Politics & Government

Pierce Briefs Council on Bay Area Growth Plan

Councilmember Julie Pierce told the council that a plan for Clayton's housing and jobs requirements for the future are reasonable.

The actual items on Tuesday's City Council agenda weren't of the utmost importance.

The council approved nine items on its consent calendar; it heard from the new 4th District Contra Costa County Supervisor, Karen Mitchoff, about redistricting (Clayton is unlikely to switch districts) and budget challenges; it unanimously approved three action items: updating construction codes and development mitigation fees and Vice Mayor Howard Geller removed himself from the Contra Costa Transit Authority.

But maybe the most interesting thing to come out of the meeting was from the council's longest serving council member, Julie Pierce.

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During the council members reports to its fellow members, Pierce briefed the council on the Initial Vision Scenario for the Sustainable Communities Strategy. It's a long-range Bay Area-wide effort to reduce pollution by keeping growth sustainable in the region.

The initial plan calls for Clayton to increase households in the city by 3.1 percent over the next 25 years, going from 3,966 households to 4,090 households. On jobs, the plan would like Clayton to add 284 by 2035, a 32.5 percent increase.

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Though this was only the initial scenario and revisions to the plan are expected over the next two years, Pierce said she thought the plan's goals for the city were reasonable.

"I've been screaming forever that we are out on the end of the culdesac with a once an hour bus during the week only," Pierce said. "So we're not a logical place for big growth."

Larger cities with easy access to transportation like BART and freeways are expected to grow much more. For example, the initial scenario asks Concord to increase households by 41.7 percent and jobs by 50 percent by 2035.

The scenario is currently in the public discussion stage and local governments, among others, will give their input before a plan is finalized, but Pierce doesn't expect Clayton's goals to change drastically.


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