apple's campus. It's a
20 left turn for the three lanes, and it's a little bit
21 confusing whether it's a two lane, because it won't solve
22 the congestion or three lanes better. This is the first
23 question.
24 Second question is about the peak hours, the
25 morning peak hours, and the afternoon peak hours, car rate
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1 is 1,500 average and in the evenings the -- probably is
2 4,800, based on your chart, right?
3 So, it's the -- if you calculate all the Apple
4 employees coming out from one exit, that's probably every
5 hour they have to put, like a 1,000 people out from the
6 one signal exit.
So, is there any other alternative
7 you have a -- as the traffic comes out? And have you
8 given some other alternative for this one?
9 Also, yesterday -- there's no chart about
10 the inbound and the outboound, and the distribution
11 about Apple's campus there -- about Tantaue exit
12 and on the Wolfe.
13 So, it's -- now we see the chart. You have
15 an 80 percent out from 10, but your chart is -- in
16 the morning it's -- the traffic is in -- it's 18
17 percent from Tantau, and they have a, like, a 13
18 percent from Stevens Creek.
19 But in the evening, the outbound is -- all the
20 traffic is go to the north of Tantau, so is the people
21 don't go home? Just -- I'm a little bit confused. I need
22 a little bit clarification about the traffic on your
23 analysis.
24 And for the city staff that I want to ask a
25 question, is that besides particular traffic consultation
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1 firm, do we have any other firm who have done some traffic
2 analysis for the City?
3 Thank you.
4 JANE BIERSTEDT: So -- so, I think one of your
5 questions was regarding two left turn lanes out versus
6 three left turn lanes out.
7 DON SUN: Yes.
8 JANE BIERSTEDT: So, when you have -- so when
9 we're studying the impacts or the effects of having two
10 versus three lanes, we were looking at several different
11 things: One is the delay to vehicles travelling on Wolfe
12 Road, and we're also looking at the delay to Apple
13 employees leaving the site.
14 So when you have three left turn lanes, you can
15 imagine every time the light turns green for the driveway,
16 more traffic leaves the site, and so that will cause more
17 congestion on Wolfe Road, and so that will increase the
18 delay, the travel time for vehicles traveling southbound
19 on Wolfe by one -- about one minute. Every vehicle
20 travelling south on Wolfe Road will have an increase
21 by one minute.
22 So that's with three lanes out. But when you
23 go from three lanes out to two lanes out, then you have
24 the added delay to Apple employees leaving, and that
25 increase in delay is about five minutes. So, it's
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1 going to take them almost 15 minutes to get from
2 their parking space to get to Wolfe Road. So, it's going
3 to be a long wait to the freeway. Versus about nine
4 minutes, if you have a three lane.
5 So, that's the two versus three lane discussion.
6 Did you have any other questions about that one?
7 DON SUN: Yeah. The fourth question is if we --
8 from your prediction is in error, that means probably
9 that's the more than we predicted.
10 So, if we approve this traffic at the improvement
11 about the three lanes or two lanes, and any other further
12 mitigation and the measurement that you're going to
13 propose, and always proposal is who's going to bear the
14 cost for the future from the Apple Campus 2 at the Wolfe
15 and the 280 Northbound? So, who's going to...
16 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: If I may just answer one
17 thing. We look at impacts to see if there is an impact.
18 And to that extent, all the impacts are being mitigated.
19 So, whatever impacts are caused by Apple traffic
20 are going to be solved or mitigated in that area to less
21 than significant.
22 So any future development that comes in later,
23 we'll have to study that, the traffic impacts of that, and
24 make sure that we -- that project we'll mitigate. So,
25 that's how you layer one upon the other.
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1 TIMM BORDEN: And I'll just add to that, I think
2 that's why it's important that we have looked at this
3 conservatively in some of our assumptions, because traffic
4 analysis is never going to be perfect. So you err on the
5 conservative side.
6 I'm hoping that you've overestimated your impacts
7 and your mitigations are going to take care of all that,
8 but Arti is right; in the future developments, if we
9 should be wrong, we would have to rely on them to make
10 further changes.
11 DON SUN: So, we have an agreement that Apple
12 employees -- in the future it becomes the Apple's
13 employees make a congestion with non-Apple employees on
14 the Wolfe Road?
15 TIMM BORDEN: No. So, this is our cut at making
16 our best estimate on what the traffic's going to be and
17 how we're going to mitigate that additional impact.
18 So, this is our time to do that, and that's why I
19 said it's very important that we take a conservative
20 analysis and we find all the potential impacts and provide
21 mitigation.
22 DON SUN: Thank you.
23 JANE BIERSTEDT: And did you have another
24 question about the distribution of traffic leaving the
25 sites?
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1 DON SUN: Yes. The other question is regarding
2 your chart, inbound and outbound, this one. It's the --
3 yeah.
4 JANE BIERSTEDT: This one?
5 DON SUN: Yeah. Give me the a.m. inbound. Yeah,
6 at the bottom it's -- I think it's Stevens Creek. It's the
7 turn 13 percent from Stevens Creek.
8 And then when you go to the p.m. outbound. So,
9 there's people go other way? No, they go back home.
10 JANE BIERSTEDT: Yeah. So, when we look at our
11 trip distribution patterns and we assign the traffic, one
12 thing we're cognizant is where the traffic is coming from
13 and what kind of turning movements they would make.
14 So, in the a.m. -- and kind of what the traffic
15 conditions are on the roadway system. So, for the a.m.
16 peak hour, this 13 percent coming in on Stevens Creek,
17 that also includes traffic that's coming from the south on
18 280. Right, so someone will get off at Lawrence and turn
19 left on Stevens Creek.
20 And so, what we're showing here is in the p.m.
21 peak hour, we're assuming that some of that traffic would
22 actually -- instead of getting on and off at Stevens Creek,
23 a little bit more of it would be getting on 280 South at
24 Wolfe Road.
25 DON SUN: Thank you.
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1 PAUL BROPHY: Yeah. Jane, as long as we're -- can
2 we have that chart back up again, here?
3 To what extent are your models including second
4 order effects? I mean, if I'm an Apple employee leaving
5 in the afternoon, and I have to wait either 9 or 15
6 minutes to get to 280 North and I drive this everyday,
7 my first thought would be, is, "I'll turn right, go west on
8 Homestead and catch 280 at De Anza Boulevard."
9 I mean, to what extent do the models reflect
10 those kind of adjustments that commuters make?
11 JANE BIERSTEDT: Well, let me set the engineering
12 judgment, because we're trying to predict human behavior.
13 And so we use our best engineering judgment,
14 and we kind of said, "Yeah, if we're driving and we had an
15 opportunity to turn left or turning right"... For some of
16 the vehicles that would be going north on 85, we would
17 say, "Okay, well, let them, instead of turning left
18 waiting for the line to get on 280 and then get on 95, one
19 of those would turn right on Wolfe, left on Homestead, and
20 they get on 85 that way." So, we do account for some of
21 those different routes.
22 TIMM BORDEN: I would say that on the street
23 network, sometimes you have what we call "diverted trips."
24 So, if you have a very poor level of service, people --
25 then you may figure out how people are going to go around
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1 that.
2 But for Apple employees, we'd look at more what
3 we call "peak spreading." So, more than likely, instead
4 of going to Tantau or figuring out or something like that,
5 they may leave 5 or 10, 15 minutes later.
6 I think Apple is also looking at technologies
7 where people can look real time at what the existing
8 conditions are.
9 So, I think we have looked at what the worst case
10 situation would be and human behavior would hopefully help
11 that.
12 PAUL BROPHY: Well, I was going to wait 'til
13 later, but since we're on this subject, let me just plow
14 right in.
15 I guess I have some -- based on my experience
16 here in town and elsewhere in the area, I get -- I have
17 some skepticism about the problem of weaving, which seems
18 to have been treated as a major issue.
19 Any intersection you go through in town, say
20 De Anza and Stevens Creek, everyday, every time the light
21 changes, there are a couple of people who weave in the
22 normal course of events, and the world seems to go on with
23 a minimal number of accidents.
24 And I guess, the extreme case of that I think
25 Commissioner Takahashi pointed out in yesterday's hearing
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1 was the case of 85 South, where cars have to weave across
2 two or three lanes with traffic coming from 280 South on
3 to 85 South if you wish to exit at Stevens Creek
4 Boulevard.
5 And the -- I remember when that -- when 85 was
6 extended south from Stevens Creek Boulevard, and the Cal
7 Trans engineers said this would be a terrible situation
8 and that we needed to restrict, we needed to end right
9 turns onto Stevens Creek Boulevard from 85 South, and the
10 politicians overruled the technical advice from Cal Train.
11 And as best I can tell, the politicians were right and the
12 traffic engineers were wrong. The 25 years I've been
13 here, I've never seen an accident there. You have to pay
14 attention when you do the weaving over from 85 South onto
15 the Stevens Creek off-ramp.
16 So, I guess I'm applying that experience to this,
17 and I'm not sure why -- why the staff is recommending a
18 two-lane exit, when you've got -- if anything, all the
19 factors in this were in your favor. You've got the same
20 people coming every day. You've got a single user here
21 who will be educating their drivers how to exit. I mean,
22 I just don't see what the weaving problem is in the first
23 place.
24 JANE BIERSTEDT: One of the concerns is that, you
25 know, from the three left turn lanes out, you're going to
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1 have traffic that's going north on 280, south on 280 and
2 also south on Wolfe. There's going to be more traffic,
3 unless they go north on 280 and south on 280, than on
4 Wolfe. So, there's going to be a what's called a "lane
5 imbalance." You're not going to have one third of the
6 exiting traffic in each of the lanes.
7 So, the outward two left turn lanes are going to
8 be the most popular ones, the ones that most people are
9 going to want to be in.
10 These Apple employees are going to be waiting 10
11 to 15 minutes to get out. They could be impatient.
12 So, the concern is they'll -- there are going to
13 be people in the third left turn lane, and when they get
14 to one of the 280 ramps, and they don't want to wait in
15 these really long lines -- so they're going to be in third
16 lane. The light turns green, they get on Wolfe, and
17 they're going to try to force their way over either one
18 lane change or two lane changes to get to the ramps.
