We didn’t stay awake, but the City of Piedmont voted “yes” on Blair Park’s sports complex — just before 3:00 am this morning.
The City of Oakland’s concerns were officially communicated and acknowledged, based on a letter from Eric Angstadt, deputy director at CEDA.
Is Blair Park development a foregone conclusion now? Stay tuned until the next meeting, on April 4th.
The draft environmental impact report for the Moraga Canyon Sports Field Project is on Piedmont’s website. Folks have until August 9 to comment on the report. Before the deadline, Piedmont will hold two public hearings on the draft. The huge document is already under some pretty heavy scrutiny by residents who don’t want to see the complex built.
The Canyon in Spring
Sandra Pohutsky, from Friends of Moraga Canyon, wrote in an email to her neighbors that the EIR “finds that the project would have significant impact on traffic and circulation, land use and planning policy, aesthetics and three other areas which cannot be significantly mitigated.”
Pohutsky cites the report in noting that the sports fields would not have enough parking, and a proposed pedestrian bridge spanning Moraga would increase peril to pedestrians rather than make the street safer.
It would also take a toll on the canyon’s natural beauty. Some 55 native coast live oaks would be chopped down. The 100 replacements would be planted somewhere else.
Perhaps the most serious problem raised in the EIR deals with traffic. Cars flooding in and out of the parking lot before and after games “cause significant and unavoidable impact.” The consultants propose stationing police officers on the street during busy times, a suggestion that Pohutsky finds risible.
And that “significant and unavoidable” phrase has a very particular meaning in the arcane language of California’s environmental laws. Piedmont is essentially setting itself up to say, “Yes. We know there’s a problem that can’t be mitigated, but we are going to override these concerns because the public benefits outweigh the problems.” This throws the debate out of a technical realm where data can back up a position and into a squishier zone where opposing sides argue about what’s best for the community.
Pohutsky writes that an idea in the EIR to build a smaller sports complex, which would preserve one-third of Blair Park, would not solve the problems raised above.
Eric Angstadt in Oakland’s Planning Department said that his office is reviewing the technical elements of the EIR and will likely have comments before the deadline.
Here’s what you need to know about commenting on the EIR:
Public Hearings: The City will hold two public hearings on the Draft EIR on July 19, 2010 and August 2, 2010 at the Piedmont City Hall Council Chambers located at 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, California. The public hearings will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Public Review Period: This Notice of Availability of the Draft EIR commences a 45-day public review period starting on Thursday, June 24, 2010. Interested persons are invited to review and comment on the Draft EIR. Written comments (via email or mail) on the Draft EIR must be submitted to:
City of Piedmont
120 Vista Avenue
Piedmont, California 94611
Attention: Ann Swift, City Clerk
aswift@ci.piedmont.ca.us
Written comments on the Draft EIR must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 9, 2010.
For further information, contact Ann Swift, City Clerk, at (510) 420-3040 or by email at aswift@ci.piedmont.ca.us or Mark Delventhal, Recreation Director, at (510) 420-3073 or by email at mdelventhal@ci.piedmont.ca.us.
Blair Park has now raised its profile. Don Perata, in his Oakland mayoral bid, took a public stand against developing this Moraga Canyon road-side park last week, joining fellow candidate Jean Quan in opposing the development. As you may recall, the City of Piedmont owns this parcel and has been going through a lengthy approval process to create a sports complex there.
Friends of Moraga Canyon have been against development of two play fields there and raised many traffic, environmental and overall safety matters with the City of Piedmont. Meanwhile supporters of Blair Park’s development continue advocating for two fields and other amenities in the park.
Last October, concerned citizens attended a Montclair meeting with Council Rep Jean Quan and a staffer from Council Rep Jane Brunner’s office. Wlad Wlassowsky, manager of Oakland’s transportation services division, attended and asked for all concerns. Their next step was to reach Piedmont officials about the EIR (environmental impact review) process.
Fast forward, and Piedmont city officials are about to release the review on June 18th. You may check all public materials posted on Piedmont’s website, to get up to speed. And while you wait, here’s the full letter from candidate Perata.
Did you catch the CBS-5 news last night? Our Blair Park conservation vs. development concerns are no longer hyper-local, as they made the early TV newscasts.
First, the Friends of Moraga Canyon’s Sandra Pohutsky and Peggy Esposito appeared on air. “I agree more soccer fields are needed,” declared Esposito. “It’s a wildlife corridor, so you are destroying a lot to appease the soccer clubs.” The Moraga Avenue traffic problems were discussed as well.
Then Steve Schiller, past president of the Piedmont Soccer Club, explained that 1,200 Piedmont kids play soccer and “there isn’t any other space in Piedmont.” The plans for two soccer fields, snack bar, overhead crosswalk and parking lot were mentioned in the newscasts.
In coming months, there will be environmental and other reviews by the City of Piedmont. Oakland has officially submitted their concerns, with our city bordering the potential project. Of course, sports field development is hardly a fait accompli.
From this TV coverage, we suppose that Bay Area viewers understood the classic conflict and little else. This report merely wrapped up with a “stay tuned,” as Piedmont’s review process plays out.
We knew that Friends of Moraga Canyon had organized a protest against Blair Park development, and decided to check out the scene earlier today. There were between 75 and 100 protesters on the scene, all making their “Save Moraga Canyon” opinions known to passers-by…who pretty much all honked hello.
As a citizen reporter, I decided to stop and sniff around. So many Blair Park neighbors lined up along Moraga Avenue, armed with their signs, kids and dogs. They also stuck around beyond the planned hour-long rally.
Neighbors have different reasons for opposing soccer field development on the site, currently under review by Piedmont City Council. Today many protesters offered up environment risks related to wildlife, earthquakes, watershed, sound and urbanization – but traffic and safety topped the list. We can paraphrase here:
There’s some unease about the months ahead, but Oaklanders and Piedmonters on site today are pretty united about keeping Blair Park intact. We’ll all see what happens in the coming months.
More info: Piedmont City Council is holding a environment review scoping meeting for the Moraga Canyon Sports Fields, next Tuesday, December 8th – in the Piedmont Community Hall, 711 Highland Avenue (map). Click to read the public notice, meeting agenda, environmental review schedule, environmental notice and initial fields study.
Today in Montclair, 94611 