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City Manager's Weekly Report for the Week Ending September 7th, 2007

 Mayor and Councilmembers:

 

This is the weekly report for the week ending September 7th, 2007.

 

1.         Meeting Notes

 

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11th, beginning with a Closed Session at 8:30 AM, followed by a Finance Committee meeting at noon, and a reconvening of the City Council for Study Sessions and Agency meetings at 5:30 PM.

 

2.         Update on I-580/Chevron/Point Molate Bay Trail Segment

 

A second meeting of the multi-agency Task Force concerning the proposed bicycle/pedestrian trail between Point Richmond and Point Molate took place last week at Chevron.  Rich Davidson and I attended the meeting, along with representatives from Chevron, ABAG, Caltrans and the State Lands Commission.  The consensus of the group is that ABAG would take the lead in working with the various agencies to develop the route for this trail segment.  A major portion of the discussion centered around establishing criteria for a study on trail alignment and security.   This study would build on the prior work on this project that was completed by Questa Engineering several years ago.  An advisory committee was formed from among the meeting attendees, which will do a site inspection of three of the trail route options established in the 2001 Questa report.   This advisory committee will report back its findings to the larger Task Force so that it can be determined how much more work is needed to prepare a specific trail proposal to the US Coast Guard for a security review.  We will continue to keep you informed.

 

3.         EPA Requests Inspection of Three Local Businesses

 

Last week, two inspectors from the EPA Region 9 Office in San Francisco accompanied Mary Phelps and Steve Friday, two of the City’s industrial pretreatment inspectors, on their inspection of three Richmond businesses:  AC Transit, BARTD and Electroforming.  These businesses were selected by the EPA based on their review of the City’s 2006 Annual Pretreatment Report.  The EPA representatives came away very impressed with the City’s pretreatment program and complemented the inspectors on their enforcement procedures and record keeping.

 

4.         September 5th General Plan Advisory Committee

 

On Wednesday, September 5th, the GPAC met to refine the Education, Economic Development and Public infrastructure elements of the General Plan. While it was acknowledged that the City had a limited ability to make education policy, it was felt that building a partnership with the school district should be a high priority.

 

5.         El Cerrito/Richmond San Pablo Avenue Joint Specific Plan

 

The first public meeting on the joint specific plan for San Pablo Avenue was held on Saturday morning, August 18, from 9:00 AM until 12:30 PM.  The event was attended by over 25 Richmond and El Cerrito residents.  MIG, the project consultant, presented photos and maps showing areas of opportunity for improving the urban streetscape.

 

6.         Additional Input on Forest Green

 

At their most recent meeting, Planning Commissioners heard from over 50 speakers commenting on the re-circulated EIR.  Many of the speakers expressed concerns about future proposals for hillside development.  As part of the General Plan update, further discussion is scheduled to review policies for hillside development proposals.

 

7.         EBMUD’s Schapiro Reservoir Replacement Project

 

The Schapiro Reservoir is a 4-million gallon in-ground reservoir that was built in 1955.  It is located in the County between Capitol Hill and Bonita Road in the East Richmond Heights area.  It stands about three feet above grade, and it is being replaced in order to meet the current seismic and structural standards.  

 

The project is currently going through the CEQA process with the public review period to be completed by the end of September.  Construction on the reservoir is scheduled for the Fall of 2008.  The Engineering Department will be involved in the review and comment process regarding traffic circulation, dust and pavement replacement as Richmond streets must be used in order to access the reservoir.

 

8.         Pinole Point Business Park is For Sale

 

I was advised this week by Hermann Welm, a representative of Pinole Point Business Park, that the 100-acre property is being put up for sale.  He indicated that he felt that this could be a positive development for the City, in that it could bring an active, experienced developer into the City of Richmond that would aggressively move to develop the remainder of the business park.

 

 

 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these or any other items of interest to you.

 

Have a great week!

 

 

Bill Lindsay

City Manager

City of Richmond

1401 Marina Way South

Richmond, CA 94804

 

Phone:  510-620-6512

Fax:      510-620-6542

e-mail:   bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us