19 And so that's a concern. There's going to be
20 sort of an impatience, in addition to this large traffic
21 volume that's going to cause this weaving. It's going to
22 cause a bottleneck. It could cause a problem.
23 PAUL BROPHY: I understand that, but I guess my
24 question to that is so what? Accidents are caused as far
25 as people are weaving all the time, and I don't see a
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1 disproportionate significant number of accidents caused by
2 that particular activity elsewhere in the City, especially
3 on south 85/280 example I gave.
4 To the extent people do that regularly, that
5 these are drivers who are used to that -- used to that
6 section, because they'll be travelling it everyday, and
7 to the extent that the traffic on southbound Wolfe will be
8 stopped by a red light, so it's not like we have a flow of
9 traffic that will be intermingling with the Apple exit
10 traffic, why are we making an issue that it causes such a
11 problem for the people who want to get home in the
12 afternoon?
13 JANE BIERSTEDT: This is where it's kind of the
14 art and science of traffic engineering, and we're trying
15 to predict human behavior and it's kind of difficult.
16 So, that's why there is that alternate mitigation
17 measure that includes additional signing and pavement
18 striping and monitoring to see if the two lanes would
19 work, but I think it's the City's position that you want
20 to provide a safe environment for your drivers and that's
21 the concern.
22 ALAN TAKAHASHI: So, Arti, are you looking for us
23 to make a recommendation on both those elements? Correct?
24 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Well, at the -- closer to the
25 end of the hearing. We do have the Apple people who will
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1 present, and then we will take public input before you
2 actually deliberate.
3 DON SUN: Quick question. For the traffic
4 congestion reduction, is there any consideration for
5 working with regional levels to open like a Tantau/280
6 to reduce the traffic onto Wolfe? Any consideration
7 about having another 280 --
8 JANE BIERSTEDT: Like an interchange?
9 DON SUN: Yeah.
10 JANE BIERSTEDT: On-ramp?
11 DON SUN: Yes.
12 JANE BIERSTEDT: Cal Trans has design standards
13 where you want to have your interchange ramp every mile,
14 that's the minimum spacing. And so, with the interchange
15 at Stevens Creek and Lawrence and then at Wolfe, that's
16 already a mile.
17 So, if you try to put ramps in between, you don't
18 have enough room for the on and off-ramp traffic to weave
19 to merge onto the freeways, would actually even cause more
20 problems.
21 DON SUN: Thank you.
22 Can I ask the applicant to approach to the podium
23 for your presentation? Thank you.
24 DAN WHISENHUNT: Good evening, Chairman Sun and
25 Commissioners.
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1 My name is Dan Whisenhunt. I'm the Director of
2 Real Estate and Development at Apple, and it's great to
3 see you two nights in a row. So, thanks for having us.
4 So, I'd like to start by first of all, thanking
5 the City staff for putting this together. Your
6 description of the project was excellent. You did most of
7 my presentation for me.
8 But what I'd like to do, if it's okay with you
9 guys, is sort of reenforce some of the things that are
10 very important about the project to us, and fill in some
11 of the -- us being Apple, we like to share visually. I
12 think there are many people here today that probably
13 didn't see our presentation last night, and we'd like to
14 share some of that imagery with you.
15 Also some numbers associated with the economic
16 impact and then just give a little bit of background of
17 the project.
18 So, if that's okay with you, we'll just get
19 going. I'd like to start it off with a little film that
20 we prepared for everybody.
21 (FILM PRESENTATION)
22 DAN WHISENHUNT: Pretty special. We are proud to
23 be here. I love that video.
24 So, as you can tell, we've been working on this
25 thing for a while. It's been about four years. And on
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1 behalf of everybody at Apple, we're very honored to carry
2 out Steve's vision for our new home here. And I've got
3 the team in place that will ensure that is the best office
4 building in the world.
5 But it's so much more than that. This will be
6 one of the most environmentally sustainable developments
7 of anything that's ever been done on this scale anywhere
82
9 them. It will produce new and ongoing revenues for the
10 City. It will provide many, many public improvements, as
11 well as vast community benefits.
12 So, that's where I'd like to share some very
13 important numbers for everybody. And starting with job
14 creation. So, today, Apple has 16,000 employees in
15 Cupertino, and by the time we complete the project, we
16 anticipate that to be about 24,000 employees. When you
17 add the indirect jobs that Apple supports across the
18 county, that makes up a total of 41,000 jobs that Apple
19 supports across Santa Clara County.
20 In addition to that, during the three-year
21 construction period of the project, we'll generate about
22 9,000 jobs, most of which will be high-paying union jobs
23 on our job site. It's very important to us. It supported
24 ***NECESSARY PAGE BREAK FOR REPORTER SWITCH***
25
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1 ***
2 ***
3 ***
4 ***
5 ***
6 local businesses. Last year Apple's -- Apple's business
7 generated about $5.9 billion in gross revenues for
8 businesses around the county. We project that to be
9 about $8 billion by 2016. It supported local
10 governments. Our property taxes more than doubled from
11 last year's $25 million to $57 million annually with the
12 development of Apple Campus 2. In addition, the annual
13 city tax receipts go from about 9.2 million last year to
14 about $13 million, and this is immediately after
15 approval of the project. So this revenue starts in
16 2014.
17 In addition, the project will generate about
18 45 million in one-time revenues for the city solely on
19 property sale, construction taxes and construction fees.
20 And in support of the local community, we're committed
21 to over $73 million in public improvements. About
22 $16 million of that will be roadway and traffic
23 improvements, utility upgrades, utility improvements,
24 landscaping, bike ped trails. And one very important
25 fact about this is that we commit this money up front.
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1 This isn't a developer that makes these promises and
2 walks away; this is money that we have mechanisms today
3 to earmark, escrow, whatever it takes to get the money
4 and get the improvements done. So in addition to those,
5 there's -- the balance of that money goes to public park
6 land and to affordable housing.
7 So let me give you a little bit of background.
8 As I mentioned, 16,000 employees in Cupertino today
9 spread over 80 buildings. In the last couple of years
10 we've had to expand into the neighboring communities of
11 Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in pretty large numbers, and
12 since one of the key differentiators of Apple is our
13 collaboration, we want to keep our engineers and our
14 creative groups together here in Cupertino, and we want
15 to do that by using this site in the north Vallco area
16 to house 13,000 employees all in one location.
17 So as you mentioned, here's the site. This is
18 the 176 acres that we purchased a few years ago, and
19 it's bounded by Wolfe Road, Homestead and Tantau, 280 to
20 the south, and this is the former Compaq and HP campus
21 sites. And what you see there today are 26 buildings
22 totaling 2.6 million square feet, and there -- it's just
23 outdated buildings that are floating in just a sea of
24 asphalt. The site is a really good site, and we have
25 great promise for it.
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1 So today the site has got the roadway capacity
2 and the infrastructure to support nearly 10,000
3 employees, and you hit on this point earlier, which is
4 very critical about this, is that as we analyze the
5 traffic, when -- even with Apple's increased employment,
6 when we overlay our TDM program, we actually get to
7 numbers that are below that. So again, this is a point
8 about the conservative nature of EIR that the city
9 generated, and what this does, we think the practical
10 realities of when we do overlay our TDM program, we will
11 actually have an opportunity to improve the traffic flow
12 in this area.
13 So what we want to do with this site is create
14 this unified and secure new campus that's surrounded by
15 a park setting. We wanted to exhibit Apple's values of
16 innovation, simplicity and beauty. Here's some images
17 that reflect some of the dimensions that Piu talked
18 about, a four-story building, a single R&D building
19 that's surrounded by grasslands, meadows, fruit
20 orchards, trees, lots of trees, and then a beautiful
21 park setting all around the site that really makes
22 dramatic improvements for the public-facing areas.
23 As Piu mentioned, we are 20% landscaped today,
24 140 acres of asphalt. We transformed that by bringing
25 in nearly 100 acres of new landscaping and trees and
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1 nearly quadrupling the total landscape.
2 So what we want to create there is really a
3 landscape of the future where we critically selected
4 plants and trees that can actually adapt to climate
5 change. We also have selected plants that are native
6 and drought tolerant and require the minimum amount of
7 irrigation. We'll provide the site with very deep
8 landscaped setbacks with berms and major large-scale
9 trees all around the perimeter, and you can see the site
10 is really inspired by the foothills of the west valley
11 and reminiscent of early Santa Clara Valley.
12 So trees, one of our great passions, today the
13 site has 4500 trees. As Piu mentioned, we're going to
14 increase that to 7,000 trees overall, and we do this by
15 transplanting some of the larger specimen trees on the
16 interior, but also adding thousands of new young and
17 mature shade trees throughout the site. In fact, I've
18 got a few pictures here of some of our trees being grown
19 and maintained at various nurseries around California.
20 The diversity will be extremely impressive, with over 300
21 unique species of plants and trees across the site.
22 So let me tell you a little bit about the
23 interior of the campus. So a few years ago we selected
24 one of the world's renowned architectural firms of
25 Foster & Partners as the architects on the project, and
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1 over the last four years they've been bringing their
2 global sustainability vent and progressive architecture
3 to help us create the solutions that we want at Apple,
4 the most important of which is realizing Steve's vision
5 for our new home. In addition, we've been working with
6 Lori Owen & Partners, one of the world's renowned
7 landscape architects who has created the stunning
8 parklands and landscapes to beautify the entire
9 community.
10 So here's a quick orientation to the site. As
11 you can see, the main building in the middle, parking
12 structure at the south, corporate fitness center in the
13 northwest, our corporate auditorium in the hills,
14 transit center and research facilities along Tantau, but
15 really the heart of the campus is this signature
16 2.8-million square foot ring glass building some refer
17 to as a spaceship, but this is our home where we can put
18 13,000 employees in one location under one roof. And
19 really this becomes the idea factory that will lead to
20 the next generations of Apple products. Stunning
21 architecture.
