Piedmont’s much belabored efforts and those by other public entities to meet legal obligations to reduce sewage inflow and spills into San Francisco Bay has resulted in a settlement agreement.  

Weeks prior to the settlement, the City Council had considered whether or not to place an additional tax before the voters for approximately $1 million derived from an increased Real Property Transfer Tax. When the Council learned of significant unexpected funds garnered from existing Real Property Transfer Taxes, they decided it was not appropriate to ask voters for more money.

The EPA law suit and overstated sewer costs were used as the impetus to ask Piedmont voters to increase taxes in 2012.

 In February 2012, the City Council asked Piedmont voters to double their already high sewer property tax to gain $11 million to increase the  Sewer Fund.  When citizens calculated the City’s sewer cost numbers and discovered large overstatement of costs through miscalculations and unsubstantiated EPA threats, Piedmont voters rejected the heavily endorsed 2012 Sewer Tax Measure.

Questions remain on the large differential from $11 million to the now $1 million to accomplish the same amount of sewer replacement work.  The city has recently stated costs were miscalculated.

Sewer Fund expenditure records were previously not kept in a manner to verify proper use of the Fund.

The City now states that the current funds generated by the ongoing Sewer Tax will allow rehabilitation to proceed in a timely and cost-effective manner without additional tax revenues.  

There have been no statements by the City on the long term impact of sewer rehabilitation on the sewer tax amount.  Will the sewer tax be reduced once sewer lines are updated and operating properly? 

The consent decree imposes civil penalties on EBMUD and seven communities totaling $1.56 million to be paid to the US EPA and the California Water Quality Control Board (CWQCB). The civil penalties to be paid to the US EPA are identical to the penalties due to CWQCB except that Oakland is penalized $850,000 by US EPA and EBMUD is penalized $170,800 by US EPA and $30,800 by CWQCB.  Piedmont’s penalties are approximately $20,500 to CWQCB and the same amount to US EPA for a total penalty of approximately $41,000. 

The Council’s consideration of the Consent Decree and Piedmont’s Sewer System Management Plan revisions are on the August 4 Council meeting agenda. There are three staff reports related to Piedmont’s sewer system.

http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/govern/staffreports/2014-08-04/consentdecree.pdf

http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/html/govern/staffreports/2014-08-04/ssmp.pdf

8/4/14 – Consideration of a Revised Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) Pursuant to the Consent Decree and the State Sewer Audit of June 26, 2014

The  7:30 p.m. meeting in the Council Chambers will be recorded and broadcast.

– READ MORE BELOW – 

EPA press release of 7/28/2014 follows:

Historic Clean Water Act settlement will prevent millions of gallons of sewage discharges into San Francisco Bay

Seven East Bay communities and municipal utility district to repair systems and pay civil penalties

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a Clean Water Act settlement requiring the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and seven East Bay communities to conduct extensive system repairs aimed at eliminating millions of gallons of sewage discharges into San Francisco Bay. Under today’s agreement, EBMUD and the communities will assess and upgrade their 1,500 mile-long sewer system infrastructure over a 21-year period. 

The work is expected to cost approximately $1.5 billion. The entities will pay civil penalties of $1.5 million for past sewage discharges that violated federal environmental law.

Since 2009, EPA, state and local regulators and environmental groups have worked to reduce sewage discharges from East Bay communities. During that period, interim actions required EBMUD and the East Bay communities to improve their sewer maintenance practices and gather information to identify priorities for investment. 

The San Francisco Bay covers 1,600 square miles and is the largest Pacific estuary in the Americas, a host for millions of migratory birds and a hub of commerce and recreation for more than 7 million Bay Area residents. 

Unfortunately, the Bay is under threat from many sources of pollution, including crumbling wastewater infrastructure that allows sewage to escape from the system. During rainstorms, in particular, older sewer systems can be overwhelmed, releasing rivers of sewage before being fully treated.

In addition to polluting waterways, raw and partially treated sewage can spread disease-causing organisms, metals, and nutrients that threaten public health. Sewage can also deplete oxygen in the bay, threatening fish, seals and other wildlife.

“For many years, the health of San Francisco Bay has been imperiled by ongoing pollution, including enormous discharges of raw and partially treated sewage from communities in the East Bay,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Many of these discharges are the result of aging, deteriorated sewer infrastructure that will be fixed under the EPA order.”

