Thomas B. Ruby

Of Counsel

Palo Alto, (650) 813-5857

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Education

University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., 1983)
;
University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D., 1986)

Practices

Land Use

Real Estate

Environmental Regulation

Bar Admissions

California

Thomas Ruby represents residential, commercial, and industrial developers, property owners, and hospitals.

Mr. Ruby is a regional leader on South Bay development issues, with a solid understanding of entitlement processing and local political dynamics. His extensive experience is frequently sought to assist residential, commercial, and industrial developers and public entities in navigating all phases of the land use regulatory process, especially the complex infrastructure, biological, and green building land use controversies common to Silicon Valley development.

He has worked extensively on issues surrounding the development of Coyote Valley in San Jose, and drafted the new zoning code for the City of San Jose. He has represented the developer in the permitting and approval of major residential communities in Stanislaus, Monterey, and Tuolumne Counties and has negotiated several Disposition and Development Agreements with Redevelopment Agencies. Mr. Ruby also assists hospitals in navigating the permitting and CEQA process.

Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Ruby was a Senior Deputy City Attorney for the city of San Jose, CA.

Mr. Ruby received his B.A., cum laude, from UCLA in 1983. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1986, where he elected Order of the Coif and was the editor-in-chief of the International and Comparative Law Review.

Apple Inc.'s New Cupertino Campus

Serving as land use, CEQA, natural resource permitting, and real estate counsel to Apple in connection with new campus in Cupertino, California. (ongoing)

RREEF’s Sunnyvale Town Center Project

Represent RREEF America in securing land use entitlements for the redevelopment of the Sunnyvale Town Center, an outmoded major retail center. We are also involved in negotiations concerning the project’s compliance with green building policies. (ongoing, 2009)

Santa Clara Office Center

Representing Equity Office Properties in the entitlement of a 31-acre corporate campus and retail project in Santa Clara, California. We advise EOP on the implications of climate change legislation on the project, including strategies related to (i) newly drafted guidelines for mitigating greenhouse gas impacts under CEQA, and (ii) compliance with the sustainable communities provisions of SB 375. (ongoing, 2009)

Mixed-Use Transit-Oriented Development Project in Mountain View, California.

Representing Regis Homes of Northern California in connection with the adoption of a Precise Plan and entitlement for a mixed-use transit-oriented development project in Mountain View, California. This 38-acre site will be developed with a maximum of 1,120 residential housing units and 37,000 square feet of commercial uses adjacent to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail transit line and the Whisman Light Rail Station. We are advising Regis Homes on the implications of climate change legislation on the project, including strategies related to (i) newly drafted guidelines for mitigating greenhouse gas impacts under CEQA, (ii) compliance with the sustainable communities provisions of SB 375, and (iii) water supply implications of climate change on projects consisting of more than 500 units. (ongoing, 2009)

Kaiser Foundation Hospital

Serves as special land use counsel to Kaiser Foundation Hospital in the siting of its major hospital and medical office building facilities throughout Northern California and the Central Valley. Since 1994, represented Kaiser on all facets of its entitlements process, CEQA advice, negotiation and development agreement, rezoning and preliminary and final development plan approvals. Land use counsel on more than a dozen medical facilities totaling in excess of 10 million square feet, including major Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Jose, Antioch, Emeryville, San Francisco, Vallejo, Santa Clara, Modesto, Vacaville and Walnut Creek. (ongoing, 2009)