This week, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) released a full Draft Plan for the Plan Bay Area 2040 project. The Draft Plan and all related information about the project can be accessed here.
Bay Planning Coalition (BPC) staff member Brianne Riley attended a meeting led by MTC on Tuesday, April 4 where the document was briefly presented, its “Action Plan” section was reviewed, and the schedule for collecting related public outreach was unveiled.
The materials for and a video of the meeting can be viewed here. The materials include slides from the meeting as well as a list of the planned public meetings and workshops.
Here are Brianne’s notes from the presentation portion of the meeting:
• The latest Draft Plan was fully released yesterday.
• The Draft Plan focuses growth in the core of the region, both for housing and jobs.
• Under the Draft Plan, transportation investments support land use through emphasis in operations, maintenance, and modernization.
• The Draft Plan meets our environmental goals, but it does not solve the region’s affordability issues, which continue.
• Comments are due by 6/1.
• The target EIR for the Draft Plan will be released in mid-May.
• Adoption of the plan should happen in July.
• There are also 16 supplemental reports that have been released online which show how some of the numbers in the Draft Plan were determined.
• Overview of Plan Document
o Section 1: The Bay Area Today
MTC staff said that a takeaway from this section is that the region needs to rise to the challenge posed by the housing issues it is facing.
o Section 2: What is Plan Bay Area 2040?
o Section 3: Forecasting the Future
o Section 4: Strategies and Performance
o Section 5: Action Plan
This is a new element since the last draft.
Focuses on housing, economic development, and resilience.
BPC will be working with its members to develop comments on the Draft Plan before June 1, particularly related to its sections on regional economic development and resilience. Please contact us if you would like to be involved in or kept in the loop on this process.
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“The Bay Planning Coalition is a non-profit organization well known for its advocacy and credibility in the San Francisco Bay Area corporate and environmental community. When we speak about an issue, legislators and regulators listen.” – John A. Coleman CEO
