Grant Application for Park Still Alive,
BUT Collins Plans to Build High Density Housing on Proposed Park Site.
See the site plan in the City's grant
proposal for State funding.
The hope...
In February 2006, I sent an email Dale Lillard, the Acting Director of
Alameda Recreation and Parks Department asking him about the status of the
grant application to fund the purchase and development of the Estuary Park
site. On February 13th, he replied:
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:19:20 -0800
From: Dale Lillard
To: jwoodard@best.com
Cc: Beth Fritz
Subject: Estuary Park
Joe,
Unfortunately our grant for Estuary Park was not selected for funding in
the current cycle. I did speak with representatives from the State who
expressed support for the project and indicated that the grant application
was well done. There simply were far more applications than funding
available. We will be resubmitting the application for the next round in
May of this year and anticipate hearing the results by the end of the
year.
thanks for your continued interest,
dale
Dale Lillard, Acting Director
Alameda Recreation and Parks
2226 Santa Clara Avenue
Alameda, CA 94501
Ph: (510)747-7570
Creating Community through People, Parks, and Programs!
The threat...
Recently, the architectural firm, Phillip Banta and associates, who work
for Collins asked to speak with members of EPAC to show us a proposal for
housing next to the proposed park site. Collins is the owner of the land
next to the proposed site for Estuary Park where the shabby warehouses
stand on the corner of Oak and Clement. He has now purchased the Fox plot
where the park's parking lot was to be and plans to blanket it all with an
exclusive, high density development named BoatWorks.
On 13 February 2006,
Penny, Dorothy, and Joe met with the Collins' architect, Phillip Banta and
an associate, who showed us their latest concepts about building high
density housing on the Collins' property (from Oak Street, along Clement,
all those really crummy looking warehouses). Collins has purchased the
adjacent plot owned by Fox, which was planned as the access and parking
for Estuary Park. Collins plans to cover this entire piece of land along
the Estuary with housing, a development to be named 'BoatWorks' because it
will include a 50 foot wide green strip along the Estuary, walkway along
the water's edge, and boat slips. The design seats the maximum number of
housing units allowed by Measure A plus a bonus of even more housing
allowed by a State mandate that Mr. Banta referred to but we hadn't heard
about. The plan we saw included narrows streets open at 2 points to the
rest of us, 206 housing units, and total parking for 1.83 cars per unit.
The parking limitation and restricted access mean that rest of us will have
to brave long treks through a narrow green space that is a common front
yard along the walk into the Estuary. Effectively the development is
closed to Alamedans who won't live there. Banta's associate claimed that
the restricted availability to use cars for transport will force the
development of mass transit, perhaps light rail, almost as an automatic
civic response to the need. We expressed strong doubts. Workdays aside,
the development would add more or less 400 vehicles to weekend traffic
around the end of Oak Street, only a few blocks from the new Megaplex with
6 story parking structure the City claims will bring in many from off
island to enjoy the pleasures of 8 screens in a new set of shops 1 block.
Such development doesn't consider the integration of commercial and
residential space, a chronic problem, now made worse by Collins need for
maximized density. Without Measure A, the density would be even worse.
The BoatWorks development has all the characteristics of a gated
community, or at least one where there is no reason for the rest of us to
go, effectively privatizing this last stretch of the Estuary and dealing a
severe blow to the design for Estuary Park, an active park. Banta and his
associate acted surprised that Estuary Park was even a consideration.
Banta even seemed puzzled about the definition of a active park.
In fulfilling Collins' requirement of the maximum number of units, Banta's
design comes into conflict with our open space needs, and the original
promise of Estuary Park in the City's Master Plan that conceived the park
idea.
Banta tried to speak as if the area was already zoned for residential
development, though it isn't. In fact, the zoning of that area remains
Mixed Industrial. The land is extremely polluted and people who live there
will be continuously exposed to life threatening toxins. Banta had no
knowledge of the pollution studies already conducted that said, for
residential purposes, the soil would have to be replaced to a depth of at
least 12 feet. Collins has no intention of spending that kind of money,
Banta told us, but they have a firm that is looking into something
cheaper. He didn't tell us what cheaper would buy.
The BoatWorks design is founded on Collins' greed and inconsideration of
the community he will injure by isolating the Estuary from the public and
by contributing to the disorderly development of the island.
If we resist this type of development by protesting to the Planning
Commission and City Council, we can preserve our hopes for public space
and an orderly environment that we control. We all live in our world.
Collins cannot control that. He will have to consider us if we are to
consider his right to make big bucks from an area he has blighted for
years.
For more information, please contact the Recreation and Parks department at:
1327 Oak Street
Alameda, CA 94501
(510) 747-7529
FAX: (510) 747-7566
TDD: (510) 522-7538
E-Mail: arpd@ci.alameda.ca.us
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