Planning Commission opens public review of draft EIR for replacement groundwater well at 800 Carlisle Way

Sunnyvale — The Planning Commission on June 23 opened a public hearing on the draft environmental impact report (EIR) for a Cal Water project to replace a groundwater extraction well and install a roughly 56,000‑gallon, 24‑foot‑tall water storage tank and associated equipment at 800 Carlisle Way.

The draft EIR is focused on noise and vibration, and the consultant hired by the city concluded that drilling for the replacement well would create "significant unavoidable impacts," primarily because drilling activities could occur outside the city’s typical construction hours, project manager Nick Tostopia of David J. Powers and Associates said. The EIR’s analysis and associated appendices also examine air quality, geotechnical, arborist and other technical topics.

Why it matters: Commissioners and nearby residents pressed city staff and the applicant — California Water Service (Cal Water) — on the adequacy of the EIR, asking about nighttime lighting during drilling, disposal of drilling water, soil stability, potential soil or groundwater contamination and generator emissions. A member of the public said health effects were experienced previously near the site and submitted an eight‑page written comment asking the city to address what she described as multiple deficiencies in the draft EIR.

The project and the draft EIR Mary J. Prakash, the city planner assigned to the project, told commissioners the hearing’s purpose was to collect comments on the adequacy of the draft EIR, not to decide on the project itself. "The purpose of this hearing is to collect comments on the adequacy of the draft EIR," Prakash said. Staff said comments will be compiled and responded to in a final EIR,…