Today’s settlement is the result of a Clean Water Act enforcement action brought by the EPA, U.S. Department of Justice, State Water Resources Control Board, San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board, San Francisco Baykeeper and Our Children’s Earth Foundation.

“This settlement will result in major reductions of sewage discharges into the San Francisco Bay,” said W. Benjamin Fisherow, Chief of Environmental Enforcement in the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “These improvements will help reach our goal of eliminating pollution in the neighborhoods in these cities and in the Bay so that citizens may rest assured that they reside in a safe, clean environment.” 

The seven East Bay communities in the EBMUD settlement are:

City of Alameda
City of Albany
City of Berkeley
City of Emeryville
City of Oakland
City of Piedmont
Stege Sanitary District (serving El Cerrito, Kensington, and a portion of Richmond) 

“The public has been required to repair their own sewer laterals for over two years now, so it is past time that the local agencies aggressively repair their sewer systems,” said Bruce Wolfe, Executive Officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board. “This settlement spells out how the agencies will work with the public over the next 21 years to do just that and protect the Bay.”

“Baykeeper will be watching the progress of these repairs closely to ensure that pollution of San Francisco Bay is reduced and eventually eliminated, and we will take action if the repairs fall short,” said Baykeeper Executive Director Deb Self. 

On an annual basis, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage are discharged directly to San Francisco Bay. Also, as much as 600,000 gallons of raw sewage from community sewer systems is first discharged onto streets and other public areas—through outlets such as manhole covers—before it drains to the Bay.

As part of the agreement, EBMUD and the seven communities will:

repair and rehabilitate old and cracked sewer pipes;
regularly clean and inspect sewer pipes to prevent overflows of raw sewage; 
identify and eliminate illegal sewer connections;
continue to enforce private sewer lateral ordinances; and
ensure proactive renewal of existing sanitary sewer infrastructure.

EBMUD will also immediately begin work to offset the environmental harm caused by the sewage discharges, which are expected to continue until these sewer upgrades are completed, by capturing and treating urban runoff and contaminated water that currently flows to the Bay untreated during dry weather.

Keeping raw sewage and contaminated storm water out of the waters of the United States is one of EPA’s National Enforcement Initiatives.

The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. 

Read the settlement at: http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html

Learn more about the settlement and earlier EPA wastewater enforcement in the East Bay at:http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/npdes/compliance.html#ebmud 

EPA is working to restore San Francisco Bay, learn more at: http://epa.gov/sfbay-delta 

Learn more about EPA’s national wastewater enforcement initiative at: http://go.usa.gov/5pak

Contact Information: Suzanne Skadowski, 415-972-3165 (d) / 415-265-2863 (c), skadowski.suzanne@epa.gov

Excerpts from the decree follow:

“11. No later than 30 Days after the Effective Date of this Consent Decree, each Defendant identified below shall pay to the Water Boards the sum appearing next to its name, as a civil penalty, together with interest accruing from the date on which the Consent Decree is lodged with the Court, at the rate specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1961 as of the date of lodging:

City of Piedmont $20,519 “

Following is Piedmont’s  July 29 press release:

“City and EPA Agree to Consent Decree Regarding Sewer Suit

– Opponents of Sewer Tax Measure Proven Correct – 

While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lawsuit against the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and communities has been the primary argument on behalf of increasing the Sewer Tax, the EPA settled for an agreement to have the sewer repairs in the involved communities replaced over the next 21 years. In addition, the City of Piedmont will pay two $20,519 civil penalties (to federal and state agencies) for historic discharges. Former Council member Garrett Keating explained the decree penalty will likely be offset by future smoke testing and flow monitoring being done by EBMUD rather than Piedmont, saving the city $20,000 each year.

The City has previously hired E2 Consulting Engineers to conduct the tests, which involve blowing harmless smoke into parts of the sanitary sewer system to find damage, improper connections, and where unwanted storm water may be entering the City’s sanitary sewer system.

The consent decree contains a number of future penalties for failure to fulfill its requirements. The comment period is July 31, 2014 to September 2, 2014.  The Council will explore the ramifications of the agreement at the August 4 City Council meeting. 

