Story Pole Tour Puts Blair Park Plan in 3-D Perspective

It would take a lot of earth moving to turn into a level playing field. The description in the recently (EIR) estimates approximately 13,200 cubic yards of dirt would be dug out of the hillside and the eastern end of the park, and 15,800 cubic yards would be piled up at the western end to construct a proposed sports field development. Numerous utilities would also have to be moved to make way for turf and parking lots. A tour around the that have been set up to indicate how the project would fit on the site (which I took twice this week) leaves an impression of just how much and how many.

The poles mark the locations of structures and key points along the perimeter of the proposed development plotted in the original plan that was the subject of the EIR.

The Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO), which is backing the project, has made revisions to the plan analyzed by the EIR–including replacing a small turf field with a grass one and taking out a pedestrian bridge across Moraga Avenue. However, those revisions, which helped secure the for the project last month, don't change the overall dimensions marked by the story poles.

The green sections of the poles, as City Planner Kate Black and project opponent Joannie Semtekol pointed out as they led on separate days this week, show the fill to field level; the white poles represent structures that would be above ground, like retaining walls and fencing.

Starting at the eastern end of the park, the green section of the first pole you encounter pokes up just a foot or two above ground near the existing pull off where the far edge of the smaller of two planned fields would be.

The green section of the next pole is planted between where the two fields would go–I'm 5'1" and it reaches just over my head.

The green pole marking what would be the far end of the large turf field soars into the pines, with the white section representing the fence that would go up to keep balls from flying into the street getting lost against the sky. 

Directly across the park from there, a muddy trail leads the way up the hillside to a white pole marking the edge of the fence that would rise above the retaining wall behind the fields. The next pole marking the apex of the fence is still further up and barely visible among the trees.

On the west end of the park, markers for a proposed parking lot straddle a telephone pole; on the other end, parking lot markers stick out of the dirt on either side of a fire hydrant.