Draft Plan Bay Area Slated for Release

Public Invited to Comment Online or at Public Hearings

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will release the Draft Plan Bay Area tomorrow, Friday, March 22, 2013. Nearly three years in the making, Plan Bay Area is an integrated long-range transportation and land-use/housing plan that will support a growing economy, provide more housing and transportation choices, and reduce transportation-related pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effort grew out of the California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (California Senate Bill 375, Steinberg), which requires each of the state’s 18 metropolitan areas – including the Bay Area – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks.

“We’re providing multiple opportunities and methods for Bay Area residents to comment, be it at one of the public hearings or from the convenience of their own home or local library.”

“Plan Bay Area builds upon prior work at the local level and prepares us to be more competitive in the private sector, more efficient in the public sector, and preserves the values that we love about the Bay Area for current and future generations,” noted ABAG President and Napa County Supervisor Mark Luce, who represents ABAG on MTC. “This is a bottoms-up plan that recognizes the diversity of Bay Area communities. Cities and counties identified the best places for growth to preserve the character of existing neighborhoods and protect agricultural lands,” he added. The plan will be updated every four years to reflect new information and emerging priorities.

MTC and ABAG have scheduled public hearings in each of the nine Bay Area counties for comment on Draft Plan Bay Area. Each public hearing will include an open house slated for the same evening to give Bay Area residents an opportunity to view displays and ask questions about the draft plan. Those interested can stay for a public hearing to provide oral comments. For those unable to stay for the public hearing, a comment station will be open throughout the evening. Copies of the draft plan will be available for download at OneBayArea.org, and will be mailed to select public libraries in all nine counties.

Members of the public are also encouraged to view and comment on the draft plan online through Plan Bay Area Town Hall, which invites comments from residents on each chapter of the draft document. Comments will be reviewed by officials from both agencies as they consider the adoption of the final Plan in summer 2013. Comments may also be emailed to [e-mail].

“We want the public to be part of the process but we realize not everyone can attend a meeting to offer comments,” said MTC Chair Amy Worth, who also serves as a member of the Orinda City Council. “We’re providing multiple opportunities and methods for Bay Area residents to comment, be it at one of the public hearings or from the convenience of their own home or local library.”

The full list of public meetings is as follows:

Open House Hours: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Public Hearing Hours: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday, April 8, 2013
--Napa County: Elks Lodge, 2840 Soscol Ave., Napa
--Sonoma County: Friedman Center, 4676 Mayette Ave., Santa Rosa

Thursday, April 11, 2013
--San Francisco County: Whitcomb Hotel, 1231 Market St., San Francisco

Monday, April 22, 2013
--Solano County: County Fairgrounds, McCormack Hall, 900 Fairgrounds Dr., Vallejo
--Contra Costa County: Marriott Hotel, 2355 North Main St., Walnut Creek

Monday, April 29, 2013
--Marin County: Marin Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael
--San Mateo County: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1221 Chess Drive, Foster City

Wednesday, May 1, 2013
--Alameda County: Mirage Ballroom, 4100 Peralta Blvd., Fremont
--Santa Clara County: Hilton Hotel, 300 Almaden Blvd., San Jose

The public hearings also are an opportunity for interested residents to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Plan Bay Area, which is slated for release on Friday, March 29, 2013, along with the Draft 2013 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for Plan Bay Area and the TIP. Three additional public hearings are slated specifically to hear comments on the draft EIR:

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
--10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Embassy Suites Hotel, Novato/Larkspur Room, 101 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael
--7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter Auditorium, 101 8th Street, Oakland

Wednesday, April 17, 2013
--1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Rooms 225/229, 150 E. San Fernando St., San Jose

The public comment period for the various draft documents is as follows:

Document	Release Date	Close of Comments
Draft Plan Bay Area	Friday, March 22, 2013	4 p.m., Thursday, May 16, 2013
Draft EIR	Friday, March 29, 2013	4 p.m., Thursday, May 16, 2013
Draft 2013 TIP	Friday, March 29, 2013	4 p.m., Friday, May 3, 2013
Draft Air Quality Conformity Analysis	Friday, March 29, 2013	4 p.m., Friday, May 3, 2013

MTC and ABAG are slated to adopt Plan Bay Area this summer. For complete details on all public comment opportunities, please visit OneBayArea.org.

ABAG is the council of governments and regional planning agency for the nine counties and 101 cities and towns of the San Francisco Bay region. MTC is the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area’s transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency.