The new year brings renewed energy and focus on our project, as we move toward completing the entitlements to begin construction of the Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley hospital. The first major step in that process is the completion of the Environmental Impact Report. In December 2008, the Alameda County Planning Commission filed the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), and it is now available for inspection and comment.

As a reminder, the second public hearing on the DEIR is scheduled for tonight, Monday, January 5, 2009, at 6:00 p.m., in the Public Hearing Room of the Alameda County Planning Commission, 224 West Winton Avenue, in Hayward.

Of course, this isn’t the only opportunity to comment. The County can provide you with copies of the DEIR, or you can view them here, and you can send correspondence to the County directly in response to the DEIR. All of these links are provided here for your convenience.

In the meantime, we continue to grow our online network to keep our communities informed about our progress. We are still in the early stages, and we expect to continue to develop our online communities over the next several years through the construction period. Look for us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, FriendFeed and other popular sites, linked from the icons in the right sidebar.

You can also connect to us through your own social media networks. Contact our Social Media Team to let us know the URL (Web address) for your business, neighborhood or other social network where it might be appropriate for us to comment and discuss the new hospital with your online community.

Here’s to a healthy New Year!

Cassandra Phelps Clark
Project Communications Director