Hello City Council:
I can’t attend this evening’s study session on the Moraga Canyon Specific Plan so am submitting these comments.
I attended the second public workshop on the MCSP. The format worked well for presenting broad concepts for Moraga Canyon but I think lacked details on impacts and cost that you and the community should be aware of at this early stage. I think designs that place all housing and recreation on the northern side of Moraga Avenue (Coaches) and Public Works in the eastern end of Blair Park work best for providing new and better housing and serving the city’s and community’s needs. In addition, I can’t see how mixing housing, recreation and an active public works yard into one area served by shared access makes sense.
Apparently, you will not be making a decision this evening so I suggest you direct staff and the consultants to come back with more details on the following areas:
Parking: I don’t see how the four plans address parking or even estimate what the parking needs are. I dealt with some parking issues while on Council that may be informative. For example, the PG&E building development of 7 units called for 15 on-site parking spaces and 1-2 visitor spots. That parking seems inadequate now that Beach School no longer can sustain adequate parking for school drop off. The Blair Park EIR for the soccer field estimated the number of parking spaces that would be needed for practice, game days and special events. I recommend that you ask the consultant to address how this parking demand will be met by each design. With that in mind, I think a stand-alone Public Works operation in Blair Park could provide overflow game day parking in that staff parking would be available for public use on weekends. This happens intermittently now with the existing Corp Yard but could be better accommodated with a newly designed yard in Blair Park. As could the tree lot and pumpkin patch. The Housing Element EIR claims that parking issues can be resolved by satellite parking and subsidized parking elsewhere but those solutions don’t apply to this site.
Traffic/Congestion: each design should be assessed now for its impact on vehicle speeds and traffic congestion on Moraga Avenue. The programmatic EIR does not address these factors and a EIR for the final design won’t either. The location of housing will be a significant determinant of traffic congestion in the canyon. In my non-professional opinion, cars exiting and entering housing on the northern side of Moraga Avenue (Coaches) will minimize impacts on the prevailing traffic flows of Moraga Avenue during morning and afternoon commutes.
Likewise, if no housing is placed in Blair Park there may be no need for pedestrian access to the location, thereby minimizing the congestion impacts from a pedestrian crossing.
Green House Gas Emissions: Obtain estimates for the effect each design will have on GHG emissions from Moraga Avenue traffic flow. For example, an estimate for the CO2 emission for the Blair Park proposal was conducted by StopWaste at the time. CO2 emissions increase as vehicles go slower so StopWaste compared emissions for slower vehicles in Moraga Canyon resulting from the project to the no-project alternative – continuing the carpools to Alameda. The project had higher CO2 emission than the no-project alternative due to the significant slowing of vehicle speed needed to make the project safe. StopWaste did this at no charge to the City and probably would again. It would require some traffic analysis which I think should be undertaken at this stage anyway.
Finally, from my attendance of the workshop and a scan of comments, most residents want to place all housing on the northern side of Moraga Avenue, mainly to achieve equitable housing for all new residents to this area. And recall that your Housing Advisory Committee came to the same conclusion, possibly for the same reason. This concept probably won’t be discussed tonight but as leaders of our community it is one I think you should take seriously and start engaging on with the community.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Garrett Keating