2. On Tues., Nov. 28, the City Council committee that deals with
community economic development(CEDA) will meet and hear the report
on the environmental impact of the proposed auto mall at the former
Oakland Army Base(OAB). This is a big deal. 170 acres of the OAB
became city property in August(most of the rest of the 430 acre base
was taken by the port). This then is the largest single land use
issue in Oakland in long time, larger than any of the recent
controversies about Oak to 9th, Wood St. Train Station, Kaiser
Hospital, or the Gallagher &
Burk quarry in East Oakland. The auto mall proposal would take from
30 to 90 acres of this land and relocate up to 11 auto dealerships
from Broadway, along with a possible big box retail. Current city
decision makers(Jerry Brown; Dan Vanderpriem, redevelopment
director; Claudia Cappio, development director) see the auto mall as
the only way to keep a number of these dealers in Oakland. Auto
sales provide about 25% or so of Oakland's sales tax, and sales tax
is an important source of city revenue. On the other hand, the auto
mall will bring, in the polite language of the EIR, "significant and
unavoidable" traffic congestion to certain intersections in West
Oakland and freeways around West Oakland, and add to the already
unacceptable emissions levels experienced by West Oakland. The EIR
did not access how emissions levels in West Oakland would be
affected if the many trucking operations located in these
neighborhoods were moved to the OAB, or how providing adequate space
for current and future trucking operations may reduce freeway
congestion caused by these operations otherwise needing to locate in
San Leandro, Hayward , or beyond. The planning commission held a
hearing on Oct. 18, on the auto mall EIR. There was an
encouragingly unified community voice questioning the auto mall on
environmental, economic and historic preservation grounds. While
advocating for truck parking, truck servicing, truck fueling, and
truck and trucker needs are a decidedly unglamerous position
compared with movie studios, theme parks, retail, or even auto
malls, it struck a responsive note in the planning commissioners.
While they gave due respect to the need for auto dealerships, they
were even more troubled by potential negative impacts on West
Oakland. They declined to support the EIR, and sent it on to the
City Council without recommendation. This is what the CEDA
committee will consider on 11/28, and then the full Council on
12/5. I believe the CEDA committee starts at 4pm at City Hall.
Until I'm persuaded otherwise, it seems to me that best
environmental and economic outcome is to minimize the area devoted
to auto dealers, and to maximize the area for trucking operations,
along with planning commission rules that would grandfather in
current trucking operations in West Oakland but not allow them to be
replaced by the same type of activity.