The report singles out significant problems with traffic and air quality as unavoidable.

The city held an informational meeting on April 10 to discuss the report, which also identifies four additional redevelopment plans as alternatives to the current plan.

As it stands, the current plan calls for several high-rise buildings to be built downtown along Mathilda Avenue.

The city used the Friends of Sunnyvale's suggested plan as the fourth alternative listed in the report. The Friends of Sunnyvale is a local group actively opposing the current downtown plan. The group recently collected enough signatures to put three initiatives on the November 2003 ballot that, if passed by voters, would prevent the city from moving forward with the current downtown design plan.

But all four alternatives to the current plan would also cause significant impacts on traffic and air quality, according to John Wagstaff of Wagstaff and Associates, the company that produced the environmental impact report.

Melinda Hamilton, president of the Friends of Sunnyvale, said the planned downtown plaza is not enough to create a vibrant downtown community. "A little plaza next to a train station and six-story buildings is not ideal," she said. Hamilton said the fourth alternative is ideal because it includes a variety of uses for the buildings—grocery stores, cafes and apartments.

Jerry Keyser, an economics and redevelopment advisor to the city, said the fourth alternative may not be viable because of its building heights. Developers will not redevelop an existing structure unless there is significant change to bring in more profits, he said.

"The cost of redevelopment is expensive. You need a certain density to create a profit," Keyser said. Keyser said that buildings should be more than four stories to bring in developers.

Arthur Schwartz, a Sunnyvale resident for 35 years, expressed concern about the proposed building heights. "The residents who used to look at the sun and the sky now look at the Mozart buildings," Schwartz said.

But Judy Reed, a Sunnyvale business owner and a stakeholder on the committee that came up with the current plan last year, said the plan is necessary to revitalize downtown. Reed said, "We need businesses to generate taxes that will go to our schools."

The city council will make a final decision on the downtown plan, which could include aspects of any of the alternatives, on June 10. A copy of the environmental impact report is available at www.sunnyvaleplanning.com.