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Community Corner

Cupertino 'Ready' For Apple's Mother Ship, Mayor Says

Wong expects city to approve state-of-the-art building in fall 2012 and will hire more staff to review large project.

Mayor Gilbert Wong all but assured the public Wednesday that the city of Cupertino will approve a state-of-the-art building on the site of the Hewlett-Packard campus, announced by Apple founder Steve Jobs in a surprise visit at Tuesday night's City Council meeting. 

"The Mother Ship truly has landed here," Wong said at a City Hall press conference, referring both to the nickname Apple employees have for the company's Cupertino headquarters and to the circular "flying saucer" design of the proposed building. "Cupertino is ready for this." 

After being asked if there was any chance the city might reject the plan for Apple's new headquarters, Wong said, "There is no chance we're saying 'no.'" 

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Wong said he expects the planning commission and City Council to approve the building for 12,000 Apple employees when it comes up for review in fall 2012. He said the plans would go through the same environmental reviews of any project before the city.

A little later, after being asked how unprecedented it was to say a project would be approved before plans had been submitted, Wong agreed that "nothing is a sure thing." But it was clear Wong intends to see the project—and all the subsequent business and tax revenue that comes with it—to fruition.

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Because the innovative green building and surrounding campus, bordered by Homestead and Wolfe roads and Interstate 280, is such a large-scale project, the city will hire more planning department employees, he said.

"Apple Computer is our No. 1 sales tax producer, so we're ready to do what it takes, hire more staff people, bring in more folks—not to speed up the process but to accommodate them, to make sure they’re on track on time and have a quality project," Wong said.

He deflected a reporter's question about whether Apple would be given preferential treatment, by saying, "all of our applicants are treated fairly."

Wong emphasized several times the close link between Jobs, who grew up here, and Cupertino. When asked if he was worried Apple might change its mind and move to a neighboring city, Wong said Jobs' "roots are here in Cupertino, and I believe he will stay in Cupertino."

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