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BAY FAIR TOD SPECIFIC PLAN <br />Background + Context <br />The City Council and local stakeholders <br />have for over a decade envisioned future <br />possibilities within a quarter to half mile area <br />near the Bay Fair BART Station as a vibrant <br />mixed -use, transit -oriented retail, commercial <br />and residential destination. Developing and <br />implementing a sustainable and vibrant Bay <br />Fair TOD Specific Plan would enable the City to <br />come "full circle" in comprehensively planning <br />and transforming the City's East 14th Street <br />corridor, which began with the East 14th Street <br />South Area Development Strategy (adopted <br />in 2004) and was followed by the Downtown <br />TOD Strategy (adopted in 2007). <br />Another impetus for the City to create the Bay <br />Fair TOD Specific Plan was to meet State (SB <br />375 from 2008) and regional goals towards <br />transit -oriented development areas and <br />greenhouse gas emissions reduction and gain <br />access to future public funding opportunities <br />to make needed area improvements. <br />The regional transportation and land use <br />agencies, Metropolitan Transportation <br />Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay <br />Area Governments (ABAG), had adopted in <br />2013 a sustainable, long-range land use and <br />transportation plan (Plan BayArea)forthe nine <br />county San Francisco Bay Area region focused <br />on higher density, mixed use development <br />areas near major public transit systems (or <br />Priority Development Areas or PDAs). <br />MTC/ABAG previously recognized the <br />Downtown TOD and East 14th Street corridor <br />(excluding the Bay Fair area) as PDAs, but <br />the Bay Fair area does not yet have the PDA <br />designation. Key benefits for PDA areas are <br />CEQA streamlining and access to a variety of <br />federal, State and regional funding sources. <br />The City currently has two planned PDAs: <br />Downtown and East 14th Street (north and <br />south of downtown). The Bay Fair area is <br />currently a potential PDA but will become a <br />planned PDA upon adoption of the Bay Fair <br />TOD Specific Plan. <br />The City issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in <br />Fall 2014 to over 20 qualified planning firms to <br />serve as lead consultant for the Bay Fair TOD <br />Specific Plan and related EIR. Five well regarded <br />and highly qualified firms submitted proposals <br />and the selection committee, consisting <br />of representatives from the City, Alameda <br />County, BART and Madison Marquette, <br />reviewed the submittals, interviewed each <br />firm, and forwarded its recommendation to <br />the City Council. In May 2015, the City Council <br />approved the experienced firm of Raimi + <br />Associates, based in Berkeley, as the lead <br />planning consultant. <br />12 <br />