22 Up on the hill between the main building and
23 the parking structure is our corporate auditorium, a
24 facility that's very important to us because it allows
25 us to bring the product launches and special events that
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1 we've held for years in San Francisco and beyond back to
2 our home in Cupertino which we think is a great thing
3 for Cupertino, including a very positive spillover
4 effect for local businesses.
5 The transit center, which is located on the
6 east side of our property, east side of the site, is a
7 key feature because it's really the heartbeat of our TDM
8 program. So this -- this -- and we've located it very
9 close to the main building, making it attractive for
10 employees to take part in our various transit services,
11 the hallmark of which is our commuter coach program.
12 You see these gray buses about town. We send them out,
13 we gather employees, collect employees, groups of them
14 from all over the Bay Area, bring them to campus, and we
15 get them out of their cars and we keep them out of their
16 cars. And it's a program that's growing and growing each
17 year. In fact, today it has allowed us to achieve a 28%
18 participation rate in our TDM program, which is a
19 reduction of peak-hour automobile trips. So with Apple
20 Campus 2, we want to improve and enhance this program
21 using the leading edge techniques and take that
22 participation rate up to 34%. So this means that over a
23 third of our workforce will be arriving each day by way
24 of alternative transportation. We think it's an
25 aggressive goal, but we think it's one that we can
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1 achieve. And each year we've become more and more
2 convinced that our investments in these transportation
3 programs are our best ways to get the cars off the road.
4 I mentioned our parking structure, which
5 parking for this campus is below the main building and
6 in this highly efficient parking structure at the south
7 of the campus. What this parking strategy has allowed
8 us to do is a very important goal during the
9 construction phase of the project, and that's to
10 eliminate all the off-fall of excavated soil. So with
11 the -- we've been able to achieve a balanced site by
12 using that soil to create the rolling hills and berms
13 around the site that will get trucked off the road,
14 reduce emissions and just be a better experience for our
15 neighborhood. We will also provide hundreds of electric
16 vehicle charging stations, both under the building and
17 in the main parking structure. The campus includes a
18 cafeteria that provides both indoor and outdoor secure
19 dining areas for the employees, our fitness center in
20 the northwest corner of the site, and then the bottom
21 right-hand corner is our new research facilities where
22 we will replace existing buildings along Tantau with
23 600,000 square feet of new R&D buildings. Of course,
24 the project also includes the integration of the
25 historic Glendenning Barn, so we'll restore the barn and
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1 return it to its original agricultural use in support of
2 our landscaping activities on the site.
3 So let me talk a little bit about the perimeter
4 of this site. We've spent a lot of time talking about
5 this this evening, and I anticipate maybe a little bit
6 more. But our main employee entrance is along Wolfe
7 Road, precisely where the old HP campus former entrance
8 was on Wolfe Road. We've got a second entrance to
9 diversify traffic both in and out of the campus on
10 Tantau Avenue called our Tantau employee entrance, and
11 then, of course, the third entrance to the site is
12 really our transit center where a third of employees
13 will be coming each day.
14 So let me just focus back on the main entrance
15 for a minute because this is -- this is a critical
16 operational need for us. This is the three-lane versus
17 two-lane exit issue. So since the beginning, we
18 designed a three-lane exit on the site. So the city's
19 EIR rigorously studied this, so it's not a new concept;
20 it's a very -- it's the original concept because we
21 wanted, operationally, this work to work very well for
22 our employees. So the -- we're very pleased that an
23 alternative mitigation measure has been proposed as it's
24 been further studied, but the key to that is that we
25 want the decision to be based on actual hard data rather
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1 than just a hunch that somebody says it's not going to
2 work or the weaving's going to be bad or whatever. We
3 think that the best way to do it is what the alternative
4 mitigation measure No. 23 says, and that says to allow
5 the three lanes, put in the signage, put in the road
6 markings. Apple, you must educate your employees about
7 the importance of this, create the monitoring with the
8 cameras, create the penalty system that gives you the
9 authority and the stick to really give us the incentive
10 to make this thing work. But also at the end of that, we
11 proposed a nine-month period to actually analyze this,
12 get the hard data, prove to you that it works, and if it
13 doesn't, you still have a choice.
14 So tonight we're just asking very strongly that
15 you recommend that the City Council adopt this
16 alternative mitigation measure No. 23 which would permit
17 us to implement this three-lane exit configuration, of
18 course, with the robust monitoring program.
19 Just a final element around the perimeter of
20 the site will be a very beautiful park-like setting with
21 detached sidewalks, new landscaping and berms, colorized
22 bike paths all around, roadway improvements, including
23 landscaped medians all around, really creating this sort
24 of beautiful linear park for the community.
25 Here's a few shots before and after that kind
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1 of show you this vision for around the campus. So today,
2 Wolfe Road looking to the north just at the main
3 entrance after the new through lane and right-turn lane
4 and new bike lanes. Here's Homestead Road along the
5 north of the campus and after a newly-installed,
6 tree-lined median. Tantau Avenue becomes the most
7 dramatically modified avenue around the campus, and here
8 you see it afterwards with its new boulevard-like
9 appearance with wide tree-lined median, colorized bike
10 trails, detached sidewalks on both sides, mature
11 landscaping on both sides, and a new alternate
12 bike/pedestrian trail that offers nice views of
13 Calabazas Creek. Here is Vallco Parkway just across
14 from the home -- the Main Street development before and
15 after improvements.
16 But let me take you back to what is really our
17 new front door. This is the visitor's entrance plaza
18 along Tantau Avenue as it -- with a view in toward our
19 new visitor reception building, and this area really
20 became -- becomes our new welcoming beautifully
21 landscaped face to the community. As you can see, it's
22 a wonderful crescent shape that the community can ride
23 and enjoy. It can accommodate about 200 visitors or
24 more in there at a time, but it affords the community
25 some wonderful views into the main building. And, of
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1 course, this beautiful reception building, and our
2 parking structure and parking reception building is just
3 across the street with 825 parking spaces, which we
4 believe are ample for the invited and uninvited guests
5 that we might see. So Apple Campus 2 also represents
6 our continued commitment to innovation in the
7 environmental sustainability world. We do this not only
8 here in Cupertino, but we do it everywhere we are in the
9 world.
10 A few areas that are important to Cupertino we
11 believe are the alternative transportation world where
12 we'll have a third of the workforce arriving by some
13 means other than a single occupied vehicle. Our efforts
14 in energy efficiency -- this will be an incredibly
15 efficient building utilizing daylight, natural
16 ventilation, radiant cooling, LED lighting, smart
17 controls to help us reduce energy consumption by 30%
18 over your typical R&D building across the valley. Just
19 like an infinite loop today, we're committed to 100%
20 renewable energy. This is a very key and
21 differentiating element that Apple believes in, and for
22 most of that energy we're going to produce it onsite
23 with our fuel cell and rooftop footable tape plans.
24 With the drought-tolerant landscape that we're
25 installing throughout, we will dramatically decrease the
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1 need for irrigation water. In addition, we plan on
2 using recycled water from the new Santa Clara Valley
3 water district line that's being constructed just to the
4 north of the site.
5 And, of course, I mentioned earlier, we're
6 going to reuse all the excavations on site, as well as
7 deploy the cleanest construction technologies to reduce
8 emissions to the maximum amount. On top of that, the
9 project will be need certified, as I mentioned last
10 night, as well as exceed all the sustainability
11 requirements set forth by the Cupertino Green Building
12 ordinance, and we're very proud of that.
13 So here we are in the planning process. We --
14 tonight represents a major milestone for the project,
15 and we look forward to this being the conclusion of the
16 planning commission's environmental review of the
17 project, and, of course, we look forward to your
18 recommendation this evening, as well as in nearly
19 two weeks from tonight on October 15th, the city council
20 will convene and we look forward to their approval on
21 the project that evening.
22 So I guess in closing, what I would like to
23 mention is that we've -- last night was very special for
24 us. We heard, from the community, a lot of heartfelt
25 support for this project, and it was great to hear that.
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1 We've read it a lot, but it really was meaningful to
2 hear people say what the project means to them.
3 The other main theme that I heard last night is
4 the community's appreciation for our outreach efforts
5 and how much we've actually engaged with them on an
6 individual level and on a group level, and I just want
7 to tell you and tell everybody in this room that it
8 doesn't stop here. We plan on continuing that
9 engagement and continuing that communication. So we've
10 got a lot of support. I'm hoping there's some support
11 here tonight. I haven't turned around.
12 (Applause.)
13 DON SUN: That was clap.
14 DAN WHISENHUNT: Yes, thank you.
15 So just in closing, I want to thank you for
16 having us again this evening. We think this is an
17 incredible project. We are so excited about it, we're
18 so proud about it. We -- as I mentioned last night, we
19 think it's the model for the 21st century workplace. We
20 want to create a home, an inspirational home where our
21 employees can work and to -- they can create,
22 collaborate, and as they've done for many years, change
23 people's lives with the great products that Apple
24 produces.
25 And just in closing, what I look forward to
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1 is -- you know, we've got -- we've got about 32 months
2 of construction after the approval of the project. We
3 hope to be occupying this new campus in -- sometime in
4 2016, and I really look forward to celebrating a
5 community day where we can invite you all to come join
6 us for the ribbon cutting of our new home, and I hope to
7 see you all there, okay? Thank you very much.
8 (Applause.)
9 DON SUN: Before we do a -- have a public
10 hearing, I think it's better we don't -- whatever, just
11 don't make sound to express your support, or it's
12 against -- before we have a question, it's I think if
13 anyone have a question, you can go to front, they have a
14 blue card, you can put in the card and then we can start
15 public hearing.
16 Any commissioner, we have a question for the
17 applicant?
18 Yeah, go ahead, Commissioner Gong.
19 MARGARET GONG: There was mention of an
20 electronic monitoring of the in-flow/out-flow traffic of
21 the garage. Is that concept -- is that something that is
22 currently in development?
23 DAN WHISENHUNT: The way that we organize
24 the -- the electronic monitoring of -- it's not traffic,
25 but we're monitoring parking more in the -- within the
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1 parking structure. So we equipped every parking space
2 with sensors that can send signals back to a controller
3 that will allow us to convert those signals to
4 information and signage just to help -- help employees
5 determine where they can park in the structure, to give
6 them higher probabilities of where they'll find the
7 right place at the right time.
