John M. Zukoski « Dublin Townhall

Articles by John M. Zukoski

Reduced East Dublin Development Fees

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.04.08 |

mainpic_316 The Dublin City Council met this past Tuesday and voted unanimously to decrease the fees that developers pay to acquire land, construct roads, and make other improvements to minimize traffic impacts in east Dublin. The previous impact fee schedule was established in 2004 and needed to be updated to reflect the drastically lower cost of land, changes in land use (i.e., higher density than expected), and higher construction costs. With this approval, the traffic impact fees for residential projects will decrease by a combined 11% and non-residential fees will decrease by 3% effective June 7th. This should help to encourage development in Dublin.

The calculation of impact fees is based on the estimated number of “trips” generated by building new projects (e.g., trips to the grocery store, trips to/from home). The most significant reason for the decrease in fees is that Dublin has built at a higher density than what was initially forecast. Higher density means more people will be generating more car trips. With fixed traffic costs and more people than expected, the cost per “trip” has been less than expected.

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Topics: Avalon, East Dublin, Impact Fees, Metropolitan, Residential Density, Traffic

Dublin City Council Compromises on Dublin Ranch Boarding House

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.03.18 |

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gavel The Dublin City Council overturned the Planning Commission’s January 27th ruling and unanimously approved Iroonet’s request to allow a boarding house in Dublin Ranch – with one catch. The approval is only good for one year and no more than 6 student boarders and the caretaker’s family will be permitted (for a total of 10 residents). This was a compromise from Iroonet’s original request to have 16 residents and conforms to the Dublin Ranch HOA’s permission to allow 6 student boarders. Iroonet also agreed to address the Planning Commission’s safety related concern to have the caretakers live inside the Dublin Ranch home.

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Topics: Boarding House, City Council

Safety Measures Approved Near John Green Elementary

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.02.17 |

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BN9521_5-FB~Pedestrian-Crossing-Sign-Japan-Posters As a follow-up to their December 2nd meeting where Councilmember Kate Ann Scholz demanded that additional measures be taken to ensure pedestrian safety near John Green Elementary school, the Dublin City Council met tonight and unanimously approved these additional safety measures:

Install two “School Crossing Ahead” signs and lateral markings in the crosswalks at the intersection of Oak Bluff Lane and North Dublin Ranch Drive.
Paint “Stop” lines in front of the crosswalks at Oak Bluff Lane and North Dublin Ranch Drive to further assist drivers in remembering to stop.
Install “Yield to Pedestrians” signage and two “Stop Ahead” advance warning signs.

The total cost of these safety improvements is $4,500 and will be paid for from the Dublin gas tax fund.

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Topics: City Council, DUSD, Dublin Unified School District, Pedestrian Safety

Dublin's Efforts to Support Recycling Programs

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.02.11 |

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green-drop The Dublin City Council has been working with Amador Valley Industries and City Staff to create an action plan to improve recycling efforts within Dublin by diverting recyclable materials away from local landfills. The City Council approved this action plan on February 3, 2009 by a unanimous vote of 4 – 0. The scope of the proposed action plan is broad – encompassing businesses, multi-family dwellings, and the local partners like the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD).

Of the proposed 24 action items and strategies, the two most notable were to:

Provide the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) with ongoing funding and one-time grants to promote recycling programs (such as food-scrapping).
Recognize local businesses that divert 75% of their waste away from landfills.

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Topics: City Council, DUSD, Dublin Unified School District, Recycling

Parent Comments From the Kolb Elementary School Town Hall

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.02.08 |

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The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) conducted a Community Town Hall Meeting on February 4th to provide information and answer questions regarding the DUSD’s future elementary school, Kolb Elementary and the timing of its opening. The meeting opened with a brief informational session and then led into a 1+ hour Q&A session between the DUSD’s leadership team and Dublin residents. Please check out Around Dublin for a recap of the information provided during the town hall.

During the town hall conversation, it was acknowledged that one of the reasons that the DUSD doesn’t have the funding to complete the Kolb Elementary School project is that the impact fees that were generated on new home sales within the Kolb Elementary School boundaries were allocated to the construction of other East Dublin schools. One resident noted that he either felt that he was lied to about the Kolb school opening by the home builder or that the DUSD had poorly planned for the construction of Kolb Elementary School.

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Topics: DUSD, Dublin Unified School District, Kolb Elementary School

Camp Parks / Dublin Crossings Project Update

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.02.03 |

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One of Dublin’s next frontiers of development will be on the parcel of Camp Parks property along Dublin Boulevard – directly across from the East Dublin BART Station Transit Village. The Dublin City Council unanimously approved City Staff’s recommendation to:

Submit Requests for Proposal (RFP) to consultants to prepare a Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Camp Parks / Dublin Crossings project.
Form an evaluation committee to review the various proposals received as part of the RFP process.
Create a Task Force to work with the approved consultant to craft the Camp Parks / Dublin Crossings Specific Plan.

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Topics: Camp Parks, City Council, Dublin Crossings

Balancing the Budget

by John M. Zukoski on 2009.01.29 |

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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 |

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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

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

Articles by John M. Zukoski

Reduced East Dublin Development Fees

Dublin City Council Compromises on Dublin Ranch Boarding House

Safety Measures Approved Near John Green Elementary

Dublin's Efforts to Support Recycling Programs

Parent Comments From the Kolb Elementary School Town Hall

Camp Parks / Dublin Crossings Project Update

Balancing the Budget

Community Benefit Payment

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

Request for Boarding House in Dublin Ranch Denied

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