Opinion: The Alternative Blair Park Proposal
A letter from Margaret Ovenden, Tracey Woodruff, Andy Madeira, Ray Marshall, Mariam Marshall, Nancy Roscelli, Steve Baronian, Kimberly Moses, Reed Foster, Karen Franchino, Cathy Girr, Kara Christenson on the alternative Blair Park proposal:
To the Editor:
As parents of school-aged kids who play sports, we’re in favor of reasonable development of new recreational space. Although we appreciate the efforts of PRFO to do this at Blair Park, an alternative proposal has emerged that we believe merits serious consideration. This proposal is to expand Coaches Field westward by extending the fill area into the canyon, possibly expanding eastward by cutting into the Corporation Yard, as well as putting in a very much smaller field at Blair. This would create almost the same amount of new field space as the currently proposed Blair project, at a lesser expense, without having to loom out over Moraga Avenue and cut into a hillside with homes on top.
Everyone should view the story poles erected at Blair Park to experience how massive the currently proposed project is. The poles show the level of canyon infill, the cut into the wooded hillside, and the large retaining wall next to Moraga Avenue. In contrast, the Coaches alternative is much less intrusive and would be almost invisible to passersby.
The Coaches alternative would also probably cost less, because of its lesser scale. Our City is already stretched to its limit by the general economic situation and the cost overruns from undergrounding. And we now have financial responsibility for the swimming pool. Should we also expose ourselves to the public financial risk that the proposed project entails without fully exploring the alternatives? In addition, the long-term operation and replacement costs for the proposed Blair project have not been provided to the community, and we believe approving the project without this information would be imprudent.
The proponents of the Blair project say we have to act now because the lease for Alameda soccer fields is running out. But we do have time. The City of Alameda is preparing an RFP for leases on these fields, so our teams still may be able to use them. An EIR was developed for an even larger project at Coaches in the 1980’s, so we already have much information about what the impact of development in that area would be. This needs to be updated, and a solid cost estimate for the Coaches expansion developed.
The City’s approval process appears to be moving very quickly. We urge PRFO, the Commissions and the City Council to take the time to carefully consider the Coaches field alternative proposals.
— Margaret Ovenden, Tracey Woodruff, Andy Madeira, Ray Marshall, Mariam Marshall, Nancy Roscelli, Steve Baronian, Kimberly Moses, Reed Foster, Karen Franchino, Cathy Girr, Kara Christenson
(This letter expresses the personal opinions of its authors. All statements made are the opinion of the writers and not necessarily those of the Piedmont Civic Association.)
Filling in the canyon would be a major undertaking, but extending the field space into the corporation yard area seems feasable. You do need to create a smaller corp yard somewhere, but it certainly doesn’t need to be as large as the current yard.
It would be great to see plans and conceptual drawings for this proposal.