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Downtown Planners, Transportation Committee to Hold Joint Meeting
The committee helping formulate the new downtown plan will hold a joint meeting with the city Transportation Commission Wednesday.
The meeting, which focuses on transportation issues to be addressed in the plan, follows by a week another joint session with the Landmarks Preservation Commission which addressed historical structures in the downtown.
The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee was created as a result of the settlement of a city suit over UC Berkeley’s plans for development through 2020.
The university plans to add about a million square feet of office, museum and other space in the downtown within that period.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at the corner of Martin Luther king Jr. Way.
Scheduled speakers include:
• John Holtzclaw of the Sierra Club Transportation Commission speaking on transportation and land use;
• AC Transit Project Manager Jim Cunradi and planning consultant Sam Zimmerman-Bergman of Community Design + Architecture planning consultants speaking on Bus Rapid Transit and alternative proposals for the downtown BART plaza;
• Greg Tung of Friedman, Tung and Bottomley, a San Francisco planning firm, addressing the design of boulevards and streets to handle multiple modes of transit;
• Dave Campbell of the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition discussing bike plans and possible improvements, and
• A speaker talking about “City-UC Transportation Demand Management.”
• James Patton of the Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project has been tentatively booked to talk about pedestrian issues.
Parking will be addressed in a future session, reported Matt Taecker, the planner hired to assist in creating the downtown plan.