City of Cupertino holds meeting over environmental impact of Apple's Campus 2

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple's new Campus 2 headquarters was put under the microscope on Wednesday as the City of Cupertino held a meeting to explain how it was evaluating the site's environmental impact, and asked the public for comments and concerns regarding the massive undertaking.

Campus 2
Artist rendition of Apple's Campus 2. | Source: Apple


Cupertino City's public affairs director Rick Kitson officiated over the meeting, which was streamed live over the Web and included a brief summary of the ongoing Campus 2 environmental impact report (EIR) as it pertains to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Highlighting a number of key points in the over 650-page EIR was Adam Weinstein from LSA Associates, the third party firm contracted by the city to conduct a rigorous and thorough analysis of Apple's project.

Thus far, the comprehensive document includes a wide gamut of possible concerns. From aesthetics, to biological and cultural analysis, to geology, hydrology and hazards, the report is looking at Apple's Campus 2 from almost all angles. Traffic considerations were also discussed, including plans to sell a portion of Pruneridge Avenue, a public thoroughfare running adjacent to the headquarters, to Apple over security concerns.

Of the many slides Weinstein presented, one titled "Development Summary" was of particular interest as it showed existing, proposed and net changes to the site across a few key metrics. According to current analysis, the number of employees the area can support will be bumped from 4,844 to 14,200, a net change of 9,356 people. Occupied building space also jumps from 2.66 million square feet to 3.42 million square feet, while an additional 1,760 parking spaces will be built to accomodate the influx of workers. The final tally reaches 10,980 spaces spread across multiple parking lots.

Despite the increase in employees and useful floor space, Apple has managed to decrease building coverage from 32 acres to a proposed 23 acres thanks to the large circular main building dubbed "the spaceship." As a result of the consolidation, landscaping will move from 43 to 102 acres, while the number of trees will increase to 7,000 trees, 2,494 more than the currently exists on the site.

Kitson said that there are four forums left at which the public can air concerns or comments, two of which are upcoming city council meetings scheduled to take place later this year. Because the EIR is a public process, people affected by the project are urged to participate.

Citizens of Cupertino interested in getting their comments into the report have until 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 22, to file either through the city's website or via mail. A full copy of the EIR, as it stands thus far, can be found here.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    Tim should start looking at alternative sites. I would bet there would be quite a few places in the USA that would fall over backwards to welcome Apple's new HQ.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    Were there protests? I didn't get that from the article
  • Reply 3 of 20
    ifij775ifij775 Posts: 470member
    Someone should photoshop this building as a halo over Steve Jobs' head. That's what it always reminds me of
  • Reply 4 of 20
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    Tim should start looking at alternative sites. I would bet there would be quite a few places in the USA that would fall over backwards to welcome Apple's new HQ.

    Given that they named their next [infinity] OSs after California rebel shit coupled with the "Designed in Cali" ad campaign, I doubt they'd seriously consider a departure. This is typical municipality shake-down.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    Tim should start looking at alternative sites. I would bet there would be quite a few places in the USA that would fall over backwards to welcome Apple's new HQ.


    They aren't going to move HQ out of Silicon Valley.  That would be dumb.  Silicon Valley is where most of the top talent is.

  • Reply 6 of 20
    I also don't get that there is a problem. Te city does this for every major project, I assume. We just don't read about it. I actually read that, traffic aside, Apple is improving the area. Plus, self sustaining, and this is a big win for the City of Cupertino.
  • Reply 7 of 20


    This is yet another attempt of AppleInsider to make issue out of non-issue. Maybe it is about time AppleInsider should either drop Apple from there name or change it to AppleHater!

  • Reply 8 of 20
    ciparisciparis Posts: 87member
    Forget Cupertino; I'm curious to see how this can be applied on a larger scale to replace Oakland with something that doesn't smell so bad.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Tim should start looking at alternative sites.
    Why?
  • Reply 10 of 20
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    radster360 wrote: »
    This is yet another attempt of AppleInsider to make issue out of non-issue.
    What "issue" are they making?
  • Reply 11 of 20
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,832member
    christophb wrote: »
    Given that they named their next [infinity] OSs after California rebel shit coupled with the "Designed in Cali" ad campaign, I doubt they'd seriously consider a departure. This is typical municipality shake-down.
    Yes, but I am sure there are other little cities nearby to move to.

    I don't understand is there a problem"Apple is to green over other companies" but (reworded) they won't do something stupid like having a windmill that shoots out of my phone every time I set it down outside(apples got the tech prabably as a joke) "so I will go for a Sammy cheap solar laptop"

    2 months later"Samsung being sued for not having true solar panel tops" and next week "apple introduced a single panel glass iPhone with screen protectant/solar panel/ capacitive multitouch/pixel of screen/???"

    Some /s in there
  • Reply 12 of 20
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Anyone discussing relocation should just stop farting outloud.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    jessijessi Posts: 302member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drblank View Post


     Silicon Valley is where most of the top talent is.



     


     


     


    Not even close.

  • Reply 14 of 20


    I just want to know one thing...


     


    Looking at the rendition, where the hell is everyone going to park? Is there some sort of teleporter thingy that gets people into the building Star-Trek style, or are you going to have to make a 1/2-mile hike just to get to your office every morning?


     


    (or maybe I'm just not seeing it in the rendition - there's a couple of spots that look like they could be cars parked, but not really...? )

  • Reply 15 of 20
    More worthless busy-work for the overpaid Crapertino city council members.

    Just watch the youtube vid of Steve's original pitch to hear all the clueless questions.

    The ONLY concern is the traffic off ramp off the hwy - and Apple has designed this to be expanded.

    Have you SEEN the old run-down HP campus on that site? The new spaceship is WAY more environmentally conscious.

    Why do our so-called 'representatives' waste so much time and energy over nothing?
  • Reply 16 of 20
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Penguinisto View Post


    I just want to know one thing...


     


    Looking at the rendition, where the hell is everyone going to park? Is there some sort of teleporter thingy that gets people into the building Star-Trek style, or are you going to have to make a 1/2-mile hike just to get to your office every morning?


     


    (or maybe I'm just not seeing it in the rendition - there's a couple of spots that look like they could be cars parked, but not really...? )



    "The final tally reaches 10,980 spaces spread across multiple parking lots."


     


    That's simply an artists sketch, the actual site plans show the details.

  • Reply 17 of 20
    rkevwillrkevwill Posts: 224member
    So when is Samsung going to sue over this building? And is Microsoft giving out concert tickets, to get remonstrators at the meetings?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    rkevwillrkevwill Posts: 224member


    Much of the parking is underground, as stated in past articles.

  • Reply 19 of 20
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    junkdrop1 wrote: »
    Why do our so-called 'representatives' waste so much time and energy over nothing?

    Because we don't care. We don't care about the issues and we don't care enough to make them care.
    rkevwill wrote: »
    Much of the parking is underground, as stated in past articles.

    Underground parking in California; that has always been a great idea to me. :\
  • Reply 20 of 20
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post





    Because we don't care. We don't care about the issues and we don't care enough to make them care.

    Underground parking in California; that has always been a great idea to me. image


    It's also to help them justify their decisions.  It makes them feel good about the final decision.  When it comes to approval of a big commercial building they have to have some research done to see what the impact is on the local area from different perspectives.  It's actually being, or trying to be responsible in the approval process, they just need someone that is going to do a good job in the research and the report as they can be slanted anyway they want.

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