3A Public Hearing 2010 0517 - Laserfiche WebLink

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LPA for AC Transit BRT 5 May 17, 2010 officials and the public. It was also agreed that the Policy Steering Committee should be revived to ensure adequate communication at all levels. Two main concerns discussed at subsequent TAC meetings included financial support in completing the planning process and community input. Each city indicated the need for various levels of support from full time consultants to reimbursement of staff costs. AC Transit worked with the jurisdictions on trying to meet this need. Second, the definition of an "ultimate" community project was seen as a task to identify and define, although it was noted that funds would most likely not be available for improvements beyond what is currently planned. This "ultimate" project could include enhanced landscaping and enhanced bus stop features beyond what is being proposed. All agencies agree that the planning process should continue. San Leandro staff reiterated that earlier outreach attempts were unsuccessful in gaining sufficient public input and that additional meetings are necessary to fully assess the community's wishes. It was also agreed that more City staff time would be necessary for an effective outreach program and if the financial support could be made available, the needed staff support could be provided. After receiving the City's initial response to the DEIS/R in 2007, AC Transit continued its outreach process and presented the revised system to the residents, neighborhood and business organizations adjacent to the proposed route. With input from public meetings in 2007 and 2008, staff worked with AC Transit to incorporate the City's and the public's feedback into a revised BRT proposal for San Leandro. After AC Transit prepared layout details for the revised proposal, a second public outreach program was initiated in late 2009 to inform the public of the changes and gather feedback. The City and AC Transit planned three public meetings at different times in both north and south San Leandro. These public meetings were publicized using mailers sent to nearby property owners and businesses; announcements on the City's and ACTforMe.org website; a-mail outreach to past meeting attendees and Council members; phone outreach to representatives of local homeowner associations (HOAs), businesses and community groups; hand delivery of flyers and signs in Chinese, English and Spanish to community organizations; in-bus advertisements on AC Transit buses; and display ads published in the San Leandro Times and the Daily Review. Significant effort was made to both determine and contact relevant stakeholders to advise them of the community meetings. In addition to three publicly advertised meetings, AC Transit also held two informational briefings with large employers on the corridor and two stakeholder briefings hosted by local business and HOAs. Residents' and stakeholders' feedback noted that improvements had been made along the alignment to address some of the earlier comments related to parking, turn restrictions and pedestrian streetscape features. However, the majority of the remaining concerns dealt largely with the project alignment, remaining changes to parking and circulation along the corridor, the potential for increased congestion and concern that the benefit to transit riders was not worth the trade-off for car drivers.