Top image: Apple Park in Cupertino. Apple’s North San José site is a separate campus. Photo: Nils Huenerfuerst / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
San José’s City Council on Tuesday will consider changes to Apple’s North San José campus plans, including an amendment to its development agreement and a conditional vacation of a stretch of Orchard Parkway, according to the council agenda.
What the city’s notice describes
Per the city’s public review notice, the proposal would:
- vacate about 1.7 acres of Orchard Parkway between Component Drive and Atmel Way, closing it to through traffic, including vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians;
- vacate about 1.3 acres of Atmel Way, about 3 acres of vacated land in total, making those areas available for Apple’s private use; and
- remove 9.7 acres from the development agreement’s footprint for land that would be conveyed to Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which intends to build and operate a substation separate from Apple’s project.
The site covers about 86.7 acres east of the Guadalupe River and west of North First Street. The city’s plan also calls for protected bike lanes within a pedestrian and bicycle easement on Component Drive between Orchard Parkway and North First Street, consistent with its 2025 bike plan.
Where it stands
San José’s Planning Commission voted 8-0, with three members absent, on Oct. 28 to recommend the changes, according to the staff memo. The agenda summary says Apple would contribute $2.5 million toward a bike and pedestrian signal trail crossing. The council documents we reviewed do not include a statement from Apple, a construction timeline, or new building square footage.
The mayor’s memo
Mayor Matt Mahan and two council colleagues filed a Nov. 6 memo recommending that the council accept the staff recommendation. “We are very excited that Apple has invested in developing a campus in North San José,” the memo says. It also asks the city to require Apple to work with the city and VTA on design solutions that preserve “seamless bicycle and pedestrian connectivity,” and to evaluate access to the Guadalupe River Trail from North First Street and Charcot Avenue. The authors expressed concern about routing cyclists onto North First Street for safety and travel-time reasons.
Public comment
Letters in the council file raise concerns about public access for walking and biking, mature trees, and the conditional structure of the vacation. Some suggest guaranteed easements or a sunset date.
What to watch
Whether the council adds conditions on bike and pedestrian access, and how it handles the 9.7-acre carve-out for the substation. The same agenda also covers flood preparedness; see our report on the city’s proposed El Niño emergency declaration.
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