If your idea of a hot time is listening to your elected civic leaders knock around the pros and cons of concepts, projects and issues of critical importance to your town then you’re going to be a very happy camper in Lafayette tonight.
In what City Manager Steve Falk tidily labeled a “Wallopalooza” of an agenda, the council entrusted with leading Lafayette into the future will be deciding or debating a number of issues of critical importance to the city and, hopefully, its people.
Some interesting architectural projects (including the recently approved dodecahedron building planned for Lafayette Circle) will also probably earn sidebar attention from the council tonight.
Official agenda items include this list, drawn up by Mr. Falk:
- BART is now putting together a 2016 tax measure. Should it include funds in the plan for improvements, upgrades, or expansions to the Lafayette BART station and parking lots, or just leave it alone? BART Director Gail Murray will be on hand to discuss the matter with Council.
- In a related matter: if Contra Costa County approves another big transportation improvement sales tax like the one that funded the Fourth Bore what projects should be funded with those dollars? A BART extension down 680? A traffic tunnel underneath Lafayette?
- As it turn(s) out, there are more than a thousand mature trees located near PG&E’s high pressure gas pipelines in Lafayette, including dozens in the downtown and hundreds at the Lafayette Reservoir, in Briones Regional Park, and all along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. Tree roots wrapped around the pipe can present real risk to the pipelines and thus to the community, so what should be done with those trees? What’s the best plan for addressing the risk while saving Lafayette’s magnificent trees? Tom Guarino from PG&E will be on hand to describe the utility’s plan.
- Over the last eighteen months there have been dozens of meetings about the proposal for a 44-home subdivision near Acalanes High School that includes a full-sized soccer field and dog park, and on Monday night the Council will decide whether to order documents required to approve the project. Should it do so?
- When the new library was finally completed the City moved all the books over and abandoned the old library on Moraga Boulevard next to Lafayette School. Should the City now sell that property to the School District? The attorneys for the two agencies have prepared a lease / purchase agreement for the two boards to consider, and the Council will see it for the first time on Monday night.
All of this and more! 7PM Monday July 27 at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center.
What’s going in the doda… deca… demi…. that building with all the sides?
I have to say it has been amazing and englightening to watch the Terraces monstrosity make its way through the planning-design-council process. This project has it all- legal bully moves, architectural critique likening it to train wreck architecture, community angst and accusation, a gradual whittling down of the project scope and addition of community pleasing amenities like dog runs and sports fields. If location location location is still the prevailing rule of successful real estate enterprise then I have to say I don’t get this one even in its pared down state but what do I know? Has it finally found favor with its (prospective) neighbors?
Sounds like some trees are going to be coming down soon. With all the power outages we’ve been getting around here lately we wondered when this would be happening.
Terraces update? No. Dan. It certainly has not. Traffic, safety and health issues alone make it non-feasible. Add in more unmanageable crowding in this corridor and the failed implementation of the approved ordinance by the City Counsel to rezone to just a few homes, well, let’s just say the city government here is severely failing its citizens.
Dan Galloway Jul 27, 2015 at 9:59 am
I have to say it has been amazing and englightening to watch the Terraces monstrosity make its way through the planning-design-council process. This project has it all- legal bully moves, architectural critique likening it to train wreck architecture, community angst and accusation, a gradual whittling down of the project scope and addition of community pleasing amenities like dog runs and sports fields. If location location location is still the prevailing rule of successful real estate enterprise then I have to say I don’t get this one even in its pared down state but what do I know? Has it finally found favor with its (prospective) neighbors?
Of course the old library should be sold. The real question is what should the school board do with it. An actual parking lot for Lafayette Elementary would be nice.