We, the undersigned residents of Hayward, call on the Hayward City Council to impose binding, independently verified monitoring, public reporting, and real enforcement on the STACK Infrastructure SVY03A Data Center Campus at 26062 Eden Landing Road — and on every other data center already approved or operating in Hayward — while the Council still has the chance to attach these conditions.

An environmental review was conducted — a Mitigated Negative Declaration, prepared by the California Energy Commission because STACK sought a Small Power Plant Exemption, which made the CEC (not the City) the CEQA lead agency. The CEC adopted that MND and granted the exemption in May 2025. A local conservation group, Mission Peak, formally urged the CEC to require a full Environmental Impact Report instead, a request the Commission did not adopt. The 30-day legal window to challenge that decision in court has since closed, and City officials — including Mayor Pro Tem George Syrop — have publicly confirmed that forcing a full EIR at this point would expose Hayward to a lawsuit it would likely lose under California’s vested-rights doctrine (Mercury News).

We are not asking the City to relitigate a fight the law says is over. What the City can still do is attach new, forward-looking monitoring and reporting conditions to a facility already operating here — and on September 15, 2026, the Council is already considering a referral to do exactly that, alongside a ban on future data centers (hayward-ca.gov). This petition asks the Council to make that process binding and enforceable, not just a discretionary promise.

Separately, the Hayward Planning Commission approved this 310,000-square-foot facility in May 2025 without ever bringing it before the elected City Council — a decision made possible only by a zoning loophole the City has since admitted was a mistake by rewriting its own rules to require Council review for any future data center over 50 megawatts. SVY03A itself, at 76.6 megawatts, would never be approved administratively under the City’s own new standard. We believe that same scrutiny should apply to any future expansion, added generator, or capacity increase at this facility.

Our concerns:

1. Water: Industrial-scale cooling and wastewater discharge in a region already facing water stress, with no public accounting of the facility’s draw on local supply — CEC filings show the project may discharge up to 56,800 gallons of wastewater per day.

2. Power grid strain: Electrical capacity equivalent to powering roughly 76,000 homes, drawn by a single private facility.

3. Diesel emissions: 28 backup diesel generators sited near residential neighborhoods and the Eden Landing shoreline/estuary, with real air quality consequences.

4. Noise, heat, and traffic from 24/7 industrial operation in a community setting.

5. Process: Approval granted with minimal public notice and no City Council vote on a project of this scale.

We are asking for:

1. Legally binding, independently verified public reporting of SVY03A’s actual water, wastewater, and energy use — including peak-day figures, not just annual averages — audited by a City-selected third party, not self-reported by STACK.

2. A full City Council hearing and public vote before any future expansion, added generator, or capacity increase at SVY03A, applying the same 50 MW review standard the City now requires for new projects.

3. Real enforcement: a defined, escalating penalty schedule for noncompliance or underreporting, and a public complaint portal for noise, odor, and emissions concerns.

4. The same monitoring, reporting, and enforcement standard applied to every data center already approved or operating in Hayward — not SVY03A alone.

5. Adoption of the ban on new hyperscale data center development in Hayward already proposed in the City’s Sept. 15, 2026 referral.

Thank you for your time. We urge you to use your leadership and commitment to protect Hayward's residential community as well as its ecological and natural heritage.

Sourcing for the claims above:
• CEC Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration, explaining the SPPE process and CEC’s role as CEQA lead agency: efiling.energy.ca.gov, TN 262298
• CEC Order No. 25-0508-11 adopting the Final IS/MND and granting the SPPE, May 8, 2025: energy.ca.gov
• Local conservation group’s comment letter urging the CEC to require a full EIR instead of an MND, March 26, 2025: efiling.energy.ca.gov, TN 262374
• CEQAnet Notice of Determination for SVY03A, posted May 15, 2025 (starts the 30-day CEQA statute of limitations): ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
• Mercury News reporting on Hayward’s zoning rewrite and Mayor Pro Tem George Syrop’s comments on litigation/vested-rights risk: mercurynews.com
• City of Hayward announcement of the Sept. 15, 2026 Council referral to ban future data centers and require monitoring/reporting on existing ones: hayward-ca.gov
• Hayward Planning Commission staff report certifying the IS/MND and approving the site plan/permit, May 22, 2025: hayward.legistar.com
• City of Hayward’s Data Center Development Applications page (confirms 76.6 MW capacity, CEQA review requirement, 50 MW Council-review threshold): hayward-ca.gov