The sole signer of the opposing ballot argument to the failed February, 2012 Sewer Tax measure was resident Rick Schiller, who provided context to the agreement:

“The $11 million that was needed 3 years ago magically went down to $1  million earlier this year [2014], and then zero when Real Property Transfer Taxes came in higher than expected. Under our current budget, we can complete the mainline sewers by utilizing inexpensive state loans.  In addition, I suspect a high percentage of Piedmonters, are replacing their private sewer laterals at considerable individual household cost. Piedmont remains at the forefront in compliance.”

Schiller also commented on details of the decree:

“1. Piedmont’s Asset Management Implementation Plan (AMIP) put in a year ago is accepted. We knew it would be.

2. Paragraph 96(a) requires a minimum of 1.15% of our system be rehabilitated annually. We are already doing that.

3. We are to categorize needed repairs and Paragraph 100(a)(i) establishes what is high-priority. If repairs are included in that, per Paragraph 100(a)(i) which states P100(a)(i) work counts toward the P96(a) requirements, then we are well ahead. This should be clarified.

4. As I recall, at our current pace without doing three rapid phases utilizing state loans, our system would be finished in about 17 years. The Consent Decree is requiring 21 years. The Council will be going ahead with phasing the rest using the State loans and likely be complete in 12 years.

5. Paragraph 103 makes little sense to me. EPA is requiring a 5 year cleaning schedule of the entire system and this would included the 65% of our mainline that is already replaced? Why?

6. There are Private Sewer Lateral (PSL) mandates for the City at Paragraph 97(a)(b) et al and we voluntarily signed on to that several years ago; we are the “poster child.” We already have those requirements codified.

7. Related to 6 above, would homeowners found to have even a slight offset in their existing PSL be required to repair/replace their entire lateral? Illegal cross-connections should trigger repair, but a single leak in a pipe several feet down contributes virtually nothing to an infiltration of rainwater into the sewer system and realistically a clay PSL triggers total replacement. “

The City has installed 29 bike ranks near major activity centers in the Civic Center, including Piedmont Park tot lot, tennis courts, the Community Hall, Police Station, Veterans Hall, and the Center for the Arts. The project was funded by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and is intended to encourage biking by Piedmonters. (Read the Civic Center Bike Rack  proposal.)

New bike racks at Veterans Hall

New bike rack at side entrance to Center for the Arts

Chosen Bike Rack Design

At a Special City Council meeting on Thursday, July 24, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue, the Council will interview 5 candidates for the position of Recreation Director. Being a personnel matter (Government Code Sec. 54957(b)), the interviews are closed to the public; however, if members of the public would like to speak, there will be a 10 minute period at the beginning of the meeting divided evenly between those wishing to address the council.

The names of the candidates are considered confidential.  The meeting will not be broadcast.

– No environmental studies and little public input – 

With few questions by policy makers on short and long term impacts of housing increases in Piedmont, Piedmont’s Housing Element will likely become known to most homeowners when a neighbor develops an additional housing unit.

The City Council will consider the Housing Element Draft at their meeting on Monday, July 21, City Hall, Council Chambers starting at 7:30 p.m.  The meeting will be broadcast.  Cities are required to adopt Housing Elements to cover the period 2015-2023 by January 31, 2015.

Piedmont’s draft Housing Element is based on adding secondary units (apartments) within existing homes or allowing a second house to be build on properties in the single family residential zone.

Piedmont’s planning staff and consultant have performed no studies per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)  to assess the impacts of increased housing on schools, public services, police, fire, parks, emergency, or recreational facilities.  CEQA is specifically required under State law.  Piedmont intends to approve a “Negative Declaration” for the CEQA requirement without the initial step of actual environmental studies.

Every 8 to 10 years the State comes out with new housing need projections which are divided up throughout the State by region. Some communities have no objection to the housing increases as developers and land owners are eager and ready to develop property. Piedmont has for a century kept inappropriate development at bay due to the City Charter and requirement of voter approval prior to zoning changes.  The result has been a well established, well maintained, viable city.

Piedmont is significantly constrained by the lack of available land and high property values.

The State’s current housing increase round will end on December 31, 2014, yet Piedmont has already exceeded its quota, approving 44 new units when its quota was 40 units. In addition, more applications for new dwelling units have been received by the City this year, so the excess could increase. For the State’s next round of housing increases for 2015 – 2023, Piedmont is required to provide the opportunity for 60 new housing units.

Piedmont has not only complied with the spirit and letter of the law, but has taken significant steps to increase housing units.

