Oakland planning update

Uptown

The groundbreaking ceremony for Forest City's Uptown Project, which is down to 665 residential units from a previous target of 1200, finally took place in December.

In June 2004 the Sierra Club Northern Alameda Group held a workshop to advocate for relocating the project's "public" park to a site visible to the public. The plan, however, is still to hide it within the housing on 19th Street, at a site with little pedestrian traffic. At least it is across the street from the School for the Arts, which has no open space of its own. The park will now need to be designed to accommodate active teenagers.

Streetscapes

Oakland is planning for streetscape improvements to make portions of Telegraph Avenue and Broadway more pedestrian-friendly.

Councilmember Jane Brunner held well-attended public workshops last spring for new streetscape along Telegraph between 20th and Claremont. These were workshops in the true sense - participants' ideas were incorporated into the plan.

But no public input was planned for Telegraph between Latham Square (where Telegraph meets Broadway) and 20th (the section that is to be funded from Measure B). After this writer complained, two streetscape "workshops" were held, one last June and one in November, but after the public was shown the plans and allowed to comment, it was made clear that all decisions had already been made, thank you. From Latham Square to 19th Street the plan is to give pedestrians priority with wide sidewalks and only two lanes of traffic. But from 19th to 20th, next to the Forest City project, just where a 32-foot-wide public plaza could create a sense of place, autos are given priority with four lanes.

Temescal Gateway

The Sierra Club has spoken out in support of a proposed mixed-use project for a vacant site (the former Pussycat Theater) and a surface parking lot at 51st and Telegraph. The 67 units of housing and 3,000 square feet of retail are designed to fit its context. The highest point will be a modest tower element at the corner, with scaled-down construction on building portions adjacent to existing single family homes.

Oakland Army Base

The City Council is considering future uses for the decommissioned Oakland Army Base. The West Oakland Economic Development Working Group is advocating for 30 of the 165 acres to be devoted to trucking uses. This would take diesel trucks off West Oakland streets and improve air quality.

The Sierra Club is working in partnership with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to address air pollution caused by the Port of Oakland and diesel trucks idling in the neighborhood.

Oak to Ninth

A Special Planning Commission meeting on Oak to Ninth on Jan. 31 attracted a full house. At this information-only meeting, the commissioners present praised the developers' plans for 3,100 units of housing and completely dismissed the Estuary Policy Plan for public open space that had been incorporated in the General Plan after an extensive public process.

The Final Environmental Impact Report is now available on the city web site.

Final dates for Planning Commission and City Council hearings have not been set.

Joyce Roy