The Oakland Planning Department was quite hard on Piedmont’s Draft Environmental Impact Report about plans for a sports complex in Blair Park. This is what Eric Angstadt in Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency wrote in the city’s official response to the EIR: “In summary, the DEIR does not adequately address the impacts of the Moraga Canyon Sports Field Project, including most notably, impacts on the City of Oakland, which is immediately adjacent to the project site.”
The Canyon in Spring
City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Jean Quan also commented: “The DEIR’s conclusion that many of the environmental impacts are “significant and unavoidable” without a more thorough analysis does not do justice to the Project itself, and to the people of Piedmont and Oakland who must live with the consequences should the project proceed without full analysis and mitigation. The DEIR must include a reasonable range of potentially feasible alternatives for all the impacts.”
What comes next? Piedmont has a couple of months to respond to the comments, and in November a final EIR will be produced. During this time (and after), officials from both cities can sit down and try to reach a plan that meets the needs of Oakland and Piedmont. It’s hard to imagine that if Piedmont continues to disregard the concerns of its neighbors, a lawsuit won’t be in the offing.
Friends of Moraga Canyon has a good summary of the anti-Sports Complex position as well as all of the relevant official document relating to the project.
Today in Montclair, 94611 
Is everyone opposed to this? No other opinions?
I’m sorry, who is in favor of this project?
Well, Ken, without thinking to hard, I can think of 2 people that you and I both know that are in favor of this. Given that the City of Piedmont has proposed this, others also must be in favor of it. Or did the City just decided to study a proposal that no one was in favor of? I personally have mixed feelings about this proposal, and admittedly I have not read the ERI.
But my point was more that the only opinions given here are against. And the only links given are to groups opposed to this project.
I can understand the fears of more traffic, walls to retain the fields, etc. In my opinion, traffic on Moraga is already bad – I avoid it on my bike whenever possible. However, I can also understand the shortage of field space for youth sports, whereas there is a total abundance of open space park land in the Oakland hills.
@Andy. A quick read of the draft EIR summary will tell you all you need to know. Given the number of, variety, and serious nature of the “Issues to be Resolved”, any reasonable person would wonder why the City of Piedmont would entertain the idea of conducting an EIR much less actually investing millions in an ill advised project that poses so many negative impacts (see ‘significant and unavoidable’) for the men, women and children of Piedmont as well as your Oakland neighbors. On top of that, this proposal clearly violates Piedmont’s General Plan policies governing the protection of open space, natural terrain, native vegetation and viewsheds. Reasonable alternatives to the Blair Park project have been tabled and should seriously be considered ahead of this folly.