HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 15 2026 - Item 3.2 - Georgine Scott-CodigaPUBLIC COMMENT — AGENDA ITEM 1
To: City Clerk, City of Gilroy, for the record of the June 15, 2026 City Council meeting
Re: Outstanding CEQA Guidelines §15162 Determination — Project AS 20-23 (8050
Camino Arroyo) — Post-Certification Changes to Water and Employment Figures
From: Georgine Scott-Codiga, Americans for Transparency (AFNPT@proton.me)
This comment concerns Agenda Item 1 and a specific, outstanding action item the Council has
already been formally asked to complete, and has not completed.
The Council has been notified three times in writing. On June 4, 2026, Americans for
Transparency wrote to each member of this Council documenting that Permit AS 20-23 — a
438,500 sq. ft., 98-megawatt facility — was approved by a single administrative signature on
July 3, 2025, with no public hearing, no Planning Commission review, and no Council vote. On
June 5, 2026, a formal Supplement was submitted for this Council’s consideration at this very
meeting. Action 6 of that Supplement requested that the Council “issue a written City
determination under CEQA Guidelines Section 15162 addressing whether Amazon’s post-
certification changes to water consumption and employment figures require a subsequent or
supplemental EIR before any Phase 2 application is accepted.”
That determination has not been issued. It remains outstanding tonight.
The factual basis for this determination is on the public record and has grown stronger
since June 5. Amazon’s certified Final EIR — Water Supply Assessment, Appendix O, page
ES-1 — states the project will consume 7,494,550 gallons per year (23 acre-feet) at full buildout:
18 AFY for cooling, 3 AFY for landscaping, and 2 AFY for domestic use, all drawn from potable
supply until a recycled water pipeline is operational. On May 29, 2026, AWS Vice President
Roger Wehner published a guest column in the Gilroy Dispatch stating the project will use
approximately 4 million gallons per year — roughly half the certified figure. At Amazon’s June 3,
2026 open house, company representatives acknowledged on video that the numbers had
changed. On June 9, 2026, I published a response in the Gilroy Dispatch documenting this and
a second discrepancy: the certified Draft EIR, Section 2.5.10, page 23, states operational
employment “may grow to 50 full-time employees,” while Amazon’s statements cite
approximately 90 on-site jobs — an 80% increase over the certified baseline used for the
project’s traffic and Vehicle Miles Traveled analysis.
These are not minor rounding differences. A roughly 50% change in projected water
consumption and an 80% change in the certified employment baseline go directly to the
assumptions underlying the FEIR’s water supply, traffic, and air quality analyses. CEQA
Guidelines §15162 does not give the lead agency discretion to ignore such changes; it requires
the agency to determine — and document — whether they constitute new information triggering
subsequent or supplemental environmental review.
The Council cannot proceed to Item 8.1 without first resolving this. Item 8.1 asks the public
and this Council to approve updated water planning figures for this same facility. The public
cannot meaningfully evaluate those figures while the City’s certified figures, Amazon’s
contradicting public statements, and the underlying technical analysis (the Akel Eng Final
Technical Memo) all remain unreconciled and, in the case of the memo, unproduced.
I am requesting, formally and for the record, that the Council:
1. Acknowledge that Action 6 of the June 5, 2026 Supplement remains outstanding;
2. Direct staff to issue the written §15162 determination requested on June 5, addressing
the discrepancies documented above and in the attached correspondence; and
3. Decline to take final action on Item 8.1 until that determination is issued and made
public.
This Council was on notice on June 5. It is on notice again tonight. Continued non-response will
be documented as part of this organization’s ongoing public interest reporting on Project AS 20-
23.
Respectfully submitted,
Georgine Scott-Codiga
Americans for Transparency
AFNPT@proton.me
Attachments referenced: June 4, 2026 letter; June 5, 2026 Supplement (Action 6); June 9, 2026 Gilroy Dispatch
article, “Guest View: What Amazon didn’t tell you—and what happened when we asked.”