pages: CityCouncil/2013-09-25.pdf, 17
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CityCouncil | 2013-09-25 | 17 | Councilmember Tam stated the Mayor's statements are consistent with what she and Board Member Knox White are thinking about when discussing broad categories, priority areas, opportunity areas, and land banking; interrelationships should be thought about strategically; the City does not want a hodgepodge; the Town Center having housing above retail has implications for other areas. Mayor Gilmore stated that she does not understand the mechanism being proposed; inquired how the mechanism differs from a staff report. Member Knox White responded the criteria would be a tool for the staff report; suggested the Council have a conversation at another time about, for example, how a project impacts surrounding areas; perhaps a decision will be made that said criteria is bad; no matter what is built, fiscal neutrality is going to be something the Council will care about; fiscal neutrality should be defined so everybody is clear; the same is true for transportation; that he is talking about universal things, not things that are possibly going to change as development proceeds; having a discussion about the core criteria would benefit the Council and community; discussions sometimes get lost in talking about how special a project is; being mindful about the core things the City wants would be good. *** Councilmember Tam left the dais at 11:04 p.m. and returned at 11:07 p.m. Board Member Zuppan stated one challenge is that strategies differ based on financing; the first car over the bridge might have to pay for a big portion of the bridge; the first thing that goes in at Alameda Point might have a number of challenges; LBNL wanted other infrastructure pieces when it was considering Alameda Point; businesses want places for employees to go; the EIR transportation solution includes attracting businesses and housing at the same time; a catalyst is really key and has to solve transportation, financial, infrastructure and amenity issues; amenities and housing are the easiest pieces; figuring out how to solve transportation issues can be done by bringing in a business; the City will not have a problem attracting houses and smaller businesses, but will have trouble funding the government infrastructure; hearing the Council's consensus to have a catalyst in the area around the water is helpful; a catalyst project can solve issues, such as infrastructure, and is like getting the first few pieces in a puzzle, which is why determining what the catalyst looks like is a struggle; the Council and Planning Board can tweak the zoning if it turns out to be totally wrong based on the catalyst project. President Burton stated hearing from the Council about priority zones would be good; housing is limited; about 1,200 units remain after counting units for the Alameda Point Collaborative and Big Whites; perhaps to make the Town Center successful, a determination should be made about the housing units; one determination might be that Joint Meeting Alameda City Council and 17 Planning Board September 25, 2013 | CityCouncil/2013-09-25.pdf |