Cisco System's 688-Acre Development Proposal Now Up to Voters

SAN JOSE-The City Council here gave Cisco its unanimous approval late last year for a 688-acre development in a developing light industrial area on the south side of the city. Turns out it wasn’t good enough. Environmental groups and others opposed to the project have gathered enough valid signatures — more than 42,000 — to make the approval contingent on a citywide vote that could occur as early as this April or as late as March 2002.

People for Livable and Affordable Neighborhoods, an environmental coalition, oppose Cisco’s plan to transform semi-rural Coyote Valley in South San Jose into a high-tech center. So, too, do the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments and the City of Salinas, which have sued Cisco and the city to stop the project. They contend the project will take away valuable open space and drive up the cost of housing.