San Leandro Awarded $440,000 Planning Grant for Bayfair Area

Mayor Stephen Cassidy and the San Leandro City Council announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has awarded $440,000 in grant funding to San Leandro for a Priority Development Area (PDA) Planning Grant.

These grant funds will enable the City to prepare a specific or area-wide long-range plan and environmental study for the Bayfair Transit Village, which includes Bayfair Center and the adjacent Bayfair BART station.  These planning efforts are designed to facilitate the transformation of the area into a vibrant and sustainable transit-oriented neighborhood.

"This MTC grant is extremely important because it will enable the City to complete the final components of our long-range planning work for the Bayfair neighborhood," stated Mayor Cassidy.  "Coupled with recent efforts along East 14th Street and our downtown area, as well as the recently completed Industrial Workplace District Study, San Leandro has made tremendous progress towards achieving our vision of developing a diverse, sustainable community in which to live, work, shop and play."

A key objective in crafting the Bayfair Transit Village Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Plan is to achieve official regional designation as a Priority Development Area.  With this PDA designation, the City will be eligible to receive additional funding from various public agencies to implement the City's land use and development plans for the area.  Downtown San Leandro and the East 14th Street corridor currently hold this designation. 

Key partners in successfully implementing this initiative include BART, Madison Marquette (owner of Bayfair Center), Alameda County, the Alameda County Transportation Commission, and AC Transit.  

Key factors in MTC's decision to award Bayfair with these grant funds include the mixed-use development opportunities available in the area, the broad array of public and private partners, and the area's accessibility via public transit.  

San Leandro was one of 11 cities in the Bay Area to be awarded funding through this competitive grant program. Other cities who received funding include San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley, and Alameda.  This same grant program awarded funding to the City ten years ago in order to create and implement its acclaimed Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy, which ultimately facilitated the recent redevelopment of San Leandro Boulevard near the San Leandro BART station. 

Looking ahead, the City Council will consider signing an agreement with MTC later this year, which will provide the City with two and half years to prepare and adopt a TOD Specific Plan as well as the associated environmental review documents.  Similar to the Downtown TOD Strategy, the City will undertake a Request for Qualification process to select an experienced urban planning consultant who will assist in developing an extensive public outreach process that will include public meetings, and the creation of a community advisory committee to gather public input. 

For more information, please contact Tom Liao, Deputy Community Development Director at (510) 577-6003 ortliao@sanleandor.org. 

—City of San Leandro