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Politics & Government

Council Eyes Special Blair Park Meeting April 25

The agenda will address Moraga Avenue traffic safety alternatives.

The Piedmont City Council has tentatively scheduled a special off-week meeting — Monday, April 25 — to address only one item: the next stage of the Blair Park athletic field development.

The meeting is tentative as City Administrator Geoff Grote checks schedules. The council schedule would be for a regular meeting with a regular, varied agenda April 18, and then tentatively a special meeting April 25 devoted to Blair Park, formally known as “the Moraga Canyon Sports Fields” project.

At a March 21-22 meeting, the council passed a resolution requesting the Piedmont Recreation Facilities Organization, a nonprofit residents’ group, to submit plans for the construction of a canyonside field in Blair Park. At that time, the council requested PRFO give a report listing additional traffic safety alternative options for Moraga Avenue.

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The city intends to list those alternatives and have them posted on the city Web site 10 days before a meeting to consider them, said Grote. The city attorney and environmental consultant will also address those alternatives and whether further environmental study will be required, he added.

Blair Park was not on the council’s agenda Monday night, but two residents did voice opinions.

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Barbara Peters urged the council to authorize an independent estimate of the cost estimates of PRFO. She said the council should get a clear understanding of how much PRFO will cover of those costs, and “how much of the cost will fall back on the city, that is, the taxpayers.”

Her points were echoed by her husband, former Mayor Al Peters, who implored the council “to give the community some concept of what Moraga Canyon is going to cost.”

At the March 21-22 hearing, PRFO representatives pledged that they would finance Phase I of the Blair Park plan, estimated at $5 million, including grading for a multipurpose athletic field, new sewer lines in the area, retaining walls with tie-backs and plantings, parking, pedestrian walkways and a pedestrian-activated flashing crosswalk across Moraga Avenue. (The council asked for other traffic mitigation alternatives to compare to the flashing crosswalk.)

Phase 2 would add plantings and walkways in the “glade” area, which could be used for sports practices, and a building housing a snack bar and restrooms. Phases 1 and 2 would cost $6.5 million, said Clarence Mamuyac, an architect and PRFO leader.

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