Piedmont’s origin was based on keeping Piedmont a single family residential area. This origin is reflected not only in Piedmont’s voter approved City Charter, but in the zoning laws controlling buildings and land use in Piedmont.

The State has preempted cities’ zoning laws by pressing for additional housing in every city. Being landlocked and built-out, is insufficient to relieve a city, such as Piedmont, from the demands of more and more housing particularly very low and low income housing. In an attempt to balance income levels within cities, perhaps for social engineering, Piedmont is being pressed to increase housing for very low and low income units.

Piedmont is noteworthy for its longevity as a city, its numerous historic homes, its economic viability, and quality of life.  The State law states that housing is to be maintained rather than eliminated, yet as the character of Piedmont changes due to enforced requirements from the State, will the city be able to continue the current quality of life?

The planning staff, Planning Commission, and City Council have accepted the State and regional goals.  Developers and public interest organizations have legally challenged cities that did not establish a pathway for increased housing units especially for very low  and low income individuals.

Despite declining populations in Piedmont and Oakland since 2000, Piedmont, responding to State demands, continues on its drive to increase housing units. On July 14, the Piedmont Planning Commission readily recommended to the Piedmont City Council a draft Housing Element to be forwarded to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) staff as Piedmont’s working draft for preliminary review and comments. In the previous round, the draft Housing Element was modified to conform to DHCD staff suggestions.

Raising Piedmont’s profile with DHCD, Planning Director, Kate Black, and Piedmont outside consultant, Barry Miller, treated DHCD staff to a tour of  Piedmont.  Did the tour include any of the City’s many empty housing units? (The 2010 census recorded 123 unoccupied housing units in Piedmont and 6,718 in neighboring Oakland.)

Considering the danger posed by vacant housing units correlated with increased crime rates, Oakland and other cities have a program of demolition of vacant housing with federal funds. In March, 2014, the U.S. Treasury announced new funding of $30 million for housing demolition to avoid neighborhoods with vacancies becoming blighted.  Burglaries, arson, and drug-dealing are a few of the crimes associated with vacant housing.

Few comments on the draft Housing Element have come from Piedmont residents.

Several people attended the presentations on the Housing Element Planning Commission “work sessions”.  The “Town Hall style” meeting held in the Police Emergency Operations Center was attended by approximately 2 dozen residents most of whom had received personal letters from the Planning Department because they either resided in or owned a second unit.  No letters were specifically sent to property owners adjacent to or living near a second unit, who might have expressed pleasure or concerns.  The “Town Hall” meeting was not broadcast and the comments were not made available.

Unlike communities that can expand into undeveloped land, Piedmont is completely landlocked, surrounded by Oakland, with no room to expand.  Additionally, Piedmont’s very economic viability is established on its desirability as a place to purchase a home.  Piedmont has its own schools, police and fire departments and public services.  As more and more properties in Piedmont are subdivided or turned into duplexes per the State decrees, property values and willingness of voters to support extraordinarily high taxes comes into question.

Piedmonters, in general, favor providing housing for very low income individuals and others, however, some have expressed their desire to have this done in a manner that does not erode the character and stability of the City’s housing stock.

When the old PG&E building below and adjacent to the Oakland Avenue Bridge was sold for housing development, many thought this was an opportunity to address some regional housing goals.  Piedmont, however, did not take advantage of this opportunity.  The old PG&E site has some of the best access to Piedmont’s very limited public transportation bus routes.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recommends siting low income housing near available jobs, public transportation education, social services, and counseling. Piedmont is poorly served by public transportation and lacks social services.

Following are some questions posed:

Will Piedmont eventually become a city of multiple units, renters, and transient residents? Who will pay for the schools or will they be merged by the State with surrounding school districts?  Will property values continue to grow?   Will those desiring a single family residential area go elsewhere? Will City government and the School District need to grow to provide services found in other communities, such as social services?

There have been no long term assessments of services costs and the general impact of increased housing units in Piedmont.

The 2011 Housing Element created an exception to single family Zone A minimum lot size requirements to enable lot splitting. The current draft Housing Element identifies more than 10 properties in Zones A & E (Estate Zone) that could be split in order to add a second house to an existing lot.