8 DON SUN: Thank you.
9 I have a -- go ahead. Anyone have a question?
10 Okay. Dan, I have a small question regarding
11 the historical site about the Glendenning Barn. Is
12 there any way -- we see that the model is probably like
13 20 feet away from sidewalk. Is there, from design
14 point, any way -- any way we can move that berm a little
15 bit to the sidewalk so that people can take picture from
16 outside Apple Campus?
17 DAN WHISENHUNT: Yeah, I think we'll -- that is
18 exactly the intention is to put the Glendenning Barn in
19 a location that has a beautiful view from the sidewalk
20 with a memorial plaque, a historic plaque to give it
21 historic relevance. So if you didn't see that
22 opportunity on the model that you saw, it's something
23 that we intend to create.
24 DON SUN: Yeah, okay. Thank you.
25 Okay. We're going to start public hearing.
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1 I'm going to call three people so you can line up and
2 save the time. The first one is Tap Merrick. Since we
3 don't have a camera, the system is break down, I'm going
4 to delegate homework to my colleague, Alan. He's going
5 to be the marshal. Thank you. Three minutes each one.
6 TAP MERRICK: Commissioners, thank you. My
7 name is Tap Merrick. I'm a 36-year bird land resident
8 in Sunnyvale. I'm also a candidate for council C3 in
9 Sunnyvale.
10 I spoke with Eric Worley for about two hours
11 back in April after requesting all sorts of information
12 from our neighborhood, some 1700 households, and I
13 presented Mr. Worley with a bunch of things and was
14 hoping that we would get a consolidated response. We
15 were assured that we would. After the draft EIR, we
16 were assured that we would, and we still haven't
17 received a consolidated response. We would appreciate
18 that.
19 Related to the traffic issues, there's
20 certainly some concern in our neighborhood about the
21 loss of Pruneridge and the median strips on Homestead,
22 and then also traffic on Tantau/Quail, Peacock, Swallow,
23 Lochinvar, Nightingale, Inverness, Dunford, Marion and
24 Teal because Wolfe already -- Wolfe and Lawrence are
25 both heavily traveled. Lawrence and Homestead is an
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1 F-rated signal already, so you can't get any worse -- as
2 you know, you can't get any worse than that. And -- so
3 I guess they stopped measuring traffic. But people will
4 start coming through the neighborhoods. Especially with
5 that Tantau exit, they'll just shoot straight instead of
6 turning left or right on Homestead if they're going
7 north.
8 Also, I would be interested in seeing rainy-day
9 traffic because I think the people that are walking and
10 riding their bicycles aren't going to be on rainy days,
11 and also something about the summer versus winter, you
12 know, you think that if everybody's walking or riding
13 during the summer, that's great, but in the winter when
14 it's darker, that's a concern.
15 We're also concerned about Cupertino Village
16 expansion at Wolfe and Homestead. Butcher's Corner
17 farther down on Wolfe, Fremont and El Camino, this is
18 going to add to Wolfe Road's traffic. We're losing a
19 daycare services at Raynor School providing 200 services
20 there, and then the bus routes 26 down Wolfe and 81
21 zigzags to Vallco. I don't think -- it doesn't sound
22 like BTA is really embracing support of north/south
23 traffic in -- and -- maybe along Stevens Creek they
24 will, but going through Sunnyvale, it doesn't sound like
25 they will. Thank you.
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1 DON SUN: Thank you.
2 The next one is Kevin McClelland and followed
3 by the Theresa Gavenas.
4 KEVIN McCLELLAND: Good evening, commissioners.
5 My name is Kevin McClelland, and I'm the president of
6 the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, and representing that
7 chamber, your chamber, we really would like you guys to
8 adopt and support the Apple Campus 2 and move this
9 forward to our city council.
10 I would first like to start off by just really
11 appreciating all the hard work that has gone into this
12 project from the city staff to the consultants, everyone
13 who contributed to the EIR, and, of course, Apple and
14 their team. I mean, such an expansive project and so
15 many moving parts and yet, you know, when we drill down
16 the details, it seems like every "I" is dotted, every
17 "T" is crossed.
18 I also want to acknowledge the outreach that
19 was mentioned earlier, and I wanted to echo that, that
20 between the City's outreach and Apple's outreach, this
21 project has been very well communicated. As I've done
22 my outreach to the other chambers of commerce, they were
23 actually kind of shocked that the project hadn't already
24 been approved because of all the outreach that's been
25 going on and all of the communication that's been
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1 happening over the last few years.
2 It's also been kind of the issue in town. I
3 think that it is kind of a shock for people that we
4 don't already have shovels in ground, so I do think and
5 agree that this is a real milestone and I am looking
6 forward to this moving forward.
7 One of the things that struck me last night
8 that I was really impressed was the diversity of the
9 different groups that came out in support of the Apple
10 Campus. We had citizens from Sunnyvale, from
11 Santa Clara, some of our own citizens, and people that
12 were not necessarily young or new citizens, but people
13 that have been in the community for a long period of
14 time. We had former city council members; we had the
15 Audubon Society, in addition to other chambers of
16 commerce. It really is amazing the vision that everyone
17 has in understanding the economic -- not just economic
18 impacts, but really the benefits to not just Cupertino,
19 but the entire area. And with that, we hope that you
20 move forward with supporting it. Thank you.
21 DON SUN: Thank you.
22 Theresa Gavenas. After Theresa is Ro Khanna.
23 THERESA GAVENAS: Yeah, hello. I'm Theresa
24 Gavenas, and I'm a resident of Sunnyvale, and I just
25 wanted to come out here in appreciation of this project.
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1 I also want to talk about possible ways to deal with the
2 traffic situation because as you know, you know, going
3 along Wolfe Road, you know, especially during peak hours
4 is quite congested, and an idea that came to me, and I'm
5 hoping that maybe this council might consider, is
6 possible alternative ways of, you know, dealing with
7 peak traffic and -- both in the morning and in the
8 afternoon. And what I'm suggesting is instead of
9 everybody starting work at, say, 8:00 o'clock and
10 leaving work, say, at 5:00 o'clock, having staggered
11 starting times. Like, for example, you know, breaking
12 up into, like, five different blocks. Like one group
13 will start at 6:00 -- you know, 20% will start at
14 6:30 in the morning, 20% will start at 7:00 o'clock in
15 the morning, 20% will start at 7:30 in the morning, 20%
16 will start at 8:30 in the morning, and 20% will start at
17 9:00 o'clock in the morning with corresponding changes
18 also in the afternoon, you know, in half-hour
19 increments. And what I'm suggesting is we talked about
20 the T -- what is it, the TDM, you know, trying to
21 increase the amount of people going into public transit,
22 you know, or alternative modes of transit from 28% to
23 34%. And what I'm suggesting is that, you know, when
24 Apple selects people to go into these -- you know,
25 choose these different time slots, whether they start at
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1 6:30 in the morning or 7:00 o'clock or 7:30, you know,
2 break it up into 20% segments for each one of those,
3 that they would also give them incentives like the ones
4 that -- you know, 'cause there may be some time slots
5 are more desirable than others; like, for example, maybe
6 more people want to start at 8:00 o'clock in the morning
7 than start at 6:30 in the morning. I would suggest that
8 people that are willing to use alternative methods of
9 transportation, such as the shuttle buses or public
10 transit, would be -- get afforded those more
11 preferential slots, and I think this would really
12 increase public transit use and also alternative methods
13 of using transportation.
14 So anyway, I just want to bring this out to you
15 and it's a suggestion, and also, you know, increasing
16 the number of -- you know, like maybe parking areas or,
17 you know, shuttle services, you know, so that way more
18 people would be able to embrace this and get involved
19 with it.
20 So anyway, I just want to thank you very much,
21 and I think this will be a great, great thing for the
22 city of Cupertino. It's going to bring a lot of people
23 into this area, it's going to make Cupertino a tourist
24 destination, and it's going to be something we're going
25 to be really proud of, but we have to make sure that if
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1 you could spread out the employees, stagger work hours
2 going from 6:30 to 9:00 o'clock, I think if you would do
3 that, it would be a blessing. Amen.
4 DON SUN: Thank you.
5 Next is Ro Khanna followed by Eddie Hirshfield.
6 RO KHANNA: Chairman Sun and commissioners, I'm
7 here to support the approval of Apple's Campus 2. Every
8 year I teach a class at Stanford, in economics this
9 year, and I start out the class with a simple question
10 for my students. "Would you rather be president of the
11 United States or an entrepreneur like Steve Jobs?"
12 Every year the answer is overwhelming. 90% of students
13 say they would rather be an entrepreneur like Steve
14 Jobs.
15 If Everson was right that institutions are but
16 a length and shadow to a man, then Apple Campus 2, in my
17 judgment, is a testament to Jobs' legacy for
18 entrepreneurship and innovation. We heard about the
19 idea of collaboration and having 13,000 engineers in
20 one place. That idea is actually central to having
21 advanced manufacturing in the United States. Any
22 economist will tell you that you can't separate design
23 for production, and co-location is absolutely essential
24 for us to be an innovator in this country.
25 I also want to share a story. We think of
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1 Apple as often hiring young people, but there's a story
2 of someone I know, and I don't want to mention his name,
3 59 years old, had been laid off from his previous
4 company on the east coast. Apple actually gave him a
5 chance because it represented a meritocracy. I believe
6 that with the City's cooperation and Apple and the focus
7 on sustainability and with the partnership with folks in
8 the labor unions to create good-paying jobs here, that
9 this campus can actually not just be a model for this
10 area, but a model for our country and being innovative
11 and entrepreneurial. So I encourage approval. Thank
12 you.
13 DON SUN: Thank you.
14 Next is Eddie Hirshfield and followed by Sandy
15 James.
16 ED HIRSHFIELD: Hi. My name is Ed Hirshfield.
17 I guess today can separate -- celebrate 50 years and
18 one month exactly for moving into my home. I live less
19 than a mile from the new Apple Campus 1. I said
20 yesterday that I was equidistant from Tantau and Wolfe.
