SR 05:014A - Laserfiche WebLink

updated. There should be one or two town meetings to receive public input on this document. Subsequent to the town meetings, this document would be reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council, resulting in a "Final General Plan Update Recommendations Report". 4. General Plan and EIR Documents: April - September 2005 Staff will prepare the Draft General Plan Update, incorporating the direction from the Recommendations Report, and the City will hire a consultant to work with staff in writing the EIR. The timing overlap between adoption of the Recommendations Report and this stage represents work that can be accomplished on the Draft EIR and General Plan Update prior to actual identification of all the final recommendations, such as hiring the EIR consultant; writing background information text; preparing maps, tables, and graphics; and writing text on non-controversial topics. 5. Formal Public Review Process: September - December 2005 City commissions and committees will review the Draft General Plan Update document and provide comments at public meetings. This will be followed by the formal public hearings on the Draft General Plan Update and the Draft EIR by the Planning Commission and City Council. In addition, the rezonings needed to implement new High Density Residential land use designations should be approved concurrently with the new General Plan in order to immediately have land available for potential housing proposals, pursuant to the recently approved Housing Element. The above timeline is aggressive and staff understands that some of the issues, especially traffic, are complex. Staff also wishes to ensure, as it has so far in the process, that the public will be involved and will have ample opportunity to provide input. Staff is also planning a series of public information newsletters to educate the community about the process. Staff requests that the Council discuss the proposed schedule and give direction. Hacienda Transit-Oriented Specific Plan Hacienda General Manager James Paxson has previously addressed the Council concerning Hacienda's proposal for a Specific Plan which would create a transit-oriented development within the Business Park in the area around the BART station. Hacienda is collaborating with the East Bay Community Foundation to develop a plan which would "reinvent" the area around the BART station while continuing to support the uses in the rest of the Park. Hacienda sees the plan as one which would strengthen the relationships among transportation, land use, and livability in that portion of the Park in a way that would create a mixed-use, transit- supportive, pedestrian-oriented development that would use "smart growth" principles. SR:05:014 3