Two weeks ago, San Jose City Council members unanimously shot down the idea of a citywide vote, saying there were problems with a petition circulated by PLAN members. The council claimed that the petition, which had the necessary signatures to force a referendum, was misleading, which violated state election laws and rendered it invalid.
PLAN's lawsuit follows previous legal action taken by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, Santa Cruz County, the Sierra Club and Audubon Society, and the city of Salinas. All have been filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Cisco would not comment on the lawsuits on Thursday afternoon, and San Jose city officials were unavailable by press time. However, the plaintiffs--the city of San Jose, Cisco and developer Divco West--have 30 days to respond.
Known as the Coyote Valley Research Park, the 688-acre, 20,000-worker office park is envisioned as a city unto itself, with 6.6 million sf of office space, onsite fitness and childcare facilities for employees, and even specific roads belonging solely to the campus. Detractors say the campus will throw hazardous wrenches into the semi-rural area, including heavy traffic, deteriorated air quality and a potentially severe housing crunch.
PLAN says it will pull back on its legal challenge if city officials either change their minds and place the referendum on the ballot or make adjustments to a master plan for Coyote Valley, where the planned campus will be built. Those adjustments would open up a greater amount of open space. Cisco says it already plans to set aside nearly half the project's land, or about 359 acres, for open space.
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