Pixar's 1,300-Job HQ Expansion Hits a Wall by JACK LYNE Photo by Kim Harrington Photography "G ood fences make good neighbors," poet Robert Frost once observed. Tell it to Pixar, Bob:       The red-hot computer-animation company ("Finding Nemo," "Toy Story") may add 1,300 jobs in a US$325-million, 20-year expansion of its San Francisco-metro headquarters in Emeryville. Then again, Pixar may pack up and leave town.       And much of that decision hangs on a wall.       An 8-ft. (2.4-m.) wrought-iron fence surrounds Pixar's 215,000-sq.-ft. (19,350-sq.-m.), 730-employee headquarters. The City Council approved a wall-encircled campus in 1998, when the company first decided to come to Emeryville after outgrowing its space just up the freeway in Richmond.       Nonetheless, Pixar's partition has become a lightning rod in a very public ruckus. And that's underscored some other lines from Frost's famous poem: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall/that wants it down." Real Estate under Fire       Pixar Director of Facilities Tom Carlisle has been at the firestorm's epicenter.       Carlisle probably expected a semi-routine evening at one City Council meeting this summer. After all, city officials had recommended approving the plan, and the council had already OK'd some details. But things fell apart fast that night. It started with City Planning Commissioner Jim Martin, who'd previously submitted a report suggesting that Pixar's physical walls alone should be fence enough. Unexpectedly, Martin reiterated that point.       "We all bought into that you guys need a fence," chimed in council member Richard Kassis. "But for the life of me, I cannot understand why a brick building cannot serve as a secure fence. I find myself constantly defending the fence."       Then, in a totally unanticipated turnaround, the council voted 3-2 to postpone any action. Wall Goes, We Go       That left Pixar dangling, without key approvals that included construction timetables. So Carlisle took the offensive.       "This [fence] is very important to [Pixar CEO] Steve Jobs," Carlisle told the council. "My job is on the line here. We're giving you things you didn't have before."       Pixar had indeed already agreed to move part of the fence back seven and a half feet (2.3 m.), three times farther than in its original expansion design, Carlisle pointed out. And, he added, it was going to install a bike and pedestrian path, a landscaped area, trees, and benches.       The wall, he explained, wasn't simply to keep out standard-issue curiosity-seekers.       "Now that we're a more successful company, people want to get into Pixar," Carlisle said. "We get people who want to steal our intellectual property, our ideas."       Then he dropped a bombshell: "This is really disheartening for Pixar. If the city takes away our fence, we will not stay in Emeryville." 'Tear Down That Wall'       The City Council's delay re-energized anti-expansion activists, including the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy and the Sierra Club. "Mr. Jobs, take down that wall," one Emeryville resident insisted at the next council meeting, evoking a famous Ronald Reagan line.       Activists also renewed demands that night for Pixar to sign a "Community Benefits Agreement." That contract would require job training for low-income residents, local hiring for some expansion construction jobs, and contributions to local child-care and affordable-housing funds.       But Pixar was already a good neighbor, other residents countered. It's the No. 1 donor to both the city's food bank and a foundation supporting local schools, they explained. What's more, Pixar has deposited almost $1 million in the local low-income housing fund. 'Ultimatum' OK'd, but Referendum Awaits       Finally, after accepting what Kassis deemed an "ultimatum," the council voted 5-0 to approve the expansion plan. Pixar and its fence, it seemed, were staying in Emeryville.       But not necessarily. After opponents collected enough signatures to require a referendum to approve the expansion, the issue is now headed for resolution "California style" -- via ballot box -- with the vote slated for Nov. 2. Pixar initially planned to begin its expansion before the end of 2005.       In a July 2004 interview, Peter Laanen, CEO of Expression College for Digital Arts and chairman of the Emeryville Chamber, told Site Selection, "As a Chamber we fully support Pixar. The people living in Emeryville should be fully aware of what Pixar and the Chamber members are doing for Emeryville in terms of schools, library, the needy and elderly and so on. Without that support, the school district probably would have been closed already." Even before the dispute arose, the Chamber was forming a PAC to offer further support to its members.       Asked for comment in late July, a company spokesperson refrained. But at an earlier council meeting, Carlisle addressed demands for contractual community benefits.       "Pixar is very involved in the community," he said. "We do it because we like doing it, not because someone is telling us."

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