Today, elected officials heard a report on the opening round of public outreach for updating Plan Bay Area 2040, the region’s long-term transportation, land-use, and housing blueprint.
Initial outreach efforts have included a series of open houses across the Bay Area that roughly 600 total residents attended in April and May. These open houses provided an introduction to the Plan Bay Area 2040 update process while gathering stakeholder comments on the update’s goals and performance framework.
In ranking current Plan Bay Area goals, stakeholders demonstrated the strongest preference for prioritizing transportation system effectiveness, followed by adequate housing:
Many comments specifically favored more transit alternatives, extended hours of transit service, greater reliability and connectivity of the transportation network, and further support of bicycle and pedestrian projects. Some comments requested the addition of goals pertaining to water supply, automobiles, property rights, and education, while others reflected concern over the impact of housing growth on infrastructure, services, and the environment. Residents in the North Bay counties of Napa, Solano, and Sonoma showed a stronger preference for preserving agricultural lands and open space. Some stakeholders proposed that climate protection should be an overall goal that all of the other goals should support.
Moving forward, an important next step in the Plan Bay Area 2040 process will happen on July 10, when staff from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments offer recommendations about the goals at a joint meeting of the two agencies.