UPDATED: Comment (Silently) on the Apple 2 Campus 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Night

Written by L.A. Chung

It landed with a resounding "thud" on the city clerk's counter, not only in Cupertino, but in public libraries from Los Altos to San Jose.

And at 6:30 p.m., you can comment on it. Well, online or in writing. Like children being seen but not heard, the public can listen and watch, but there will be no microphone set up. Instead, there are computers and iPads connected to the online comment form. There are also comment cards that will be logged in.

The draft environmental impact report on the Apple 2 Campus has been out for a few weeks now as part of the 45-day public comment period on the 176-acre proposal, located mostly on the former Hewlett Packard (HP) campus in Cupertino.

Have a concern about traffic, trees, birds, or anything that might affect the community? Now is the time.

It's hard not to, with a proposal this big. It is bounded by I-280 to the south, Wolfe Road to the west, Homestead Road to the north and North Tantau Avenue to the east and includes properties on the east side of North Tantau Avenue. 

The proposal, as described in the report, includes:

• Demolition of approximately 2.65 million square feet of existing office, research and development buildings; construction of an office, research and development building comprising approximately 2.8 million square feet; a 1,000 seat corporate auditorium, a 100,000 square foot corporate fitness center and
• Subsequent development of office, research and development facilities comprising approximately 600,000 square feet located on both sides of Tantau Avenue; and
• Associated parking facilities and utility and ancillary buildings including a central plant, two satellite plants and maintenance and security buildings.

• Closure of Pruneridge Avenue.
• Hazardous waste from demolition of the old Hewlett Packard buildings; residents said they want to make sure there are no "dust clouds" that might expose neighborhoods to toxic particulates, and they want to know how waste will be disposed of.
• Protection of nearby Calabasas Creek.
• Possible relocation of the Glendenning Barn, considered an historical landmark.
• Protection of the large street trees along Wolfe and Homestead roads.
• Noise abatement during construction and once the new campus is in use.
• Balance between the number of jobs, housing availability, and impacts on local schools.

In addition to this public meeting there will additional public hearings  held before the city's Planning Commission and the City Council on both the  environmental impact report and the project itself.

CEQA requires a 45-day public review period of the Draft EIR to allow the public opportunity to provide comments. Responses to all written comments received during the 45-day public review period will be provided in the final environmental impact report. 

If you don't have a computer, or don't like looking at hundreds of pages of documents on a computer, the two-inch-thick report is available in a few ways, mostly at libraries.

•  Sunnyvale Library, 665 W. Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

• Central Park Library, 2635 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, CA 95051 

• Mission Library, 1098 Lexington Street in Santa Clara, CA 95050 

• Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070

• Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94024

• Woodland Library, 1975 Grant Road, Los Altos, CA 94024

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 150 E. San Fernando Street, San Jose, CA 95112

• San Jose Public LibraryWest Valley Branch, 1243 San Tomas Aquino Road, San Jose, CA 95117

• San Jose Public Library Calabazas Branch, 1230 S. Blaney Avenue, San Jose CA 95129

• Via letter to the Office of Community Development, City Hall, 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014-3255. The 
• Via the City of Cupertino's form www.cupertino.org/applecomments.