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Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:42 pm
by davidllyon
http://www.ebparks.org/files/Albany_Bea ... _Final.pdf

East Bay Park District is holding a scoping meeting on April 12, 2012 at 7:00 PM for the Albany Beach Restoration and Public Access Project Environmental Impact Report Notice of Preparation.

EIR Scoping Meeting:
Albany Beach Restoration and Public Access Project

Date and Time:
April 12, 2012, 7:00 pm

Location:
East Bay Regional Park District Board Room
2950 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 94605

The kiting community has showed up well for the Albany Beech meetings. Don't know the scope of issues that will be covered at this meeting, can anyone else comment more? I will add what I find out as well.
- David

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:04 pm
by Jeb Mud
We need to make sure that kite access is still possible during and after the restoration!!

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:15 pm
by mephastopholes
bump...
This is coming up this Thursday for those that can make it after their storm session.
*ju# *bg&

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:45 pm
by WindMuch
I'd be there for sure but my ride to the Pismo kite expo just moved to Thursday night.

Thanks to you guys and gals who CAN/will make it on Thursday night and speak up for us slackers...

Kirk out

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:21 pm
by Jeb Mud
I went to this meeting last night. There was at least one other kiter there (James), quite a few dog walkers, folks from Berkeley and Albany waterfront commission, and general beach goers.

Overall, the development looks like it will be friendly to kite use. The folks from EBRPD did a baseline use study there (parked an intern out there last summer) and said that kitesurfing showed up as the number 1 water access usage of the site (not a surprise to any of us). They are planning for the upgrade of this area to maintain current usage patterns. Speaking to the planning team after the meeting it was clear they are aware of our community usage here (and at Alameda, another EBRPD site) and are overall supportive of maintaining access.

In fact, part of the funding for this project comes from the Cosco Busan oil spill settlement (http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx? ... nline=true), which specifically calls out kitesurfing as an activity that is valued in the affected area. That's important b/c it means kitesurfing access should legally get a portion of the settlement!!!

There is one aspect that I believe we should continue to press, which is that the plans should explicitly include kite launch/landing zone as part of the renovation. Currently, the plans call for creating a defined parking lot right over the area that we all use for launch/landing. When I spoke to a planner and explained to him that we need ~100 feet of open space, he suggested adjacent space in GG Fields area just south of the area we use now. I believe that will work, but am concerned that GG Fields could take that away at their whim.

So please write EBRPD and express your concerns. Specifically, I think we need to ask for dedicated launch/landing zone that is not part of off-leash dog walkers area, and get that explicitly put into the plan.

Send your comments to: cbarton@ebparks.org

Sander

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:41 pm
by CdoG
Thanks sander
And thanks to james too

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 2:08 pm
by OliverG
Thanks for getting out there on our behalf Sander and James and thanks for the write up on the meeting! Everything counds pretty positive overall. NJ**

Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:06 pm
by robert-g
Thank you so much guys.
I will send the a letter also.

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:43 am
by WindMuch
+100 for Sander and James for showing up and giving us kiters a voice. I really appreciate it and the report - thanks!

Quite interesting info about the settlement from the oil spill. I had no idea...

Kirk out

Re: Albany Beach Restoration - EIR meeting 4/12/2012 7:00pm

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:12 pm
by twoofive
Thanks a lot Sander and James!
I will write a letter too.
Should we suggest adding a shower similar to the one in Alameda? Is that a good or bad idea?
Francois