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Park and Parcel The road leading to Cisco's planned campus could spawn another battle By Mary Spicuzza DURING THE PUSH to build a Cisco campus in Coyote Valley, both Cisco and the City of San Jose have insisted that the 20,000-employee campus is a City of San Jose issue--not regional, not even countywide. The actual campus may be entirely within city boundaries, but ask any county park ranger and they can tell you that if Cisco's developers break ground, the Coyote Creek Park chain will never be the same. That's because one of the main access roads to the Cisco campus, required to connect Bailey Road with area highways, will cut straight across county park land. Ann Draper, Director of County Planning, says, "The Bailey Road extension would need to go through the park chain." Draper doesn't have much to say about slicing and dicing park property, but forwards questions about the deal to the County Parks and Recreation Department. Since the County Council is now negotiating with the city to work out an agreement, department employees aren't saying much either. "We're currently working with the city about how it's going to work, how it impacts the park, and the regional implications," Mark Frederick, planning and development manager for Parks and Recreation, says. "We have not finalized any agreements with the city." According to the original Coyote Valley development plan from 1985, Cisco should be shelling out the cash for any and all access roads. Lucky for Cisco--or perhaps unlucky for city taxpayers--the current development agreement has made traffic mitigation a city issue, and therefore considered a separate project from the massive campus. "The city chants like a mantra that this has been planned for 20 years, but they have amnesia that the developers are supposed to pay for this [road.] The rules were supposed to be explicit," The Audobon Society's Craig Breon says. "This interchange is necessary for the Cisco campus. And no, Cisco isn't paying for it. And it will impose on county parks." [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]