21 It's not really Wolfe there; it's Miller because the
22 street changes names at Stevens Creek, so I'd like to
23 correct that.
24 But I've watched Hewlett Packard and Tandem go
25 through their peak employments. I watched the traffic.
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1 I travel on both Tantau and Wolfe several times a day,
2 and I've never considered the problem at that point to
3 be really significant. There's so many more places in
4 my travel around the Bay Area which are much more
5 congested than I expect this to be when the campus is
6 fully populated. So I wholly endorse the earliest
7 possible approval by you and the city council, and I
8 think that Apple -- it should not be an issue as to
9 whether or not they have three lanes or two. I mean,
10 it's hard to imagine that the people coming and going
11 from Apple would endure a 10-minute delay at the gate.
12 I expect that everyone who works there is innovative and
13 motivated to make their trip as short as possible, and
14 I'm sure they'll find ways to do that, whether it's
15 public transit, whether it's the Apple buses, or
16 hopefully electric cars at that time that will not
17 really rise to the level of polluting the air, and that
18 is in the projection. So I want to see this thing move
19 forward; I'm excited about it; I think it's important
20 for our community, and I'm proud to be a resident of
21 Cupertino. Thank you.
22 DON SUN: Thank you.
23 Sandy James followed by Gideon Kracov.
24 SANDY JAMES: Good evening, Chairman Sun, Vice
25 Chairman Brophy and commissioners. As you know, I am a
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1 former mayor of Cupertino. I've lived here most of my
2 life.
3 I'm here tonight representing four different
4 groups. I'm a member of the Cupertino Chamber, the
5 San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce; as you know,
6 I'm president of the organization of special needs
7 families, so representing the special needs community,
8 and also the veterans and active duty military. And I
9 think speaking for those four groups is indicative of
10 the kind of input you got last night and you're getting
11 tonight, and, in fact, Kevin McClelland spoke of that it
12 isn't just one aspect of this community that's
13 supporting this project; it's the whole community, and
14 there's a lot of reasons for that. I think one of them
15 is that Apple has done an admirable job of celebrating
16 our history through the Glendenning Barn and certainly
17 the orchards, our agricultural history, respecting our
18 present with their ecological emphasis on the building
19 and the environment, and also celebrating and looking
20 forward to the future bringing together into our
21 community some of the finest, most creative minds, and
22 helping to continue to have Cupertino associated with
23 one of the finest companies in the world. So I
24 encourage you, please, to approve this project, to
25 listen to your community. I think you know that they
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1 are very much behind it, and to celebrate with all of us
2 this wonderful, wonderful addition to our community.
3 Thank you.
4 DON SUN: Thank you.
5 Next is Gideon Kracov.
6 GIDEON KRACOV: Chairman Sun, commissioners, my
7 name is Gideon Kracov. I'm an environmental lawyer
8 appearing tonight for client Service Employees
9 International Union, United Service Workers West.
10 USWW appreciates the opportunity to comment on
11 the Apple Campus 2 project. It submitted a comment
12 letter in July and another which should be on your desk
13 tonight, and we ask that those be placed in the
14 administrative record. USWW represents thousands of
15 workers across California, including approximately 8,500
16 security officers. USWW and its sister locals have many
17 members, including public sector and healthcare workers
18 who reside and work here in Santa Clara County. Its
19 standards include living wages, worker environmental
20 safety and access to healthcare and training. It
21 results in better labor conditions and better quality of
22 life for security officers and their families, and many
23 of our union members are here tonight in the purple
24 shirts.
25 Rising inequality remains a threat to Silicon
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1 Valley's prosperity. The headlines call it the second
2 tech boom lifting all votes, but the reality is more
3 complicated. A large percentage of jobs in this region
4 pay less than a living wage. My client works to stem
5 this tide of inequality and to make Silicon Valley a
6 place of opportunity for all. It appreciates Apple's
7 tremendous vision but believes strongly that Apple must
8 ensure livable wages and safe working and environmental
9 conditions for all its workers, including subcontracted
10 employees working on this project, such as security
11 officers who are responsible for protecting Apple's
12 property and staff. And we know security is a key
13 objective for this project.
14 As a result, USWW is a stake holder in this
15 project, and labor unions like USWW have a long history
16 of engaging in the CEQA process to ensure safe working
17 conditions, reduce environmental impacts and maximize
18 environmental benefits. This comment, therefore, is
19 made to exhaust administrative remedies on the project
20 and incorporates all other comments by any commenting
21 party or agency on issues like traffic, trip penalties,
22 the necessity to review economic impacts, AB900
23 constitutionality and compliance, worker safety,
24 analysis and mitigation of agricultural and industrial
25 site contamination, extra jurisdictional impacts and the
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1 need for EIR recirculation. Further, we respectfully
2 reserve the right to supplement these comments at future
3 hearings on this project.
4 Finally, USWW is a stake holder. It will be
5 monitoring closely your votes tonight and the course of
6 all project approvals. Please put our comment matter in
7 the record. Thank you for your thorough questioning,
8 detailed analysis tonight and for this opportunity to
9 comment.
10 DON SUN: Thank you.
11 Next is Maryann Bettencourt, and the followed
12 by the Keith McCree.
13 MARYANN BETTENCOURT: Good evening. My name is
14 Maryann Bettencourt, and I have no fancy title other
15 than I am a resident of Cupertino, I have been for 18
16 years, and I, too, live within a mile of the new campus
17 and the old campus. I also have a small business here
18 in Cupertino.
19 I welcome the new campus for a few reasons. I
20 have wanted to expand my business for the last
21 two years, and unfortunately in my building, which is
22 between Wolfe and De Anza, there's no more occupancy.
23 Between Apple taking up a lot of the commercial space as
24 well as their contractors, the simple small little
25 business like myself, we have nowhere to go, and when I
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1 do find space, the landlords are charging unbelievable
2 amounts of money. I asked the guy next door to me,
3 which is a smaller space, we only see him there a couple
4 days a week, and he says Apple pays him enough to have
5 the presence there, and they require presence. It would
6 be nice to see a little bit more of the commercial space
7 freed up for the other businesses like myself to be able
8 to expand, to be able to hire some additional employees.
9 Just two other small businesses as myself I know have
10 left Cupertino for the mere fact that they couldn't find
11 affordable space. So I welcome and I hope that you will
12 approve this so that it will free up some additional
13 commercial space so that other businesses can expand,
14 including myself and my business, as well. Thank you.
15 DON SUN: Thank you. Next is Tim McRae
16 followed by E.S. Field.
17 ***NECESSARY PAGE BREAK FOR REPORTER SWITCH***
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1 ***
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4 TIM McRAE: Hi, my name is Tim McRae, and I'm the
5 Energy Director for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
6 We represent over 380 companies, universities and
7 hospitals in Silicon Valley, and we strongly support this
8 project.
9 We are thrilled to see a local, home-grown
10 company deepen its roots in Cupertino in this way. We are
11 particularly pleased with Apple's commitment to creating a
12 campus that is not only good for the economy, but also the
13 environment. The attention to trees, open spaces, green
14 building elements and overall creation of a net zero
15 energy campus is impressive, and sets the bar at a level
16 that's typical for Apple -- very high.
17 We look forward to this new campus being built
18 and encourage you to move things along as quickly as
19 possible.
20 Thank you for your time.
21 DON SUN: Thank you. Next is E.S. Field,
22 followed by Robert Neff.
23 ELEANOR FIELD: Yeah, hi, I'm Eleanor
24 Field. I also live about a mile from the main entrance to
25 this project, but my address is in Sunnyvale.
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1 I have very mixed views on this, but I do want to
2 thank the Planning Commission for asking so many wonderful
3 questions.
4 There are a couple of facts I've heard tonight
5 that I would dispute, but I think I'll send you emails
6 about them in the interest of time.
7 The main point that I think I would like to make
8 is I heard the phrase in the Apple presentation, "the vast
9 community benefits." And in nearly everything that I've
10 heard and read about the proposed Apple 2 campus, I've
11 heard no reference to Sunnyvale, which owns one of the
12 borders of this project, or Santa Clara, which owns
13 another border. And I don't think 280 as a freeway is
14 going to reply to you specifically, so that leaves the
15 shopping center on the other side of Wolfe Road.
16 So, I feel that some of the people who live
17 closest to this project haven't noticed a lot of outreach.
18 And I'm wondering whether anybody could tell me what
19 formal efforts have been made to solicit input about
20 concerns from Sunnyvale and Santa Clara?
21 DON SUN: You ask question?
22 ELEANOR FIELD: I did. And my vote is
23 neutral. I mean, I -- it depends on the details in the
24 end. How does this fashion, and I'm encouraged by the
25 questions I've heard.
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1 DON SUN: Okay. For today's public hearing,
2 we're not coming here to answer any public questions. We
3 just listen to your comments.
4 ELEANOR FIELD: Okay.
5 DON SUN: They work with the question and they
6 respond to you each individually.
7 ELEANOR FIELD: Okay.
8 DON SUN: Thank you.
9 ELEANOR FIELD: Thank you.
10 DON SUN: The next is Robert Neff, followed by
11 the R.S. Field (sic).
12 ROBERT NEFF: Thank you. I actually live in Palo
13 Alto, but I bicycle on Tantau twice a day, and so that is
14 my issue.
15 The EIR states there are continuous bicycle lanes
16 planned on Tantau, and that is just not true. Maybe they
17 didn't dot every "i." But if you look closely at the EIR,
18 the roadway, when it goes over Calabazas Creek, is only
19 wide enough for five traffic lanes, and the bike lane is
20 shunted onto the sidewalk at that point, and it's shared
21 between -- well, it's the sidewalk, and it's a shared
22 bicycle and sidewalk space; it's no longer a bike lane.
23 And this is really a downgrade on the bike lane
24 on Tantau, and it's also going to be a much less pleasant
25 bike lane with five lanes of traffic next to it.
