January « 2009 « Dublin Townhall

Archive for January, 2009

Balancing the Budget

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.29 |

balance Dublin is looking at roughly $750K-$1.5M less in revenue for fiscal year 2008-2009 than was initially expected due primarily to a drop in estimated sales tax, property tax, and development-related fee receipts. City Hall has already taken the following steps to address the projected general fund budget deficits:

Saved Dublin’s taxpayers $110K for the 2008-2009 fiscal year by eliminating the vacant Community Development Administrative Aide position;
Considering the possibility of raising developer and business “fees for service” to reflect inflation over the past few years;
Evaluating the option to repurpose special funds for projects and purchases that cannot be deferred;and
Created a sales tax reimbursement program to encourage businesses generating at least $100K of new net sales tax revenue to move to Dublin (or expand within Dublin).

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Topics: Budget

Community Benefit Payment

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.23 |

Comments

money-use Community Benefit Payments are sizable contributions made by developers to cities in addition to the standard building and impact fees required by new development. Developers usually make these payments to compensate the cities for making exceptions to the General or Specific plan guidelines, city ordinances, as well as other design policies for specific projects.
Community benefit payments should be used to improve the areas surrounding the new developments that generated the payments, as illustrated by the Schaeffer Ranch community benefit payment plan, where $1.5M was dedicated for improvements at the nearby Dublin Historic Park. Additionally, the developers of Schaeffer Ranch committed funding to build the new School of Imagination building.

Following that example, the City should use the Wallis Ranch community benefit payment to fund the completion of Emerald Glen Park and the astro turfs at Fallon Sports Park. The previous City Council had voted to fund the astro turfs at Fallon Sports Park through a surplus in the general fund. Instead of pulling money directly from the general fund, that popular optional upgrade can be more appropriately subsidized through a community benefit payment generated by a project in the vicinity like Wallis Ranch.

John M. Zukoski is the publisher of the Around Dublin Blog and a regular contributor on Dublin Townhall. He can be reached at john.zukoski@gmail.com.

Topics: Budget, Community Benefit Payment, Impact Fees

Appeal to Add More Parking at Promenade Rejected by Dublin City Council

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.21 |

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This past Tuesday night, the Dublin City Council rejected the appeal of a resident to add additional parking at the Promenade by a vote of 2 to 0 with Councilmembers Kasie Hildenbrand and Kevin Hart rejecting the appeal and Councilmember Kate Ann Scholz abstaining. By rejecting the appeal, the City Council affirmed the decision made by the Planning Commission on December 9th to grant the developer a Conditional Use Permit to provide 500 parking spaces vs. the 541 parking spaces required by Dublin’s Zoning Ordinance based on the adoption of the Shared Parking assumption.

The appeal was filed by a resident based on the principle that the Shared Parking study approved by the Planning Commission to reduce the number of required parking spaces did not account for the street parking shortage at the surrounding Dublin Ranch Villages and that all 541 parking spaces would have been required in the study if the traffic consultant had incorporated the assumption that visitors of the Promenade will likely choose street parking along Finnian Way in favor of parking inside the Promenade parking garage. As a compromise, the resident suggested that the City move forward with the Promenade project only if the developer agreed to put up a $5M bond as collateral in the event that an additional level of parking is eventually required.

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Topics: Parking, Planning Commission, Promenade

Inclusionary Zoning is Good for the City

by Adriel Hampton on 2009.01.18 |

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mainpic_316 Yesterday, a line in a story at Around Dublin and an anonymous comment there, caught my eye. The story covered an upcoming development in my neighborhood, and mentioned that the number of below-market-rate units in this new apartment building had been reduced by the City. The first comment blasted BMR in the rental context. And while I understand some of the sentiment in that comment, I felt compelled to respond. I am strong supporter of inclusionary mixed-use zoning, which means requiring developers to include a percentage of units in each building with a cost cap based on income criteria determined by the City.

I agree with the commenter that BMR units are best in the for-sale context. However, I think that impugning BMR residents wholesale is poor form indeed. I own a BRM unit. It’s what brought me to Dublin from the home I rented in Walnut Creek. It was a way to gain stability at a reasonable price, and the City sharply limits any prospect of me making a significant return on a sale within 55 years.

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Topics: Avalon, Inclusionary Zoning

Update: Kolb Decision Moved to 2/10/2009

by Dan Cherrier on 2009.01.17 |

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On January 15, 2009, the School Board resumed their discussion regarding postponing the opening of Kolb Elementary. Dr. Stephan Hanke presented the most recent enrollment projects and stated that he expects east side schools (Green, Dougherty, and Fallon) to be unable to accommodate 182 pupils in 2010-2011 and 403 in 2011-2012 if Board action is not taken on February 10, 2009, to request bids from licensed contractors to construct Kolb. There was some debate among the Trustees. Some thought the numbers may be low, while others thought they might be high; however, all agreed that a shortage of available classroom space will definitely occur.

The issues around Kolb involve the $0.5 M in administrative operating costs for each school year versus delaying the bid and losing out on the very competitive bidding environment that currently exists. The only alternative is to keep Fallon a K-8 facility for one more year, and build relocatable structures at Green coupled with a permanent boundary change for students at Camp Parks and the Transit Center or forced diversions of Green and Dougherty students to west side schools. Should the decision wait another year, up to an additional 250 – 300 children will have to attend Green and Dougherty (most likely Green since space is an issue at Dougherty); at 25 students per classroom that is up to 12 relocatable structures. As we all know, once those structures are placed they often stay for a very long time.

