Title
Consideration of General Plan Conformity for Acceptance of An Easement From Alameda Unified School District Related to a Roundabout on Central Avenue at Third Street. This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15301, 15304, 15061(b)(3) and 15183.
Body
To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
City of Alameda (City) staff is recommending that the City Council accept an easement from Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) for a sidewalk, bikeway and landscaped bioretention area on a portion of the Encinal Junior & Senior High School property. The improvements will be installed as part of the Central Avenue Safety Improvement Project (www.alamedaca.gov/Central), in association with a roundabout at Central Avenue and Third Street, which is expected to begin construction in 2023. Prior to the City taking steps to accept the easement from AUSD, the Planning Board must make a finding that the location, purpose and extent of the easement conforms with the General Plan pursuant to Government Code Section 65402.
BACKGROUND
Central Avenue between the Main Street/Pacific Avenue intersection in west Alameda and the Encinal Avenue/Sherman Street intersection in central Alameda is a high injury corridor. Despite the 25-mile per hour speed limit, average speeds on this 1.7-mile corridor are over 30 miles an hour. In accordance with City Council direction, City staff has been working with the community, a team of nationally respected design and safety consultants, and Caltrans for over eight years to develop a plan to improve the safety of the Central Avenue corridor for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and automobile drivers, which is partially on Caltrans' State Highway 61. In April 2021, the City Council approved a redesign of the street that is projected to reduce cr...
Click here for full text