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1 So, I would like some recognition of that in the
2 EIR. I was disappointed that the EIR states "continuous
3 bike lanes," and it's not true. And I would also like
4 consideration of widening the bridge at Calabazas or some
5 mitigation so the bike lanes would be continuous on
6 Tantau.
7 Thank you.
8 DON SUN: Thank you. Next is Neil Struthers.
9 NEIL STRUTHERS: Good evening, Commissioner Sun
10 and fellow Planning Commissioners -- or Chairman Sun.
11 Neil Struthers, Executive Officer of the Santa
12 Clara and San Benito County Building Constructions Trades
13 Council. And I addressed to you last night in joint
14 committee, and my comments are not much different than
15 last night.
16 What I hear tonight is concerns about the way --
17 in particular, the way Apple will treat its employees and
18 subcontractors. And I can tell you as an individual who
19 represents an entity -- who represents approximately
20 30,000 construction workers in this county, approximately
21 a third of them will likely work on this project, who will
22 be paid union wages with healthcare, with benefits.
23 That is a very deep concern for Apple. In fact,
24 Apple is one of the only projects in California -- there
25 may be two, but there's at least one, and it's this
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1 project, who applied for and received an AB 900 exemption
2 from the State of California.
3 And to even be able to apply, never mind not
4 withstanding getting the approval, is a very laborious
5 process in which you have to provide a better place than
6 you found; you have to provide a living wage prevailing
7 wage.
8 So, we are very supportive of this project
9 obviously, being from the building trades, and we
10 encourage you to move this forward.
11 There, as I said last night, we've had
12 approximately 10,000 families who rely on construction
13 jobs, underemployed and unemployed for several years in
14 this economy. And this job is not only important, it's
15 critical to put those people back to work and feed those
16 families. And so, it's a very important decision for all
17 of you, for all of us, and we urge you to move this
18 project forward.
19 Thank you.
20 DON SUN: Thank you. The next one is Rachelle
21 Conover.
22 RACHELLE CONOVER: Good evening. My name is
23 Rachelle Conover. I'd like to thank you, everyone here
24 tonight for allowing this forum.
25 I've lived in Sunnyvale off of Lochinvar and
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1 Dunford since 1961, and then again on Marian and Navarro.
2 I love this project. It's a fabulous opportunity
3 for this community. I believe that the facility they've
4 proposed is a massive think tank of innovation.
5 I believe -- and I don't know any of their
6 finances. I've only met two people in this room, and that
7 was last night. I don't know anybody else here, and I
8 haven't been following the project much, but it's just --
9 it's something that -- when HP came in, it was awesome.
10 This is many times more.
11 It's my feeling, and I don't know for sure, but
12 it feels to me like Steve Jobs could have picked anyplace
13 in this planet to put this company.
14 This is a point in history. I think that the
15 fact the building is round, which happens to remind me of
16 the wheel. And this company has created a new way of
17 living for all humanity, and they're worldwide.
18 I don't think there's a problem here that the
19 think tank they have within their company walls couldn't
20 solve. So whatever problems that people feel there might
21 be, give them a little bit of time, and I'm sure they'll
22 solve them. And I would urge everybody here to move this
23 forward. I think it's a fabulous opportunity for so many
24 people.
25 And I haven't heard anybody mention any of the
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1 restaurants for the workers that are going to be needing
2 to be fed. So, there's restaurants and gas stations that
3 will be benefitting as well, just note aside.
4 Thank you very much. I urge to you move forward
5 on it.
6 DON SUN: Thank you. Next is John Zirelli.
7 JOHN ZIRELLI: Good evening. My name is John
8 Zirelli, and I'm the general manager for Recology,
9 Cupertino.
10 As an active member of the Cupertino community,
11 the past president of Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, and
12 current board member, I ask you to approve Apple Campus 2.
13 The City of Cupertino, the residents and the
14 businesses have had several years to study and understand
15 what the Apple Campus 2 means to our community.
16 Apple has provided everyone with the information
17 of all elements in their plan. We are lucky to have a
18 company like Apple wanting to grow their business in
19 Cupertino. The investment in Cupertino is unparalleled.
20 We'll never have another opportunity like the one you have
21 before you tonight.
22 $73 million in public improvements and community
23 benefits. Increasing Apple sales tax from $6.5 million to
24 $10 million on an annual basis.
25 The community expects this project to move
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1 forward and to keep Apple growing in Cupertino.
2 In closing, we move the Apple Campus 2 project
3 forward for approval as proposed.
4 Thank you.
5 DON SUN: Thank you. Next is Dale Pollek.
6 DALE POLLEK: Hi, I'm Dale Pollek from Cupertino
7 now 12-15 years, been in the Bay Area since the early
8 '80s.
9 I'm part of Cupertino Hoops. I'm a member of the
10 church down the street. Our rector can't be here tonight;
11 she's actually at a funeral in Africa due to that Nairobi
12 shooting.
13 Thank you very much for allowing me to speak.
14 I'm basically am very much in support of this; however, I
15 have three concerns that really don't relate to approving
16 this project. I'm in support of approving it, but I'd like
17 to see Apple show some good faith here.
18 THE REPORTER: Sir, sir, I'm sorry.
19 If you could just slow down just a little bit.
20 DALE POLLEK: Oh, yeah. I have a bad habit of
21 that.
22 THE REPORTER: Thank you.
23 DALE POLLEK: So, I'm basically in support of
24 this. My name's Dale. I've been living here a long time.
25 And the three concerns I have are in three
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1 separate categories.
2 The first one is that I was here during Main
3 Street approvals, and there seems to be this battle about
4 office space and stuff. And the Main Street was looking
5 for an anchor store.
6 I love the fact that Apple once put a conference
7 center in, but why did they not consider being that anchor
8 store, and having the world's flagship Apple store right
9 here on Main Street?
10 I remember years ago when they used to have a
11 store on Infinite Loop, and for security reasons they
12 closed it, but people from the world made Cupertino a
13 vacation destination to visit the Apple store at Apple.
14 So, it's a nice demonstration facility or flagship stores,
15 so keep that in that the mind in the future of Main
16 Street.
17 The second thing I have as a concern is maybe
18 after this or as it's being constructed, we could revisit
19 things like housing at Results Way, where Apple currently
20 has some temporary facilities or elsewhere in Cupertino.
21 If we build more housing in Cupertino, that reduces
22 traffic issues too, but we have to build housing too,
23 according to the state and federal laws. We all know
24 that.
25 So, speaking above robe though, we can
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1 immediately ask Apple to educate their employees in that
2 new facility how to really drive a car to and from work
3 and during the day. Aggressive driving is unnecessary.
4 Illegal lane changing or "weaving" as you call it, as
5 you're trying to turn on to Stevens Creek is very
6 dangerous. And maybe -- or just ask the sheriff to patrol
7 that area now, if Apple won't prove that their employees
8 could drive it better.
9 And -- but again, I do support this. I think
10 this is great. I just think these are areas Apple can
11 show immediate -- we're part of the community and want to
12 help the community be a better place.
13 And if you want to donate for a gym, because
14 Cupertino Hoops needs more space. We're turning away
15 hundreds of kids tonight. I appreciate that too, thanks.
16 DON SUN: Thank you. There's no more comment or
17 questions, so we're going to close public hearing. And
18 I'm going to delegate the summary of the public questions
19 to the Vice Chair, Paul Brophy.
20 PAUL BROPHY: Thank you, Chairman Sun.
21 I guess, Jane, you might want to come up here,
22 because I think some of the questions revolve around
23 traffic.
24 The first question was, what analysis was done
25 regarding the impact of the project on Sunnyvale and on
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1 the Birdland neighborhood in particular, and what, if any,
2 investments are being made to reduce any problems that
3 might be arising.
4 JANE BIERSTEDT: When we did our analysis, we
5 looked at how traffic flowed approaching the parking site,
6 and we looked at shortest travel routes.
7 And so, when what were looking at -- we did not
8 find there would be any shorter travel routes through the
9 neighborhoods, and so we did not assign traffic to the
10 neighborhood streets.
11 However, there is a provision in the EIR for
12 money to be paid to Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, so there
13 could be some monitoring of the streets for traffic and
14 for parking intrusion. So, there was a provision for
15 that.
16 PAUL BROPHY: And also, I guess along the traffic
17 line, the question about the bikeway on Tantau -- on
18 Tantau, that part of it is -- well, I guess on the bridge
19 over the creek, is there not a bike path on the bridge?
20 PIU GHOSH: So, the EIR is pretty clear that the
21 -- over the Calabazas Creek there -- as proposed, there
22 would be a shared bike and pedestrian sidewalk, which
23 would be about ten feet wide.
24 PAUL BROPHY: Okay.
25 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Can I ask a question on that?
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1 PAUL BROPHY: Go ahead.
2 ALAN TAKAHASHI: So, at that place of intersect
3 -- at that place where we have conflict, if you will, of
4 pedestrians and cyclists, will there be segmentation for
5 the bicyclists as well as when the bicyclist is coming
6 down a bike lane? Having to go onto a sidewalk is a little
7 bit dangerous, and then there's pedestrians that are
8 right there, and it creates a very stressful situation.
9 PIU GHOSH: So, the final design of that segment
10 of the Creek has not been settled upon, but it is at the
11 same grade, I believe, with just a little separation from
12 the roadway. And the striping and all that will be
13 decided with the final design. And I'm sure Timm Borden
14 can enlighten you more about that.
15 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Okay. I guess I would just ask
16 that maybe that design be vetted through the Bike Path
17 Commission, because they'll -- I mean, it's bikes and
18 pedestrians so that would make sense, right?
19 TIMM BORDEN: No, absolutely. We will do that.
20 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. And I guess the question in
21 terms of as not directly relating to this project tonight,
22 but the last comment, whether or not we should be looking
23 as part of our housing units to be putting housing on some
24 of the older buildings that Apple is using that they might
25 be abandoning when they move to the new campus.
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1 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I think the EIR goes into
2 great detail about housing and housing impacts. And we do
3 conclude that there are less than significant impacts.
4 However, as part of the DA, Apple will be
5 providing twice its mitigation fees for affordable housing
6 projects that the City can put towards affordable
7 housing.