Read the City Administrator’s report and the draft Housing Element. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments may be communicated to the City Council:

Margaret Fujioka, Mayor, mfujioka@ci.piedmont.ca.us, (510) 463-7821

Jeff Wieler, Vice Mayor, jwieler@ci.piedmont.ca.us, (510) 428-1648

Teddy Gray King, tking@ci.piedmont.ca.us, (510) 450-0890

Robert McBain, rmcbain@ci.piedmont.ca.us,(510) 547-0597

Tim Rood, trood@ci.piedmont.ca.us,   (510) 239-7663

People automatically grab their cellphones in an emergency, but in major events they may find there is no service. In lower Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks, cellphone service became unavailable.  Super storm Sandy destroyed cell towers along with houses and commercial buildings. Cellphones can become useless when the capacity is overloaded even though towers survive. On Friday, July 18, San Francisco’s ABC TV affiliate reminded viewers not to rely on their cellphones in disasters such as fires and earthquakes.

Families need to make emergency plans that don’t require cellphones.

The Piedmont Fire Department wants you to be prepared for disasters.

By preparing for a disaster you can better help yourself, your community, and the Fire Department. Education and training for disasters can be provided on any scale and for any number of people.

The Fire Department is committed to training individuals, families, neighborhoods, and businesses. We can tailor training to meet time constraints, unique needs, routine concerns, or schedule you may have.

If you would like to schedule training or just have a few questions about preparing, please contact the department at (510) 430-3030 and ask for the Captain or Lieutenant on Duty.

Click to Download the American Red Cross brochure entitled Be Red Cross Ready
Click to download a brochure called 10 Ways You Can Be Disaster Prepared

Click Here to View Disaster Preparedness Links»
Note: these links are found at the right-hand side of the page.

The Piedmont Police Department is notifying Piedmont residents of callers posing as IRS agents attempting to extort money from residents.

The IRS and other law enforcement agencies DO NOT CONTACT individuals through phone calls demanding money.

Some residents are not alert to these scams and do not subscribe to information outlets. You are asked to inform your friends and neighbors, particularly senior citizens, about the scams.

Press Release

July 18, 2014

The Piedmont Police Department would like to make the citizens of Piedmont aware of potential phone/email scams that some of our residents have encountered.

Over the last two months, subjects posing as IRS agents and/or other law enforcement agency employees have called Piedmont residents demanding an immediate transfer of cash which they claim is owed to the agency. They instruct victims to avoid being arrested they must send large sums of cash to a given address or call back with a credit or debit card to take care of the debt.

The Piedmont Police Department encourages citizens to be vigilant against phone/email scams that use the IRS or other law enforcement as a lure. These agencies do not initiate contact with citizens by email or phone to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. They also do not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients of these phone calls or emails should not answer questions, give out any personal information or open any attachments, or click on any links contained in the message.

For more information on these and other similar phone/email scams you can visit the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov or the California Attorney General’s website at http://oag.ca.gov

If you are a Piedmont resident and you believe you are the victim of one of these phone calls, please contact the Piedmont Police Department at 510-420-3000.

Anyone needing further information and/or with inquiries can contact Detective Willie Wright at (510) 420-3013.

On Tuesday, July 15  the California Water Resources Control Board approved mandatory restrictions on water use in urban areas, including Piedmont, with fines ranging up to $500/day.  If also approved by the State Office of Administrative Law, any public employee with law enforcement authority can issue the tickets.

The following water use will be prohibited:

• Run-off from landscape watering onto adjacent property, sidewalks or streets.
• Washing sidewalks and driveways with drinking water. (Recycled water is permitted.)
• Using a hose to wash a vehicle unless the hose has a shut-off nozzle.
• Using drinking water in an ornamental fountain unless the water is recirculated.

The restrictions will go into effect as soon as they are approved by the State Office of Administrative Law. They will remain in effect for nine months.

While agriculture uses 75% of the state’s water, agriculture is exempted. Also exempted is the power-washing of sidewalks, streets and buildings.

Each water district is charged with implementing mandatory water use restrictions and adopting a sliding scale for the new state water restriction fines. Up to this point the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has requested only voluntary reduction of water use because the agency is in a less dire water supply situation than other California water providers due to its efforts to plan for long-term water supplies.

Meanwhile, the State Legislature is trying to draft a new water bond. (Read about the challenge in the Sacramento Bee.)

Is Phase I of the Blair Park Plan going to be implemented?

