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Pittsburg eBART
eBART is a proposed 21-mile BART extension into East Contra Costa County. The proposed extension would operate in the median of Highway 4 and would continue east toward Byron.
The City of Pittsburg is developing a Specific Plan for the area surrounding the eBART station. Greenbelt Alliance is working with partners to promote the creation of a compact, walkable neighborhood around the station, with affordable homes, shops, and offices.
The plan is in a very general format now and Greenbelt Alliance will continue to monitor its progress, but initial plans for the station area look promising.
eBART is scheduled to be up and running by 2016.
What You Can Do
- Attend a public workshop and speak up
on behalf of creating a new neighborhood that is safe for pedestrians
and cyclists, that includes a mix of shops and jobs around the station,
as well as affordable homes. Ask Leigha Schmidt, Assistant Planner
with the City of Pittsburg Planning Department, to send you
announcements regarding upcoming workshops on the Pittsburg eBART station
area plan. Contact Leigha at (925) 252-4015 or by email. Also visit the City of Pittsburg’s website for updates.
- Email Greenbelt
Alliance's East Bay Field Representative, Christina Wong, to receive
updates on the project's progress.
Campaign Updates
May 2008
After a long wait, the final draft Railroad Avenue Specific Plan is released. Greenbelt Alliance and coalition partners are reviewing the Specific Plan.
March 2008
In December, grants from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, amounting in $416 million dollars, confirmed eBART as a fully funded, locally preferred project. The City of Antioch approved the consultant’s scope of work for planning around the proposed station. Unfortunately, the scope of work does not conduct community meetings until the end of 2008. However, they are including stakeholder meetings. Greenbelt Alliance wrote a letter asking the city of Antioch to include Greenbelt Alliance or Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) as a stakeholder and we attended a stakeholder interview in March 2007.
Greenbelt Alliance, along with Great Communities Collaborative representatives from TALC and CCISCO developed a campaign plan and are working on grassroots campaigning for the project.
September 2007
The draft Railroad Avenue eBART Specific Plan—originally
scheduled to be released by early August—is now planned to be
released in October 2007, and a public workshop will follow.
July 2007
The Railroad Avenue eBART Specific Plan is still in the works. At the July 24
Pittsburg Planning Commission meeting, project planners discussed key elements
addressed in the plan, including a new growth management element, transit-oriented
development strategies (like traffic calming), transportation objectives,
and the widening of State Route Highway 4 in order to run eBART through the
median. (eBART was originally designed to follow Union Pacific train tracks
instead of the freeway median, but this has been changed, causing a one-year
delay.) The freeway widening will take place 2010 through 2015 and will coincide
with eBART construction. Funding for this project (approximately $165 million)
comes from Measure J, a sales tax to fund transit, passed by Contra Costa County
voters in 2004. The City will not be scheduling any more meetings to discuss
eBart until after the new year.
June 2007
The City of Pittsburg will release the draft Specific
Plan at the beginning of August and have a public workshop sometime in
mid to late August. The City anticipates releasing a Draft Specific Plan
for review in September and a fourth public meeting in mid to late September.
If an EIR is not required, the Plan will go to the Planning Commission
in October or November and to the City Council in December 2007 or January
2008. Greenbelt Alliance will continue to work with coalition partners
to promote compact development around the eBART station, affordable homes,
minimal parking, and a youth center.
March 2007
The City of Pittsburg will be holding its third community workshop on
the draft specific plan on April 12 at 7:00pm and will be releasing
the Draft Specific Plan in early May. The City Council and Planning
Commission will be holding public hearings on the plan this summer
in hopes that the final plan can be approved this fall. Greenbelt Alliance
will continue to work with coalition partners in the Great Communities
Collaborative to promote transit-oriented development, affordable housing,
minimal parking, and a youth center, through commenting on the plan.
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