During the afternoon of Monday, November 14, 2016,  approximately 200 Piedmont High School, Millennium High School and Piedmont Middle School students left their campuses to join with students from Oakland Technical High School in protest of the presidential election.

The Piedmont Police and Fire Departments along with District teachers, staff and administrators monitored the protest. The safety and order of the march was maintained.  Some students left the march after reaching Oakland Tech, while others continued on to Oakland City Hall.

“I am thankful for the support of Piedmont’s city services, Oakland Unified’s administrative team, and that the walk-out was peaceful.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact my office at rbooker@piedmont.k12.ca.us .”

Randall Booker, Superintendent Piedmont Unified School District

Fires, earthquakes, floods, landslides, other emergencies, and crime prevention require preparation.

Piedmont has produced Get Ready, Piedmont – Disaster Preparedness Brochure & Checklist. The checklist also provides information on crime prevention.

 Sweeping is conducted on the day after green waste, recycling, and trash are picked up for your home. See schedule below.

Now that H1 has passed, let us refocus our efforts on seeing that our new facilities are fastidiously maintained.  A certain amount of the tackiness, general seediness and carpet smell in certain areas comes from a low level of janitorial care.  Smudgy windows and chipped paint take very little effort to correct.

The slightest nick in the indoor trim at the White House has somebody with a tiny paintbrush, the size found in a child’s watercolor paint box, meticulously dabbing on a swoosh of white paint.  All the trim in the White House is white and of the same shade to facilitate this low-tech remedy.  If it’s good enough for the White House, it should be good enough for the schools of Piedmont.

With the tens of millions of dollars that are going to be spent, it’s not too much to expect, that our new facilities will have somebody assigned to administer the “white glove” test to every room the way they do at the Ritz. Our students and faculty deserve the best, as well as the generous citizens of Piedmont that are paying for it.

   Sunny Bostrom-Fleming, Piedmont Resident

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Do Piedmonters understand the proposed changes impacting their property, the City’s property, or neighboring properties?

Chapter 17 of the City Code is the controlling legal document for building in Piedmont. 

Momentous changes are proposed.

Confusion and some concerns:

• How many parking spaces are going to be required?
• What are the new required sizes of parking spaces?
• Who gets to decide on building applications – permits, design review and variances?
• Are zone uses being changed without a public vote?
• Will roofs and other buildings be allowed to extend further into side yard setbacks?  
• Are variance requirements being changed?
• Wireless communication requirements decided by staff?
• Calling application requirements a permit rather than design review?
• Planning Commission decisions on proposals turned over for staff decisions increased from $75,000 to $125,000?
• No building restrictions on Public Property?

On Thursday, November 10, 2016, the City Council Chambers, City Hall, the Planning Commission at 5:00 p.m. will continue their work on changes to Piedmont’s building and zoning code, Chapter 17. 

The Piedmont Planning Commission has been meeting for some months on changes to Chapter 17 of the City Code with little public input. Changes to Piedmont building requirements found in Chapter 17 will have far reaching impacts.  The latest version of the changes will be considered at the November 10, 2016 Planning Commission “workshop.”

Community Engagement Requested:

A call for community workshops oriented toward expanded public input has been suggested; however, as of this writing none have been scheduled by the City.  The Planning Commission meetings have had limited public participation where comments to the  Planning Commission have a 3 minute limit, as opposed to an open exchange of ideas with the community.

The usual procedure in proposing changes to legal documents is to strike out language proposed for elimination and color or italicize new language. Following this common procedure would help Piedmonters understand the changes under consideration.  The Planning Commissioners, City Council, and public are being asked to comment on changes only hinted at in the Staff’s abstract revision table.  The revision table only notes whole sections that have been moved or deleted; but does not indicate precise changes within the sections.  

• – Page 45 – Chapter 17.6 Zone B changed to Section 17.22 Zone B: Public facilities Section 17.22.030 – Conditional Uses.  The following are allowed as Conditional Uses in Zone B:  A. City building used by a for-profit commercial entity.  Comment: this is not highlighted.

