update:
The City Council will meet to
discuss the intermodal station district and transit facility plan.
8 p.m. Tuesday 2001 June 19
in the Council Conference Room,
34009 Alvarado-Niles Road.
Union City
Article last updated:
Wednesday, May 30, 2001 2:41 AM MST
Commission to consider downtown transit hub
By Meghan Ward
STAFF WRITER
UNION CITY -- A regional transportation hub that would include BART,
AC Transit, the Dumbarton Express and Union City Transit is the topic
of a report that will be reviewed tonight by the Planning Commission.
The intermodal station also could include Altamont Commuter Express
and Capital Corridor trains, Silicon Valley Commuter Rail, Dumbarton
Rail and a high-speed rail.
The proposed plan calls for a double-loop bus roundabout with 19 bus
stops, a transit plaza in front of BART, a plaza between BART and 11th
Street, a community commons between 11th Street and the former
Southern Pacific Railroad and a road that would encircle the station
area.
The plan also includes a surrounding downtown district with
high-density housing, office, retail and light industrial developments
and a community facility, such as a performing arts center.
While the immediate area occupies 50 acres, the surrounding
undeveloped and underdeveloped land could expand the downtown district
to 197 acres and take up to 20 years to build out. Construction on the
station itself is expected to begin in 2003 or 2004.
"We're going to start with some bus improvements and parking
improvements," said Mark Leonard, community development director for
Union City. "We'll build a stop for the Capital Corridor and there
will be some private development in the short term."
Three teams of people -- a general plan team, an intermodal action
team and a consultant team -- have spent six months creating a concept
plan for the district. Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris, the
architectural firm that designed the Caltrain station in San
Francisco, was hired in October 2000 to design the intermodal area.
The design includes a pedestrian- and bike-friendly downtown district
with lots of open space and amenities for commuters. Retail shops
could include a newsstand/bookstore, a deli or a florist.
Jaime Jaramillo, director of Centro de Servicios in the Decoto
district, said he will ask the Planning Commission to consider
incorporating a 40,000-square-foot social services center into the
project.
"They all talk about the good things that are happening in Union City,
but they don't talk about social services," Jaramillo said. "Centro de
Servicios has been for many years a Decoto program and we want to
change that image. We want to be a city-wide program."
Jaramillo said Paul Miller, executive director of the Tri-Cities
Children Center, is interested in forming a partnership with Centro de
Servicios if it can secure a location in the intermodal station area.
The commission will review the report a second time at its June 7
meeting before sending its recommendations to the City Council for
approval. The council has scheduled a June 19 work session to discuss
the report and the commission's recommendations.
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Meghan Ward covers Union City for The Argus. She can be reached at
(510) 353-7003 or[55] mward@angnewspapers.com.
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©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
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