City of Oakland
West Oakland is a storied community widely known for its unique history, culture and artistic expression. The vision of the West Oakland Specific Plan is to leverage its tremendous strengths to see this remarkable community further thrive as a diverse urban neighborhood. West Oakland is at the center of the dynamic Bay Area, next to the Port of Oakland, the 5th busiest container port in the country. The community enjoys quick BART rail transit access to major cultural, financial, employment and innovation centers in downtown Oakland and San Francisco; proximity to premier educational institutions; easy freeway access; well-preserved Victorian and other period neighborhoods, plus many individual historical gems; a sunny climate and generous parkland; rich cultural and economic diversity; plus an emerging industrial arts movement and internationally recognized artists of all genres.
The Specific Plan establishes a land use and development framework for redevelopment of primarily vacant and underutilized commercial and industrial properties. The Plan encourages: key Opportunity Areas as major new employment centers, high-density residential development around the West Oakland BART station, new residential and neighborhood-serving commercial development on major corridors, industrial and intensive commercial activities closer to the Port of Oakland away from residential areas, and better multi-modal transportation to link residents, services and employment. The Specific Plan changes are organized into six Opportunity Areas, with detailed proposals for a couple dozen key Opportunity Sites. My focus was the program EIR. I authored every section of the Administrative Draft EIR except transportation. I also worked on preliminary administrative draft sections of the Specific Plan. The EIR relied extensively on the City’s comprehensive set of Uniformly Applied Development Standards and Conditions of Approval to streamline CEQA compliance for subsequent development projects and implementation actions.
Ricardo Bressanutti 