3A Public Hearing 2010 0517 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planni~:g Commission Special Meeting Mi~iutes March 25, 2010 Agenda No. 10-03 Page 6 of 20 Mr. Cooke said that to his understanding, AC Transit will look at several ways of servicing south of the San Leandro BART station, and there are a number of good alternatives. It might be through extensions of lines on either Hesperian Boulevard or East 14th Street, or simply a connector to Bayfair, which already is a major hub. From there, buses would likely go to Chabot College, downtown Hayward and elsewhere. Chair Dlugosh noted that nowhere in the report has the source of additional ridership been identified. Mr. Cooke said that additional readership will come from natural growth as well as planned increased density in the TOD area as well as all along East 14`" Street in Oakland and San Leandro. The South Area Plan also anticipates some higher-density development. The combination of higher gas prices and people seeing abetter-featured service also will serve to attract more riders. Secretary Livermore suggested that additional readership would come via people making mode shift choices -opting for a bus traveling at five-minute intervals rather than driving a car. Chair Dlugosh asked what would attract riders from the west end of town or up in the hills without driving to a node somewhere. Where would they park? Mr. Cooke acknowledged that is a challenge; the system has to be complete and cross-town routes are difficult because densities in some of those areas don't make public transit efficient. He said the new parking garage scheduled for construction downtown is a start in that direction. Chair Dlugosh said 108 parking spaces would be lost if it BRT goes all the way to Bayfair (down from the original projection of 175). Mr. Cooke indicated that some of those are metered parking spaces, where. turnover is natural, and hopefully the transit modes of people parking there will change. He said that parking utilization rates in some of the areas is low, so the impact will be minimal, but in other areas it is high, so people will have to park further out and walk greater distances. He expects the Final EIR to reflect refined numbers, which already have improved over the last couple of years. Tina Spencer, Manager of Long Range Planning for AC Transit, thanked City staff and the Planning Commission for working with AC Transit to really improve public transit and quality of life and transportation that they believe the BRT project would afford. She said AC Transit respects any decision San Leandro makes regarding the project, even a no-build option. The options recommended by the staff, whether terminating at BART at Bayfair or downtown, are both good projects. She also said that AC Transit is aware of the need for east-west service, and east-west circulator service starting March 28. The inclusion of BRT investments in North San Leandro will provide benefits to residents and permit the City to remain a partner with Oakland and Berkeley in the BRT development. It also enables San Leandro's participation in the corridor enhancement program that the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency will be undertaking, which also will help improve streetscape, TOD improvements and access funds for transit investments as well as bicycle and pedestrian investments. Tony Divito, Senior Transportation Planner in AC Transit's Service Planning Department, explained that AC Transit's two new routes in San Leandro will connect east and west sides of the City. He distributed maps that show each of the circulators originating at the downtown San Leandro BART station, and each operating in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. Line 89 will provide students from the west side a direct connection to San Leandro High School, running every 30 minutes in both directions -via Davis Street to the Westgate Mall area and the Marina, through Washington Manor and to Bayfair BART. On weekends, it will go out to the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center on Fairmont Drive; on weekdays, it will proceed from