FORTUNE — Before a standing-room only crowd that included several hundred Apple (AAPL) employees, the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve construction of the four-story 2.8-million-square-foot curved-glass headquarters that Steve Jobs described in his initial pitch two years ago as looking “a little like a spaceship has landed.”
The City Council’s decision is final unless a petition for reconsideration is filed within 10 calendar days of the date of the mailing of the decision. A second reading and a pro forma vote is scheduled for Nov. 15. The permits Apple needs to proceed — the Development Permit, Use Permit, Architectural and Site Approval and Tree Removal — are scheduled to go into effect the next day.
According to the Mercury News‘ account of the meeting, much of the discussion was a rehash of environmental and other impacts posed by the project, with the first hour devoted to traffic consultants talking about the “significant but unavoidable” impacts on neighboring roadways. From the Merc‘s report:
“As my mom used to say, ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you,'” longtime resident Carol Baker told the council. “If we don’t honor Apple with this building, they’ll leave. There’s no reason for them to stay here and be loyal to a community that doesn’t support them. But if they left, it would be a disaster for the city.”
See also: Apple’s new ‘spaceship’ campus faces key vote Tuesday.