Bay Fair TOD Zoning Amendments Approved
On October 4, 2021, the San Leandro City Council adopted the implementation of Zoning Code, Municipal Code, and Zoning Map Amendments to add new design and development regulations for the Bay Fair area and bring the Zoning Code into compliance with the adopted Bay Fair Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Specific Plan (Specific Plan). The adoption of Zoning is a critical step in implementing the 2018 Specific Plan and helps pave the way for future development and private investment in the area around the Bay Fair BART station.
The Bay Fair Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Specific Plan was adopted by the San Leandro City Council in February, 2018, following an extensive community engagement and planning process. The Specific Plan sets a vision for the Bay Fair area to become a walkable, transit-oriented community hub, with public gathering spaces, and a mix of retail, neighborhood services, housing, and office space. The Specific Plan covers issues such as allowable land uses, zoning recommendations, housing (market rate and affordable), anti-displacement, multi-modal street improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles, and infrastructure, as well as standards and guidelines for future development projects.
The adopted Zoning and Municipal Code amendments are the culmination of a multi-year, public planning effort to lay the groundwork to transform the 154-acre area surrounding the Bay Fair BART Station into a vibrant transit village with a diversity of land uses serving residents, workers, and visitors. The new Bay Fair Transit-Oriented Development (B-TOD) Zoning District extends to the full planning area and responds to recent requirements in state law by establishing objective development standards while also including opportunities for flexibility and a wide range of land uses to better align with future economic and development trends.
The Specific Plan and new B-TOD Zoning promote the long-term sustainability and vibrancy of the Bay Fair BART Station area and helps to establish it as a regional Priority Development Area (PDA) in order to:
- Provide greater access to public funding targeted to TOD areas;
- Incentivize/streamline the regulatory process for future TOD developments;
- Continue City and private investments in South San Leandro; and
- Add the final planning piece to the City’s East 14th Street corridor, following the East 14th South Area Strategy (2004) and the Downtown TOD Strategy (2007), all in compliance with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s regional Plan Bay Area 2040.
As an initial step to improve bike access in the Bay Fair area, the City of San Leandro will also restripe Fairmont Drive from Hesperian Blvd to East 14th Street to change the roadway from 3 lanes to 2 lanes in each direction during the week of October 18, 2021. This road diet was approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council and will allow installation of protected bicycle lanes. The new bicycle lanes will be shielded by concrete medians interspaced with delineators which will be installed by the end of November 2021.
Inquiries about the Bay Fair TOD can be communicated to Principal Planner Avalon Schultz at aschultz@sanleandro.org. Inquiries about the Hesperian Blvd road diet can be communicated to project manager John O’Driscoll at 510-577-3494.
Props to the City of San Leandro or Caltrans, the Alameda County Transportation Commission, or whatever government office installed a concrete median between cyclists and motorized traffic on Hesperian Boulevard between Fairmont Drive near Bayfair Center and Springlake Drive, a little north of Interstate 238.
That concrete median with shrubs and other landscaping, plastic bollards as a barrier ensures that vehicles are farther away from the curb as a way to create a lane for cyclists to travel nearer the curb.
This makes the bike lanes in this very dicey section of town *much* safer. That stretch of road can have as many as 30,000 vehicles passing along it each day. So thank you, thank you, thank you !