8 PAUL BROPHY: And, Jane, there was the question
9 about the possibility of having staggered starting times
10 at Apple as a way to reduce traffic problems.
11 JANE BIERSTEDT: That's already included in the
12 TDM program, but I believe they already have flexible work
13 hours.
14 PAUL BROPHY: I think the suggestion was that
15 somehow they should be more enforced or mandatory shifts
16 or whatever.
17 JANE BIERSTEDT: There's -- the TDM program and
18 the monitoring for it includes provisions for things like
19 that.
20 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. And then I have a couple of
21 questions here that are probably more suited for Dan, if
22 you don't mind.
23 They had a question regarding the efforts that
24 Apple has made to solicit input from residents in
25 Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
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1 DAN WHISENHUNT: Yeah. I would characterize
2 those as very robust, and I would be surprised if anybody
3 didn't receive or didn't see posted responses to their
4 questions. Most of those I personally supervised, and I
5 think we had a very good process for responding.
6 PAUL BROPHY: And the last question I have here
7 is asking the question about getting an Apple Store in
8 Cupertino?
9 DAN WHISENHUNT: The old Apple Store in
10 Cupertino.
11 First of all, the one that we have on Infinite
12 Loop Campus today is still there. So, that's not closed,
13 it never closed.
14 And then Steve said a couple of years ago, with
15 the right retail environment delivered in Cupertino, we
16 would absolutely consider that.
17 PAUL BROPHY: That's all the questions I have for
18 you.
19 DAN WHISENHUNT: Thank you, Vice Chair.
20 DON SUN: Thank you. I think during the public
21 hearing we heard a lot of community support, but also some
22 of the comments and actually emphasize for the City staff,
23 I need comment for the suggestion in general. For those
24 who are not very supportive the comment, what's the
25 general reaction from cities?
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1 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: We responded to most of the
2 questions -- I would say all of the environmental
3 questions in their response to comments documents. And as
4 Adam said, all the comments we've heard since, and even at
5 this meeting, we believe can be answered -- can be found
6 in those answers.
7 So there aren't any new issues that we believe
8 have been brought up that have not been responded to.
9 On the Apple Store, I believe staff had response
10 as well as Apple. And so, if there are any questions that
11 the Planning Commission might have where they might feel
12 that we have not responded to any comments received, we're
13 be happy to answer those.
14 DON SUN: Any question from the Commissioners?
15 Before we move to the resolution, I want to
16 emphasize this is a way to discuss the two alternatives
17 about the closing the Village Center, and also its the
18 three lines left turn about Apple exit.
19 PAUL BROPHY: Can I just start with the simple
20 one first, and that's 27?
21 It seems to me that since the property owner
22 isn't here to give us definitive judge -- direction as to
23 which he preferred, anything we say tonight is going to be
24 a -- has to be on the tentative side, but short of that, I
25 guess I just think the logical thing would be to go to
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1 staff's preferred choice, which is closing that driveway
2 completely, because that does look a little tricky, given
3 its angle, but I just don't know how we do that. We can
4 vote that, but it doesn't necessarily solve...
5 DON SUN: Thank you.
6 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Sure. I'm -- about the same
7 exit. Yeah, it does seem like it's a decision that does
8 involve more information.
9 My only concern that I already brought up was
10 does it have an impact elsewhere by forcing exit traffic
11 out and incurring a bottleneck in another place? If
12 that's not the case, then I would support closing that.
13 PAUL BROPHY: Do you want to ask -- Jane, do you
14 have any opinion on the Trans 27 issue? Will closing that
15 driveway create problems elsewhere, in your opinion?
16 JANE BIERSTEDT: My impression is that that
17 driveway is not heavily used, and it would not have a
18 problem. But we do not have any kind of analysis to
19 support that.
20 PAUL BROPHY: Okay.
21 DON SUN: Commissioner Gong? About Trans 27, do
22 you have any preference to close or leave it open?
23 MARGARET GONG: I did hear that there was input
24 from the owner, just tangentially.
25 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I believe we've had
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1 preliminary discussions with the owner who indicated that
2 he would support either option. But we can certainly get
3 that for the Council.
4 DON SUN: Yeah, for the Trans 27, it's -- I
5 prefer to close it, but I strongly recommend the City can
6 listen to the owners' opinions that any other alternatives
7 or its any suggestions for the Cupertino Village, because
8 I know there's a lot of people in and out. Although that
9 particular one may not be used for highly, but I think if
10 we don't hear other side of the story, I think it's -- we
11 may potentially leave someone open to the other
12 alternatives.
13 That's my suggestion. So, it's -- I think most
14 people, we are open to vote for the Trans 27?
15 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Do you need a motion?
16 DON SUN: Counsel, do we need a motion for this
17 one?
18 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: I think a strong motion will
19 help, and that will help us determine what the final
20 mitigation measures are.
21 DON SUN: Okay. Anyone going to make a motion?
22 GARY BAUM: What you're doing is providing --
23 Gary Baum, special counsel of the City of Cupertino --
24 you're finding a recommendation to the council, so we can
25 use a formal motion on that -- on both of those, yes.
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1 MARGARET GONG: I move that we recommend to close
2 the driveway as written in 27, per the staff
3 recommendation.
4 DON SUN: Any second?
5 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Second.
6 DON SUN: For yes, please raise your hand.
7 Four, yes. Passed.
8 So, we're going to move to the next Trans 27
9 mitigation about the -- oh, 23, sorry. It's 23. It's
10 about the mitigation of the three lines. It's the --
11 PAUL BROPHY: Yeah, I have a comment on that. I
12 clearly support the alternate -- the Trans 23 alternate,
13 but I'd like some change in the language. And I guess I
14 find regrettable the part about a $500 per car fine.
15 I mean, in the overall scheme of this project,
16 that doesn't even amount to a rounding, I understand that,
17 but the whole -- it's not a mistake that's made by Apple,
18 Corp., it's individual drivers in trying to get home after
19 a long day, some of us do, you know, go into lanes that
20 we're not supposed to. And I don't see, I think by
21 charging the fine, it's sort of like sticking your finger
22 in their eye. And I think it's -- it will have nothing --
23 it will accomplish nothing in terms of resolving this
24 problem.
25 So I would like to suggest that we do 23
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1 alternative, but I'd like to take out the paragraphs here
2 under "responsible party," the paragraph that starts, "In
3 addition, the City shall" or no, excuse me, that's not
4 it. The paragraph that says, "The City shall determine
5 the penalty amount." I'd like to strike that, and under
6 the "mitigation measure" on the second page, the paragraph
7 that says, "A penalty of $500 per violation --" and it
8 goes on from there. I'd like to strike those two as part
9 of the 23 alternate.
10 DON SUN: Thank you.
11 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Yeah. I support the three lanes
12 exit as well, the alternative. The exit time is going to
13 be pretty significant with only two lanes.
14 And when we're looking at the traffic patterns,
15 the p.m. pattern specifically, I was surprised actually
16 there was as much 280 northbound traffic, which would be
17 the far right as you -- of the three lanes. The center
18 lane would then be 280 southbound, which I think is the
19 greatest volume of traffic, and the least would be the far
20 left, which is Wolfe Road southbound.
21 There is somewhat of an imbalance, but those with
22 the two right, left turn lanes being the most significant,
23 but I think that given the magnitude of the project and
24 weighing all the other benefits that -- and Apple's desire
25 to have this configuration, it's a configuration that I
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1 would support.
2 DON SUN: Thank you.
3 Commissioner Gong?
4 MARGARET GONG: I too support the three lane
5 alternative.
6 However, I support the waiver -- or the weaving
7 penalty for the monitoring period. I think it shows great
8 responsibility and respect on Apple's part for the
9 neighborhood, and of the seriousness of the matter to
10 ensure that it actually is complied to.
11 DON SUN: Commissioner Alan, do you have any idea
12 about the modification of a Vice Chair's proposal about a
13 fine?
14 ALAN TAKAHASHI: I guess, of course, first the
15 question is the fine is only for a monitoring period of --
16 what's the -- what is monitoring period?
17 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: The fine is per violation.
18 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Right.
19 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: If it's perceived.
20 ALAN TAKAHASHI: For what?
21 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: We are going to monitor it.
22 We were mainly going to monitor the p.m. -- two hours in
23 the p.m. peak, from what I can understand. And then if
24 you find violations, each violation would be --
25 ALAN TAKAHASHI: So, who's actually doing the
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1 monitoring?
2 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: So, there would be video
3 footage and then there would somebody would be monitoring
4 that over time and identify.
5 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Video, okay. I can go either
6 way on that.
7 DON SUN: It's a fold. I wish protect. I think
8 there's only two closing the Cupertino Village entry and
9 the second is the three lanes left turn.
10 So for -- the today's presentation by the City
11 staff and also by the Apple design team, I personally
12 think is three lane will be the best for the Cupertino and
13 also for the Apple's employees. There's no way you can
14 change the two lane and reduce the traffic, that's my
15 personal understanding by the presentation here.
16 So, it's -- I strongly urge the City to approve
17 the three lanes for that particular Trans 23.
18 And for the fines, I agree with Paul -- Vice
19 Chair Paul Brophy, because for the City it's -- Apple has
20 contribute to the community so much. We don't need this
21 $500 for the City. And this put City in pretty -- it's a
22 not very good position. It's image. And also it's the we
23 need the business, not only small business, but also we're
24 getting the company like Apple. So, I strongly support
25 the three lanes left lane.
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1 Thank you.
2 GARY BAUM: We would like to call on Jane to
3 comment. There's both safety concerns and CEQA concerns
4 here, and as the matter of enforcing, rather than
5 enriching to try -- is the purpose behind the fine is to
6 enforce and to reduce any possible safety concern, but I
7 think professional traffic engineering can explain it
8 better than I can.
9 JANE BIERSTEDT: Well, I think the discussion is
10 kind of talked about the salient points, in that the issue
11 is whether or not there's enough information and meat in
12 this mitigation measure to ensure that there's -- that it
13 will be followed, there will be monitoring and there will
14 be some changes made as a result of that monitoring.
15 So, I would think that the applicant is going to
16 be concerned about the safety of their employees as well.