On July 14, the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Review Committee visited Blair Park and Coaches Field during its tour of a number of possible projects for potential funding from the CIP Fund and the WW Bond funds of $575,000.  (Other sites visited included: the Veterans Hall; Aquatic Center; Dracena Park; Linda Beach Field Entrance; Linda-Kingston intersection; Crocker Park; Hampton Field; Piedmont Park; and Community Hall Plaza, amphitheater, terraces.)

When in 2012, the Blair Park Sports Complex proposal was rescinded by the City Council, it was done in large part because residents in Oakland and Piedmont joined together to mount a legal challenge to the project as Friends of Moraga Canyon (FOMC), a group legally opposing the project. In a settlement agreement between the City of Piedmont, Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO) and FOMC, the City payed FOMC $15,000 to assist with their legal costs and committed to spending $15,000 for a plan to improve Blair Park maintenance and make it more useful to residents.

The Council approved Blair Park Plan, Phase I, valued at $300,000, was to be considered through the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Review Committee for funding recommendations in 2014.  Phase II valued at $350,000 was also to be considered for future funding.  Read PCA article on details of the Blair Park Plan.

Blair Park, viewed by some as a development opportunity and by others a respite from asphalt and concrete, has been neglected for decades, needing maintenance and safety improvements.  Recently, the City undertook an emergency removal of 14 diseased trees.

Landscape improvements are lacking.  Pedestrian access to the park is missing. Sidewalks on Moraga Avenue are missing from Monte Avenue to Blair Park. The sidewalk dead ends halfway between Monte and Pala Avenues. Pedestrians or bikers face great hazards to cross at that point.  A boardwalk is built immediately adjacent to Moraga Avenue on the opposite side of the street.  The boardwalk dead ends at Red Rock Road, location of the Corporation Yard.  There is no identified pedestrian crossing in the area. 

Bikers going up Moraga Avenue from Monte Avenue toward Blair Park face extreme hazards from vehicles coming behind them on the blind curve near Pala Avenue. Interested participants in the developing Piedmont Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan have identified the need for improved access to and beside the park. However, to date the Plan’s consultant’s reports have not placed a priority on Blair Park access.   

Piedmont is entitled to $575,000 in East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) WW bond funds for specific purposes related to parks and recreation.   The use must remain in place for the 25 years.

For more information on Blair Park, as reported on this site, go to the left column on this page and Search > Blair Park.

Based on little public knowledge or input, the Planning Commission will consider: reducing parking requirements, reducing building fees for second units, requests for all current housing units to be rented, how to extend the time span on rent controlled units, lack of studies evaluating impacts of additional units to infrastructure such as roadways, parks, schools, and public services, forgiveness of taxes on low income units, subdivision of lots, and more.

On Monday, July 14, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue,  the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and discussion concerning the City’s Update to the Housing Element of the General Plan. 

With few citizens, often none, attending or providing input at the various Planning Commission Housing Element “workshops” and about 2 dozen at a “Town Hall type meeting,” combined with little discussion by the Planning Commissioners, the staff and consultant’s proposed changes to Piedmont’s Housing Element are steadily moving forward to review and approval by the City Council and the State Department of Housing and Community Development staff.

– Considerations is being given to: Second unit apartments added to single family homes, greater housing density, very low income housing, affordable housing, market rate housing, and mechanisms to satisfy the State push for more varied housing units in Piedmont. –

The draft Housing Element can be viewed here.  A copy is also available in the Public Works Department at City Hall.

The City Council is expected to consider the draft Housing Element and the Planning Commission’s recommendations at the July 21, 2014 Council meeting, 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers.

Both the July 14 Planning Commission meeting and July 21 City Council meeting are open to the public and will be broadcast.

You can watch the meetings on KCOM, cable 20 or by logging on to the city’s website at www.ci.piedmont.ca.us: on the right hand side of the homepage under the “City Council” heading, click on the “Online Video” link, then scroll down under the “Sections on this Page” heading, click on the the Planning Commission or City Council link, click on the “Video”or “In Progress” link, and scroll down to the date and agenda item and start watching!

Email comments to kblack@ci.piedmont.ca.us, send them via US mail to Planning Commission, c/o Kate Black, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611, or drop them off at City Hall.

Read the Draft Housing Element.

Read the July 14 Planning Commission Agenda.