The people of Albany have spoken:
Give us parks and open space on the Albany Waterfront!

By: Patricia Jones, CESP Executive Director

The Albany community has come together for open space and recreation for the Albany Waterfront, envisioning only nominal "green" development for its shoreline.

On April 19, 2010, the Albany City Council unanimously voted to accept the Voices to Vision Report and to treat it as a living planning document that reflects Albany residents' waterfront vision. Mayor Joanne Wile joined the Council in praising the public participants and Fern Tiger & Associates for their hard work and dedication to producing an open, inclusive, comprehensive process and result.

Albany began this intensive two-year process to develop a community vision for the waterfront at the urging of environmentalists, including Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP), the Sierra Club, Golden Gate Audubon Society, Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) and other community leaders.

The community's vision is not far off from the vision promoted for 15 years by environmentalists--85 percent open space with about 15 percent of the land for development including a hotel and some retail, built on the east side of the site at least 700 feet away from the water.

The Voices to Vision process included questionnaires, interviews, and public workshops where everyone in Albany, plus outsiders, got the chance to articulate the waterfront they imagined.

Two sets of hands-on workshops gave participants a shared opportunity to craft their preferred waterfront design. Starting with a plain waterfront model, they added park, open space, housing, retail, hotel, commercial, or racetrack to illustrate their own future waterfront-with an eye to replacing revenue that would be lost if the racetrack were to close.

The Long Awaited Results

According to Fern Tiger, Albany residents overwhelmingly want to maximize open space (at least 75%), while still maintaining the revenue that the city and school district now see from the operations of the racetrack, with minimal development (less than 26%). During this process, community members found they have more in common than differences about the waterfront.

Environmentalists Support

Environmentalists uniformly supported the final Vision report and urged the city council to vote to use it as a guide when considering future development proposals.

CESP President Robert Cheasty supported the report and remarked that potential development plans need to take into account that the Albany Waterfront sits in the middle of the Eastshore State Park and should not obstruct flow from the Park. He also urged preserving Fleming Point in recognition of its historical significance as the last remaining part of the original shoreline in the East Bay.

Norman LaForce, Chair of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, complimented the City for its foresight in creating this process that provides a vision for guiding potential developers to respond to the community's interests.

For Data Junkies

In addition to open space, survey respondents chose these uses as appropriate for the waterfront:

  • Enjoying nature -- 97 percent
  • Expanding or completing the Bay Trail -- 91 percent
  • Waterfront recreation -- 86 percent
  • Exercise and sports -- 74 percent
  • Bike bridge from Buchanan -- 70 percent
  • Pedestrian zones from Buchanan -- 69 percent

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of those surveyed do not think housing is an appropriate use for the shoreline.

Interestingly, survey respondents were split about a hotel on the waterfront--35 percent agreed hotels are appropriate, 37 percent disagreed. But, according to Tiger, 85 percent of total attendees at the workshops placed a hotel--preferably a boutique hotel--on the waterfront. Since there is no hotel in Albany now, a hotel was favored for the small footprint and good revenue.

Tiger pointed out that a boutique hotel (less than three hundred rooms) scored big with the public at the workshops, as did a modest amount of retail (250,000 square feet) with the hotel. She further offered her opinion that the hotel made the most sense on Fleming Point (the west side bluff over the water) both for its views and for its solid underlying rock for construction.

Tiger reported that the community did not favor any retail on Fleming Point. She also stated that residential, office, big box retail and manufacturing were also not favored for the waterfront.

Other results favored: expanded wetlands, boardwalks at wetlands, athletic areas, public restrooms, shuttle service to downtown Albany; LEED-certified building requirements, gray water recovery systems, photovoltaics and/or native plant landscaping on roofs, and consideration of sea level rise. The report states that the built area should "support the primary objective of open space, preservation and outdoor recreation, while enhancing the unique qualities of the waterfront."

What About Horse Racing?

Golden Gate Fields (GGF) still runs horseracing, and according to the track owners will continue to do so for the foreseeable future (the result of GGF's bankruptcy case was that ownership transferred from Magna Entertainment to Magna International Developments). However, most Albany residents are looking forward to a day when the track would be replaced with other uses. Only about 9 percent of the participants favored keeping the racetrack at the Albany waterfront

Dissent From the Pro-Development Faction:

At the City Council meeting on April 19 about ten pro-development speakers opposed the adoption of the Report of the Voices to Vision community visioning process, complaining that it does not allow enough development to entice commercial builders.

For the Political Junkies:

Observing from the audience was staff of Dion Aroner's lobbying and consulting firm, which represents Golden Gate Fields and spearheaded its failed campaign to get approval of a mall development added to the racetrack in the mid-2000's. Former State Senator Aroner's firm helped organize the prodevelopment faction in Albany into a vociferous squad for the track's development proposal.

However, this effort to get the track's shopping mall approved activated community backlash that caused an electoral turnover, reinstating the environmental faction as the majority of the Albany City Council.

When I was elected to Albany City Council in 2006, it was clear that the future of the waterfront required a city-run community outreach process, to be conducted by a professional in a transparent and unbiased manner. I feel that has been accomplished by Fern Tiger Associates. I am pleased that the Voices to Vision Report confirms the community's support for open space and recreation on our waterfront and that the process encouraged collaboration, healing and a shared positive experience. -Marge Atkinson, Albany City Council Member