2A Work Session 2012 0709 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft 07/02/2012 document, resulting in more than 1,000 individual comments. At this time the City was asked to provide a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the project. In the fall of 2009 a series of public meetings were held in San Leandro to determine public support and to receive comments on BRT. In May of 2010, San Leandro by Council Resolution NO. 2010 -054 forwarded its LPA to AC Transit. San Leandro identified an alternative that has BRT terminating at the Downtown San Leandro BART Station with dedicated bus lanes from the north City Limit to Georgia Way with local service provided by traditional or express bus service from the Downtown San Leandro BART Station to the Bay Fair BART Station. The City also requested that AC Transit evaluate extending BRT to the Bay Fair BART station in Final EIS /EIR so that the impact would be known for the entire project. The AC Transit Board of Directors gave consideration to the recommendations of each city and selected an LPA on June 23, 2010. It was at this time that AC Transit Board indicated an additional alternative for study. Based upon funding, community acceptance and BRT operational issues a project eliminating improvements in north Oakland and Berkeley titled the Downtown Oakland -San Leandro Alternative (DOSL) was recommended for study. The DOSL follows the same alignment as the proposed project from downtown Oakland to San Leandro BART and has the same features as the proposed project in this portion of the alignment. This lower cost alternative would have fewer environmental effects and lower capital cost, meeting the project's purpose and needs and thus AC Transit adopted the DOSL Alternative as their Locally Preferred Alternative. The FEIS /FEIR included the DOSL Alternative as it would result in less transportation related impacts than the original proposal. From late 2010 through early 2011, AC Transit refined the project based upon input from the participating cities. One of the major changes AC Transit made was a commitment to procure dual -side door buses that can load and unload passengers on both sides of the vehicle. This allows for the use of a single center platform rather than two separate platforms at each median located BRT stop resulting in less displacement of curbside parking which was evident at one such station in San Leandro. AC Transit distributed the FEIS /FEIR on February 3, 2012 with the review period concluding on March 5, 2012. On March 1, 2012 approximately 60 people attended an AC Transit public meeting hosted by the City in the South Office's Conference Room. Feedback from the community meeting was mixed; generally either extremely supportive of the project and it benefits or conversely strongly concerned about impact to vehicle drivers, loss parking and the restriction on turning movements. The City forwarded comments on the FEIS /FEIR pointing out the main concerns of turn restriction and lower quality of service for East 14 Street serving bus line. On April 25, 2012 the AC Transit Board of Directors approved the selection of the DOSL Alternative as the LPA. On May 31, 2012 a subcommittee of the Facilities and Transportation Committee met with AC Transit elected officials in San Leandro to review the project and provide input. AC Transit forwarded alternative plans that eliminated several of the challenges that