• WCF (wireless communication facilities). This is one of the many topics taken up in the “public meetings” relative to Chapter 17. The proposal recommends that the City Council only review WCF in Zone B, all others in right of ways around town are decided on by the Planning Director. WCF is getting put on poles rather than towers so it is likely that many homes may see one of these out their windows. The Planning Department and the wireless company would agree WCF locations. There appears to be no mention of a process for a resident to object. http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/publicworks/docs/planning/ch17revisions/2016-08-30_report.pdf

• Control of what citizens can build on their property has migrated from the Planning Commission to decision-making by City staff as the threshold for review by the Commission increased to $75,000.  In June Planning Director Jackson suggested the cost threshold for review by the Planning Commission should be increased from $75,000 to $125,000. 

To understand where changes are being proposed to the existing ordinances, a lined through and changed version would help readers.

Staff report for the November 10 meeting can be read here. 

The volume of planning documents can be read here.

Notice regarding the meeting from the Planning Director Kevin Jackson is below:

Activity by the Planning Commission or City Council related to revisions of City Code Chapter 17, the Zoning Code.

Item 1, and the only item on the agenda for the Planning Commission’s special meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2016 is the Consideration of a Resolution Recommending Updates to the Planning and Zoning Provisions in the City Code and City Council Policies, as well as Actions to Update Planning Commission Policies.

You can find more information on this ongoing project by visiting the City’s website. It is there that you can also find links to past reports and meeting minutes as well as a link to the staff report for the November 10, 2016 Planning Commission special meeting.

You are encouraged to provide your comments on the topics under discussion by attending the meeting and/or by submitting written comments by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. You can submit your comments to the Commission by sending an email to me, kjackson@ci.piedmont.ca.us or on paper to 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611

Kevin Jackson, AICP, Planning Director, City of Piedmont

The meeting will be broadcast live on Cable Channel 27 and from the City website under videos, Planning Commission.  A video recording will be made of the meeting for future viewing.

Congratulations to all who participated in the Piedmont election!

Elected to the City Council:

Jen Cavenaugh 

Bob McBain

Elected to the School Board:

Sarah Pearson

Cory Smegal

Andrea Swenson

Piedmont School Bond Measure H1 was readily approved by voters.

Official final election results will not be available for days, however the final election results are unlikely to change.

Updated election results can be viewed at:

http://acgov.org/rov/current_election/230/

Click on City – Piedmont – Members, City Council and Members, School Board.

Click on Measures – Bond Measure H1, Piedmont USD. 

Dear Piedmont:

The last three months have been an incredible experience. Running for office has been exciting and exhausting, sometimes both at the same time, but always enjoyable.

 I’ve loved meeting new friends and neighbors throughout Piedmont, residents who care deeply about our community and are willing to invest the time and energy to continue to make it a better place to live for all of us. Piedmonters are thoughtful and sincere and full of great ideas and suggestions to consider. The desire to connect with that passion is part of why I decided to run for City Council in the first place.

 I want to thank my fellow candidates for their energy and commitment to our city.  It was really a pleasure and an honor to campaign with such committed community volunteers.  And I want to thank the many community volunteers who work tirelessly on behalf of Piedmont. Thank you for all you do to make our city great.

 I’m grateful to my family, my campaign committee, and my team of volunteers, donors, letter writers, door knockers and others who’ve helped in so many ways big and small — I couldn’t have completed this journey without you. Please know that I have given this effort my all.  Win or lose it’s been an amazing experience, and I feel very confident about the future of our hometown.

 Sincerely,

Jen Cavenaugh, Candidate for City Council 2016

Editors Note:  Opinions expressed are those of the author.  PCA does not support or oppose candidates for public office. 

TIME TO VOTE!

If you return your Vote-by-Mail Ballot through the US Postal Service, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day, November 8, and received by the Registrar of Voters office no later than 3 days after Election Day. Postage is required.

Options for returning your Vote-by-Mail Ballot without postage:

1. Deposit your ballot in any ballot drop-box location: There is one in central Piedmont at Highland Way and Mountain Avenue next to the postal boxes (see photo below), also 1221 Oak Street in Oakland or 1333 Park Avenue in Emeryville.

2. Turn in your ballot at any polling place in Alameda County, including Piedmont, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.on Election Day!

3. Take your ballot to the Registrar of Voters office, located at 1225 Fallon Street, Rm. G-1, in downtown Oakland, during business hours; 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

If you plan to vote in person on November 8, but are not sure where to vote, enter your  address here to find out where and when to vote on Tuesday.

Official Ballot Drop Box on Highland Way in Piedmont.