|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
San Francisco Chronicle Accusing
the city of San Jose of illegally approving a massive Cisco Systems research park that will spawn suburban sprawl, pollution and traffic, environmentalists and cities and counties to the south are filing four lawsuits to halt the
proposed 688-acre Coyote Valley complex. Three lawsuits were filed yesterday against San Jose, Cisco and developers of the $1.3 billion campus by the city of Salinas, Santa Cruz County and the Sierra Club, the Santa Clara
Valley Audubon Society and Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund. The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, which includes city and county governments from San Benito to Santa Cruz, said it plans to file a fourth suit today.
Warning that the city-size, 20,000-worker complex would damage habitat for threatened wildlife, bring traffic to a standstill and steamroll agricultural fields for housing in surrounding counties, opponents threatened legal
action when the San Jose City Council approved the project the last month. Critics charged that San Jose officials violated state environmental law by not adequately considering alternatives to the Cisco high-tech park that will
ultimately attract about 150,000 direct and support workers to a historically rural valley. "It's a cynical effort to reap the economic benefits of this huge office development for San Jose, but impose the economic burdens
. . . on other communities to the south," said Stephan Volker, attorney for the Monterey Bay governments association. "That's unfair and it violates the California Environmental Quality Act," he said. It
would be more environmentally friendly to develop the campus near downtown San Jose, close to housing and light rail lines, said Dan Kalb, director of the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta Chapter. But if it goes ahead, critics want Cisco
and San Jose to agree to build housing close to the campus. They also want developers to create a regional affordable housing fund, preserve open space and increase mass transit to the campus. "It's going to tremendously
add to traffic congestion," Kalb said. " All highways will be jam-packed." Increased air pollution and flood control for the development could harm habitat for the threatened red-legged frog, steelhead trout
and the Bay checkerspot butterfly, he added. San Jose officials countered that Coyote Valley has been zoned for an industrial park for nearly 20 years and the city's housing units have long outnumbered its jobs.
"During the review of the Cisco project and the development of the environmental impact report we reached out and met with our neighboring communities to hear their concerns," said David Vossbrink, spokesman for San Jose
Mayor Ron Gonzales. "We're confident that the environmental impact report is complete, thorough and responds to and meets all the requirements of the law." Ironically, Gonzales had been host of a meeting between
elected leaders from Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities at San Jose's Hayes Mansion on Monday night just before the lawsuits began flying. "This meeting was not to head off lawsuits, it was to open a
dialogue," Gonzales said yesterday. He said the neighboring counties plan to meet quarterly to discuss regional problems, such as soaring housing prices and traffic. "We will continue to meet no matter what that region
does," the mayor said, adding: "We strongly believe that our decision on Cisco will be (upheld) by the court system." At Cisco, San Jose's largest employer, spokesman Steve Langdon said, "We are
disappointed that these parties have chosen litigation over collaboration. We have remained willing to work together out of the courts. "But we are also very confident that the city of San Jose will prevail in court and we
fully intend to see this project through to a successful conclusion," he added. But lawyers for southern communities said negotiations with Cisco and the city of San Jose have been fruitless. Salinas City
Attorney Jim Sanchez said his city has asked Cisco and San Jose to consider paying $1 million annually into a regional affordable housing fund for a decade, subsidizing Caltrain commuter rail expansion to Salinas for $1 million
annually and providing high-tech job training opportunities to local high school and college students. "As least as of today, we've seen no signs that they're willing to do that, " said Sanchez, adding that the city
filed suit to meet a 30-day deadline for challenging San Jose approval of the project. Chronicle staff writer Maria Alicia Gaura contributed to this report. |
|
|
|
||||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
