StopGraftonTowers.org

Update: January 22, 2009

Target Date for the Environmental Report

The City of Dublin Planning Department is still working on the release of the supplemental environmental report on Grafton Plaza. An updated target date has not been set yet. The report will list and evaluate any potential environmental concerns. Once the report is released, there will be a 45 day public comment period to include any additional environmental concerns.

If you want to receive hearing notifications about the Grafton Plaza project from the City of Dublin, there is a new contact signup form: Grafton Plaza Contact Form.

The development firm for Grafton Plaza mailed a brochure last week detailing the benefits of Grafton Plaza. A web version can also be seen on their website at GraftonPlaza.com.

Update: August 5, 2008

New City Planning Department Website Section for Grafton Plaza Information

The City of Dublin Planning Department has added a new area on their website to post details about Grafton Plaza. There is also a link on the botom of the page if you would like to be notified of future hearings: Grafton Plaza Development Project (PA 07-006).

Update: May 7, 2008

Developer Sponsored Meetings

The developer is holding two informational meetings on 5/7/8 and 5/20/8. Some invitations were sent out to residents. The May 7th session is already full. The developer also has a new website in case you want to sign up for the next session: GraftonPlaza.com.

Update: April 25, 2008

Environmental Scoping Meeting Recap:

The environmental scoping meeting had a turnout of about two dozen people. An initial study document was handed out which included some revised details on the project showing 6 towers with a maximum height of 150 feet (Sybase is 100 feet tall). While it is good to see the amount of office space shift from 181,000 square feet in the original proposal to 292,000 square feet in the revised proposal, there is still a significant amount of residential in the new proposal that serves to cut into the original campus office zoning plan for approximately 500,000 square feet.

Interesting Note on Density:
An interesting fact that was briefly discussed in the meeting is that while the project is being built on a roughly 12 acre site, it seems it is technically allowed to include the adjacent land of the water quality basin in allowed density calculations because because the Lin family owns that parcel as well. Normally, a 12 acre campus office project in Dublin would be limited to a maximum density of approximately 530,000 square feet. For comparison, Sybase is on a similar sized piece of land and has office space totaling approximately 400,000 square feet.

Per other city planning documents, higher densities are usually only considered when adjacent to a transit center like BART. In this case, Grafton Plaza is over 2 miles away. In short, we will want to be extra mindful about how the density will impact the area.

More details about the meeting:
Since the focus of the meeting was only on the environmental aspects of the project, a checklist of environmental factors was reviewed and discussed. General categories of the environmental factors are dictated by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Unfortunately the environmental checklist is not available online yet. The City Planning Department is working on adding a special project information area on its' website for Grafton Plaza which will include project specific documents. If you want a copy of it to see more of the latest project proposal please contact the City Planning Department.

The project timeline appears to be as follows:

• Environmental Impact Report(EIR) Initial Comments - due by May 12, 2008.

For those that could not make the meeting or needed more time to review the initial study, there is still time to ensure that any environmental concerns are included early in the initial report. So, if you have view, traffic and other concerns please email them to the planning department. There is also the 45 day comment period after the official report is released.

• Environmental Impact Report(EIR) - due in October 2008
• Environmental Impact Report Comment Period - 45 day window following the EIR release.
• Planning Department Meeting and Vote
• City Council Meeting and Vote

Note: there will likely be additional meetings but what is shown above are the main milestones.