17 And so, I think their safety concerns would be enough of
18 an incentive for them to do the monitoring and to make any
19 changes that come out of that monitoring. So, I think
20 with that penalty, you would still have -- it would be
21 less than significant.
22 DON SUN: Thank you.
23 MARGARET GONG: So, you're saying it would
24 satisfy CEQA?
25 JANE BIERSTEDT: Yes.
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1 DON SUN: Okay, do we need a motion?
2 PAUL BROPHY: I think two motions, one motion to
3 amend...
4 GARY BAUM: This could be handled as one motion
5 recommending 23 alternative with the amendment to strike
6 the penalty.
7 DON SUN: Yeah. Because I think we can ask the
8 people to make a motion for the alternative.
9 PAUL BROPHY: Okay. I move that we recommend
10 Trans 23 alternative with the paragraphs involving a
11 financial penalty to Apple struck from the document.
12 DON SUN: Any second?
13 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Second.
14 DON SUN: For the people, raise your hand.
15 Four, yes. So, we don't need the second one,
16 right?
17 GARY BAUM: No. No, you don't. You've addressed
18 it, but now you need to go through all of the rest of
19 them.
20 DON SUN: Yeah, I know.
21 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: We can bring up the slides for
22 the rest of the motion.
23 DON SUN: Yeah. Please.
24 ARTI SHRIVASTAVA: Commissioner -- I mean, Chair
25 Sun, we have resolution numbers for you, just to have
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1 someone read that if necessary.
2 DON SUN: So, it's -- the first one is the
3 approval of resolution recommending certification of an
4 EIR, adoption of findings and statement of overriding
5 considerations and adoption of mitigation measurements,
6 and MMRP in substantially similar form to the attached
7 resolution. PC-1.
8 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
9 MARGARET GONG: Second.
10 DON SUN: To vote, raise your hand.
11 Four, yes. Pass.
12 GARY BAUM: That would be Resolution Number 6727.
13 DON SUN: The second one is the approval general
14 plan amendment GPA 2011-02 in substantially similar form
15 to attached resolution, PC-2.
16 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
17 MARGARET GONG: Second.
18 DON SUN: If yes, please raise your hand.
19 Four, yes. Pass.
20 That's the resolution GPS 2011-2. They're
21 approved, right?
22 PIU GHOSH: It's resolution number 6728.
23 DON SUN: All right. Okay. Next one is approve
24 the zoning map amendment Z-2011-03 in substantially
25 similar form to the attached resolution, PC-3.
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1 GARY BAUM: That's Resolution 6729?
2 DON SUN: That's resolution 6729, right?
3 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
4 MARGARET GONG: Second.
5 DON SUN: Support, raise your hand.
6 Four, yes.
7 And for approval of the Vesting Tentative Map,
8 TM-2011-03 in substantially similar form to the attached
9 resolution, PC-4. That's the resolution 2732.
10 GARY BAUM: It would be 6732.
11 DON SUN: 6732, yeah.
12 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
13 MARGARET GONG: Second.
14 DON SUN: To support, raise your hand.
15 Four. Pass.
16 Approval of a development permit DP-2011-04, user
17 permit U-2011-11 architectural and site approval, ASA
18 2011-14 and tree removal permit TR-2011-39 in
19 substantially similar form to the attached resolution,
20 PC-5. Is the resolution 6731, PC2011-04. U2011-11,
21 ASA-2011-14. PR-2011-39.
22 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
23 MARGARET GONG: Second.
24 DON SUN: Supporting, raise your hand.
25 Four, yes.
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1 Approval of the development agreement, file
2 number DA-2011-01, in substantially similar form to the
3 attached resolution, PC-6. That's the resolution 6730
4 DA-2011-01.
5 PAUL BROPHY: I so move.
6 MARGARET GONG: Second.
7 DON SUN: You support, raise your hand. Thank
8 you. It pass.
9 ALAN TAKAHASHI: Can we make closing comments.
10 PAUL BROPHY: Go ahead.
11 ALAN TAKAHASHI: I'll start.
12 From my perspective, this has been a very
13 positive process, and I'd really like to commend staff.
14 This has been a big, big project for the staff in working
15 it through, and obviously all the work that Apple's done
16 to really make sure that the outreach has been significant
17 and very high attention to detail. And just echoing the
18 general public support, the economic support, and just
19 bringing to the City an iconic structure that really will
20 be one of a kind is, I think, a tremendous opportunity.
21 My concerns, and as you can tell by my questions,
22 were really focused on traffic, because I think it is
23 going to be something we're going to have to deal with,
24 and something Apple will be dealing with.
25 My long-term hope though is that just for the
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1 sake of Apple employees, Apple will have a vested interest
2 in making sure that traffic impact is not overwhelming.
3 And that also as written in the EIR, my hope is that any
4 bureaucracy associated with working with Cal Trans and
5 other City agencies can be worked through quickly, and
6 that doesn't delay all the mitigation elements of traffic.
7 I think that's going to be critical to make sure we don't
8 have a significant traffic situation.
9 Let's see, the bicycle elements, I think are
10 outstanding. My only other comment on that is you have
11 Tantau -- there was one cyclist who did comment. You
12 know, Tantau is a very major bicycle thoroughfare, because
13 it does not have an interchange at 280. You can go right
14 over 280 without having to worry about conflicts, as
15 opposed to Wolfe, which is a very scary place to ride a
16 bicycle -- very high-volume traffic, high-speed traffic.
17 And as -- if there are future traffic issues on
18 Wolfe that need to be addressed, I would propose that we
19 look at whether or not it's really safe to try to
20 accommodate bicycles on Wolfe Road, because I bike a lot
21 and I avoid Wolfe Road and I'll take Tantau every single
22 time. And so, if Tantau can be made very, very safe, it's
23 just the route that a sane cyclist would choose. So, I
24 just want to throw that out.
25 The other thing that came out at today's public
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1 comment that didn't dawn on me is -- I think is another
2 positive, is the fact that there will be more retail and
3 commercial space available in the City with this project.
4 That will foster growth in small businesses. And I think
5 that's a tangential effect that I didn't even -- it didn't
6 even dawn on me. So overall, this is an outstanding
7 project, and I'm very proud to be involved in making this
8 happen.
9 Thank you.
10 DON SUN: Commissioner Gong?
11 MARGARET GONG: I too commend the city staff and
12 -- the visible ones, and the support staff that we
13 typically don't get to see in public, and also our
14 consultants. I know you've worked long and hard, and I
15 appreciate your efforts and thought put forth and shared
16 with us.
17 I commend Apple staff as well for showing the
18 respect to the community and the City and the folks that
19 have put in the long hours and the hard work. I encourage
20 you to continue actions to foster the worldwide stature
21 that this project will bring to Cupertino and the
22 surrounding area.
23 So, thank you for your efforts.
24 DON SUN: Vice Chair Paul Brophy?
25 PAUL BROPHY: I think there were so many comments
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1 made yesterday and tonight of reasons why this project is
2 good for Cupertino, that I don't think I want to reiterate
3 them.
4 Maybe one thing. In this weekend's Los Angeles
5 Times there was an article about the hearings upcoming.
6 And a reporter mentioned that when Apple was started, that
7 Steve Jobs initially got a post office box in Palo Alto,
8 even though the company was in Cupertino, because it
9 needed -- it sounded better than someplace nobody had ever
10 heard of.
11 I think it's safe to say that if we have two
12 young students at Homestead High again or Monte Vista or
13 Cupertino or Pembrooke, that they won't feel the need to
14 go up to the Palo Alto post office.
15 The other comment I'd like to make is that we've
16 talked about what the project has meant from Cupertino's
17 perspective. And I think if we can take a minute to look
18 at it from how this might look from Apple, if I can be so
19 presumptuous to speak for them.
20 Normally, Dan's job is to find roofs for the new
21 employees that come in. He's looking for the -- if he's
22 told that we got 1,000 more employees, he looks for the
23 offices that are closest to where the existing people are
24 in a cost-effective, cost-efficient manner.
25 This job is not a cost-effective building in the
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1 traditional sense of real estate. Its cost probably per
2 square foot is -- I've heard estimates anywhere from three
3 to ten times what you would pay for having a developer put
4 up space for two or three million square feet.
5 This money, in effect, is delta, if you will, of
6 the extra money that's spent over what you would pay for a
7 campus, like, say maybe a Cisco campus on MacCarthy
8 Boulevard, where they just crank out one building after
9 another, which is the typical way, is really not so much a
10 real estate investment as it is an all in bet that you're
11 willing -- the company is willing to put billions of
12 dollars into a structure that will not be just a roof over
13 the head of employees, but will provide an environment in
14 which 10, 20, 30 years from now products will be developed
15 that we can't even imagine today. And I think there's a
16 sense of -- I think we should be proud to have a company
17 like that that has that kind of optimism and ambition.
18 And it's also -- it's a multi-billion dollar bet
19 in Cupertino, that Cupertino will be the kind of place
20 that employees would want to live in and work in, and I
21 think we're grateful for all of that.
22 Thank you.
23 DON SUN: So, just make announcement on the
24 tenative City Council date is October 15th. If you have
25 any comment or suggestion, you can go there. But for
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1 today I really appreciate everyone's participation to
2 today' hearing.
3 It's 8:15. It's over three hours. And it's your
4 comment and suggestion. It's a very soulful, intelligent
5 and constructive. And whether you support or oppose the
6 Apple project, Apple still symbol of Cupertino.
7 So, we have seen the presentation made by the
8 Apple staff and the City staff is just great. And it's
9 the most innovative building in the -- I don't know if
10 it's in the world, but there's probably certain it's the
11 very best in the world.
12 And also it's like any product made by Apple.
13 It's at least -- it's another beautiful product to the world.
14 As the Planning Commissioner, I humbly appreciate
15 the opportunity to work with Apple, and the City. And we
16 are just another Cupertino resident here. We just
17 represent all the cities. And to ask some questions
18 that's just make both Apple and Cupertino a better place.
19 Thank you.
20 So, it's the -- we'll move to the next agenda.
21
22
23
24
25
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