We received the following question and wanted to share our response with you. The same investigative process can be adapted to other new home building projects in neighboring Bay Area Cities:

We are looking to purchase a home at the new development by Summerhill homes at Las Palmas, and came across your blog when we were searching for environmental issues in new developments in Sunnyvale. Are you aware of any environmental issues with this location and any information that we should we aware of regarding soil/water contamination at this site? There used to be an auto dealership and orchards before that on this site, so we were wondering about any possible contamination. The address is 660 W El Camino Avenue, Sunnyvale, 94087.

Soil, water and environmental issues can investigated a few ways. The first step would be to visit the City of Sunnyvale Planning Department and request to view the files for the Summerhill Las Palmas project. Ask specifically about soils, water and any other required studies that were needed for submission in order to approve this development. Continue reading →