Acknowledging an “intense amount of public interest” during the Dec. 12, 2023, Planning Commission meeting to discuss rezoning of four “opportunity sites,” Planning Director Drummond Buckley addressed the community’s concerns at the Jan. 9 city council
meeting.
The planning department’s staff report reads, “Staff recommends the City Council receive the report, take public testimony, and provide feedback on next steps for implementation of the Downtown Precise Plan and Housing Element goals, policies and actions.”
There was strong public opposition to the rezoning of four sites to include 286 new dwellings, all located on Moraga Way and all within a short distance of each other.
Buckley’s presentation at the city council meeting specified a long list of public concerns, including:
• Increased traffic and congestion on Moraga Way and in South Orinda
• Vehicular accidents on Moraga Way
• Pedestrian and bicyclist safety
• School capacity
• Evacuation concerns
• Lack of infrastructure to support additional housing
• Concentration of rezonings in South Orinda
• Lack of notification prior to the meeting
In response, the Planning Department staff took the following actions after the meeting on Dec. 12:
• Prepared detailed minutes of all the comments, from both public speakers and the commissioners.
• Created a Plan Orinda Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), found at orindaca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=2396.
• Committed to making additional enhancements to the Plan Orinda website in the coming weeks and months with an implementation focus.
• Recommended a pause in rezoning of the opportunity sites on Moraga Way and a pivot to rezoning the downtown sites.
City Manager David Biggs remarked that the “pivot” would mean the next rezoning actions would focus on downtown, but rezoning the opportunity sites would need to be addressed in the future.
Mayor Darlene Gee asked Buckley to talk about the accomplishment of being one of only 13 of 109 municipalities in the Bay Area to have their Sixth Cycle Housing Element approved, and the public outreach that went into the plan.
Buckley said that the Plan Orinda process involved 15 public meetings about the Housing Element and probably another 15-20 meetings on related issues. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) approval of Orinda’s plan gives the city three years to complete the rezonings instead of a one-year deadline for cities without approved Housing Elements.
Gee emphasized that the city was required to plan for, but not required to build 1,359 new dwellings as part of the Housing Element. “The city must rezone to make way for new housing, but the city is not responsible for building housing,” said Gee.
“We create opportunities in compliance with the mandate,” added Biggs.
Ten Orindans took turns at the podium to uniformly express their opposition to rezoning the four sites, repeating many of the same objections in the staff report.
The feasibility of the CalTrans site (adjacent to Highway 24, Wilder Road exit) for housing development was raised, although the HCD rejected the inclusion of the site as part of Orinda’s current Housing Element cycle.
City staff noted CalTrans has a fairly onerous and complex process for using their land for anything but right-of-way and HCD rejected the CalTrans site out of concern about getting through that process in this eight-year cycle.
Gee noted that the CalTrans site is not eliminated for the long-term, but it’s not viable for this Housing Element cycle. For more information, visit planorinda.com.