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Topics: DUSD, Dublin Unified School District, School Board

Responsible City Planning

by Jimmy Huang on 2009.01.16 |

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On December 9, 2008, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application by Charter Properties to adopt the Shared Parking model for calculating the required number of parking spaces at Phase I of the Promenade. Charter Properties was not responsible for the poor planning of the ill-conceived parking arrangement at Dublin Ranch Villages, so it is definitely not obligated to resolve a problem that cannot be fixed by a garage alone. All that the nearby residents are requesting is for adequate parking as defined by Dublin’s Zoning Ordinance to be provided, so Phase I at the Promenade does not exacerbate the parking crisis that neither the City nor the HOAs have the political will or sufficient jurisdiction to confront directly. Dublin has good standards; we just need to be better about enforcing them. Given the parking realities at Dublin Ranch Villages, allocating at least 541 parking spaces as mandated by code is not only the responsible way to start the Promenade but also in the best interest of the Promenade tenants, nearby residents, and, most importantly, all of Dublin. If the City allows one developer to disregard Dublin’s Zoning Ordinance in an area with known parking shortage, it will send the wrong message to other developers with similar mixed-use projects elsewhere in Dublin. Once this bad precedent is set, those other developers can reasonably demand the City to relax its parking requirement for their projects and challenge the City in court should the City refuse. The City of Dublin cannot afford to spread this parking nightmare beyond Dublin Ranch Villages.

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Topics: Parking, Promenade, Residential Density

Request for Boarding House in Dublin Ranch Denied

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.14 |

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gavel The Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny without prejudice Iroonet’s Conditional Use Permit request to operate a 16-resident boarding house in Dublin Ranch on Oakhurst Court. The boarders currently living at the Iroonet home in Dublin Ranch are exchange students from South Korea that are attending private schools in the area such as Quarry Lane and Valley Christian. The Planning Commission also denied Iroonet’s request to reduce the on-site parking requirement from 6 spaces to 3 spaces.

Some of the concerns and questions commonly noted by representatives for the Dublin Ranch HOA and residents in attendance were with respect to:

Iroonet’s commercial status while operating in an area zoned for residential use;
Number of children living in the home on Oakhurst Court (14 kids plus 2 caretakers);
The actual number of bedrooms at the home (a living room was converted to a bedroom); and
Parking challenges associated with having visitors at the boarding house (it was later noted that there haven’t been any parking challenges of late).

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Topics: Boarding House, Planning Commission

Golden Opportunity Missed With Wallis Ranch

by Tim Hall on 2009.01.12 |

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SprawlingToDiablo Aw, gee, I hate going negative again, but I really think the Dublin City Council let a golden opportunity slip through their wide open fingers at the 1/6/2009 council meeting when they extended the Wallis Ranch development agreement for an additional 10 years in exchange for a $1M Benefit Payment. The development as planned is a terrible idea for the Wallis Ranch property and for all of Dublin.

Wallis Ranch may be the most egregious example so far of Dublin’s haphazard and illogical density concentrations away from the city core and transit centers. The project violates almost every principle of smart urban design. The medium and medium-high density housing planned for Wallis Ranch exemplifies the worst aspects of sprawl, being located far from jobs, transit, shopping, the civic center and public schools. That may be fine for low-density estate homes and ranchettes, but not for medium-high density multi-family housing. With apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan, it is the very model of the modern major general plan mistake. In fact, every time the future Wallis Ranch residents want to do just about anything, they will have to get in their cars and drive. The concomitant traffic, pollution, energy consumption, expense, safety risk and wasted time will be multiplied by the density factor.

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Topics: Residential Density, Wallis Ranch

Kevin Hart's Shameful Public Belittling

by Tim Hall on 2009.01.09 |

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Tim Hall Below is a copy of the letter I sent to the Dublin City Council on 1/7/2009 letting them know exactly what I thought of Council Member Kevin Hart’s conduct at the 12/16/2008 council meeting. I think it would be good for the council to post their apologies on Dublin Townhall, to make them as easy as possible for everyone to see.

I read a shortened version of the letter at the 1/6/2009 council meeting. The video of that reading appears at the bottom of this posting.

To read more about the city council appointment, see the New Council Member Appointed article on the Around Dublin Blog.

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Topics: Kevin Hart, Public Comment

Wallis Ranch Project is Approved

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.07 |

Comments

wallis ranch map The Dublin City Council approved the Development Agreement for Wallis Ranch to allow the developer to move forward with a residential housing project in East Dublin consisting of about 935 homes (58 units will be low density and 877 units will be medium and medium-high density) that encompasses 184 acres and starts just north of Roxbury on Tassajara Road and goes all the way to the Alameda/Contra Costa County line (across from Silvera Ranch).

The City Council’s discussion Tuesday night primarily revolved around the agreement to provide the project developer with a 15-year term vs. the standard 5-year term in exchange for a $1M Community Benefit Payment. Councilmember Kevin Hart noted that 15 years was a long time to provide in the Development Agreement and implied that extending the term of the agreement might reduce the sense of urgency for the developer to build-out the project and leave the parcel vacant for up to 15 years; however, Councilmember Kasie Hildenbrand countered that the developer could choose to delay construction at Wallis Ranch with or without the Development Agreement.

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Topics: Community Benefit Payment, Wallis Ranch

Archive for January, 2009

Balancing the Budget

Community Benefit Payment

Appeal to Add More Parking at Promenade Rejected by Dublin City Council

Inclusionary Zoning is Good for the City

Update: Kolb Decision Moved to 2/10/2009

Responsible City Planning

Request for Boarding House in Dublin Ranch Denied

Golden Opportunity Missed With Wallis Ranch

Kevin Hart's Shameful Public Belittling

Wallis Ranch Project is Approved

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