News Review
News From The City Administrator
Invitation to Residents: Help Create A Vision For Albany's Waterfront
October 2, 2008
Dear Albany Community:
It is not often that I ask you to take a few minutes from your busy schedule to consider a particular public policy issue, but this one is critical to our city in many ways. You may have read or heard that the City of Albany is embarking on a process to consider the future of the waterfront. I am writing to share with you my enthusiasm for the unique potential of this process, and the importance of your role in it as a member of this community.
Albany is exceptionally fortunate to have within its boundaries a large waterfront with spectacular views of San Francisco, the Bay, and the Golden Gate. Some of the Albany shoreline area is part of Eastshore State Park, and some is owned by the City of Albany – notably the extension into the bay called the “Bulb.” Golden Gate Fields Race Track sits on privately owned land.
Albany’s history is peppered with attempts to consider possibilities for its waterfront. These efforts have had one thing in common: they have been driven by either public or private initiatives to which the City and community have reacted. This process is different. It has been initiated by the City to ensure that Albany residents have the opportunity to plan separate and apart from any particular agenda.
To produce a planning process designed specifically for the Albany waterfront, the Waterfront Committee reached out to 26 firms with experience in strategic planning, community engagement, public policy, and community participation. In meetings televised on Albany’s KALB Channel 33, the full Committee interviewed three finalists and recommended Fern Tiger Associates (FTA), www.ferntiger.com, as the firm best qualified to design, guide, and implement a process that would result in a community vision. By hiring this well-regarded East Bay firm -- with experience working with diverse communities on complex public policy and planning issues -- we expect to have one of the most engaging, exciting, and productive processes ever undertaken in this city.
In April, upon approval by the City Council, Fern Tiger and her team began pouring over 30 years of accumulated data related to the waterfront. This first phase has also included a series of approximately 75 one-on-one, in-person interviews with a diverse cross section of residents, public officials, city staff, business owners, and others with unique insight into our community --to help FTA determine what process would work best for Albany. I have heard from several people who were interviewed, and they were unanimous that the interviews were thoughtful, unbiased, and showed interest in us as a community well beyond the specifics of the waterfront.
In October, FTA will report at a City Council meeting on the progress of their work to date and on their concepts for a broad-based community engagement process. It is in this engagement process where you, as a member of the Albany community, will have an important role to help shape Albany’s future. The goal is to involve hundreds of, and perhaps more than a thousand, residents in a series of participatory, thought provoking, information-laden, and results-oriented sessions.
It is very important that we inform ourselves and develop our own vision for the shoreline. Since the passage of Measure C in 1990, all zoning changes on the waterfront need to be approved by a majority vote of Albany residents. What happens on the waterfront is in the hands of each of us.
The community engagement will begin in the first part of 2009, after outreach and public education. FTA is scheduled to complete its work to create a guiding vision for the waterfront by November 2009. This vision will be grounded in current environmental and financial data; include a range of realistic options for the site; and provide a complete documentation of the process -- so that in the future, residents of Albany can understand and build on the work we collectively do during this time.
Over the coming months, as you begin to hear more about the land that comprises the Albany waterfront, the facts and issues that will impact decision making, and the ways that you can participate in planning its future, I hope that you will share my excitement and pride in knowing that Albany has undertaken this effort to shape a community vision. I invite you to become involved in this process over the next year as you have the chance to learn, engage with others, and create a vision for the Albany waterfront.
Sincerely,
Beth Pollard
City Administrator
P.S. The Albany-El Cerrito-Kensington Journal recently published my guest editorial (www.contracostatimes.com/thejournal - “Opportunity Knocks at Albany’s Shoreline”), which I hope provides additional insight into the waterfront planning process. As this process becomes more defined, the City website (www.albanyca.org) will provide a link to ongoing information to keep you apprised of the progress of this effort.