MEASURE DD COMMUNITY COALITION MEETING

February 26, 2007

Lakeside Garden Center

Agenda Committee: N/A

Minutes by Kathy Raymond, Executive Director, Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation

In Attendance:

Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee = 211; Ron Bishop

East Bay Bicycle Coalition – Rick Rickard=

East Bay Regional Parks – John Sutter

Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation – Kathryn Raymond

Friends of the Lake – Ken Pratt

Garden Center, Inc. - Susan Veit

Waterfront Action – Sandy Threlfall

Interested Citizens –John Wilson

From the City of Oakland:

Office of City Administrator – Joel Peter=

Council Member Kernighan’s Office – Jennie Gerard

Council Member Reid’s Office – Pat Mossburg

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M.

Again, no new Agenda Committee was selected at this meeting. Ideas for future mee= tings will be discussed at the meeting and via email and for now Kathy Raymond wi= ll type up the agenda for the next meeting.

PROJECT UPDATES:

The Fire upgrade project around Lakeside Park is going= on, the fire pipeline is in and they now have to restore the lawn/turf areas yet and the paving. It is close to completion.

March 3^rd at 7 am is the Grand Opening of t= he Pergola. An email will be sen= t out to the group list.

The Municipal Boathouse renovation is progressing.

The Bandstand, though not DD, is being looked at for A= DA compatibility. There is a lif= t but it doesn’t always work. The City Attorney is looking into this; the possibility of a ramp is being explored.

The Public Works committee is going to ask the council= to reject the single bid that was received for the 12^th St. Project. They are looking int= o ways for additional funding and other options for the project that may save mone= y. No more formal drawings until Apri= l and Option B drawing is being developed. Nothing new on the tree lawsuit.

There will be an acquisition of a lot on Beaconsfield = Canyon for open space as part of the watershed program.

On March 27^th will ask for award on Alameda= Ave. Trail project.

It was asked if the Park Street Triangle and if it cou= ld be made Tidelands Trust. The Tid= elands Trust apparently need to find another location a= s part of the Port mitigation as 9.7 acres to be lifted from Oak to Ninth need to = be mitigated.

It was mentioned that a San Francisco Ruling on Bike L= anes may apply to Oakland, and

Channel Project, the documents are on the Public Works Website. Option A and Option B around Laney College. They ca= me up with a third option that is a blend of the two previous options. It will have a bigger wetland, sea= ting and a pathway away from the shoreline.&nbs= p; There will be wetlands up to a dual use path on both sides. The tunnels will stay and they wil= l try to fix them up. They would ne= ed to relocate or get rid of a couple of the sculptures from the sculpture gardens that would be currently in the way. The Public Art group is working on this. The ownership of the sculptures is somewhat unknown. John Sutter= noted that there should be a public process around what happens to the sculpture garden and that the designers should take the sculptures into consideration= . Rajappan and Sasaki are the landsc= ape designers. There would be som= e tree removal associated, the bulk would be around the 10^th St. Bridge= and a few by 7^th St. where bypass. One is in the middle of the wetlan= ds. These trees are not part of the current lawsuit,= no permits have been issued yet. The plan was shown in a public meeting last fall and may have been altered slig= htly since then. They may have an = even more slightly updated version than what was shown at this meeting. Looking at 2008 for construction, = it would start with 10^th St. may be roughly same time as 12^{th<=
/sup>
St. project.&nb=
sp;
There is an existing bike path but is is substandard and the route w=
ill
change in the plan to get more wetlands.&n=
bsp;
It was suggested that we should go and take a walk around the area.<=
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It was asked what would happen to pedestrian bridge at= 10^th St. It needs the railings fix= ed up but the City would like the bridge to remain in place. Laney would like the bridge replac= ed, the sports players use the bridge a lot.&n= bsp; The bridge is serviceable but too steep for current ADA requirements= so if it starts getting fixing the bridge it is going to start putting more restrictions. It was suggested to ask Pat Kernighan to set up a walking tou= r.

The Caltrans 880 project could take 6 to 7 years and can’t do any connection until it’s complete. They offered $1 million toward imp= roved access along waterfront but the cost of a proposed bike/pedestrian bridge i= s $8 million and the railroad tracks are a big obstacle.

Embarcadero Bridge, City has funds from the Seismic Re= trofit program, not DD. Been in works for 5 years. = Ty Linn is the Designer. Put into Caltrans for review, it is Federal Highway money that is being used. They’ve been continuing desi= gn, they will replace entirely as it has passed the more than 50% gone mark. Showed 35% design. Widened path from 5 ft to 12 ft. and decorative lighting, following 12^th= St. model. Now in BCDC des= ign review group and they are milling over comments. Bike lanes on bridge will be class= 2 each w= ay, 6 ft. One t= ravel lane each way 12 ft wide. It was commented that the travel lanes should be wider due to increased traffic from Oak to Ninth. Caltrans w= ould probably not pay for that because the money isn’t to improve but replace. Any widening would h= ave to be done on the south side or would have to relocate East Bay MUDD interceptors. It will be high= er than current bridge but BCDC did ask what it would take to make it higher f= or pedestrians. They did propose= the same railings as the gateway markers and BCDC also thought it blocked views. They are currently loo= king at beginning the 880 project in Sept. to make it 1/3 wider.

They plan to begin the Kaiser side first then other. It was asked if bike lanes will be protected. They have staging = plans in the 12^th St. Documents. Also the 7^th St. pumping station stays untouched and bike channel next to it.

It was asked about the Lake if they have investigated = safety issues with opening up channel. Also it was asked if pumps were used back in the 30’s. Joel Peter did not believe there h= ad been pumps back then. It was = just noted that the history should be considered. It was asked what it would take to= begin 12^th St. and not wait. It was noted that they are vying for Federal Money and looking at Pl= an B. If they were to move ahead= they would need to strip money from other DD projects around the lake. Ron Bishop mentioned they should l= ook at reconfiguring Convention Center parking lot.

Markers and Kiosk:&nb= sp; Naomi Schiff was not in attendance so did not review draft statement from coalition. It was not in planning commission yet so have some time. If you have designs you like it would be helpful to note those. The Bicycle lanes signs in Berkeley and in Austin, TX. were= mentioned as good examples.

OAK to NINTH: RFP proposal for terminal building was due Feb. 15^th, 2007. One bonified proposal w= as received and is being evaluated. It was for the use of all 90,000 ft. of original ½ to be used, the majority, for urban winemakers. Industrial use and maybe tasting room eventually. The other lawsuits are over the co= ncern of the adequacy of the environmental documents for both the Terminal lawsuit and CALM’s suit. Also C= ALM raises the issue of the City procedures.&n= bsp; The Referendum suit is moving slowly, many depositions.

Other items: John Sutter mentioned the possibility of an East Bay Regional Parks renewal Bond that originally passed in 1988, measure AA. Being put on ballot in Nov. 2008.

Susan Veit asked about irrigation and if some addition= al irrigation for the gardens could be done with other work. It was noted there was no addition= al irrigation planned. It was no= ted that the City should work harder to look into what other items can be done = at the same time when doing projects so can get maximum bang for buck. It was noted that irrigation could= not be done off of fire lines. It= was suggested they should speak with Martin Matarresse who put together a comprehensive irrigation map. Also should speak with Lyle Oehler, Project Manager.

The next meeting will be held May 21st. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 = p.m.