Thank you to all the residents of Bayview, Montalvin Manor, and Tara Hills who joined us to discuss the guiding principles developed from the input received during first community meeting as part of Envision Contra Costa 2040! The 13 community members in attendance expanded upon the draft guiding principles with additional feedback and new concepts for the future of their community. From these conversations, the following ideas emerged:

• Construct resident-friendly pedestrian and transit infrastructure, including crosswalks, sidewalks, landscaping, bus shelters, and other streetscape improvements, both to create a comprehensive pedestrian transportation network and to improve community character.
• Address the high traffic congestion along San Pablo Avenue, Richmond Parkway, Tara Hills Drive, and adjacent surface streets, and consider development’s cumulative impacts on traffic congestion.
• Provide homeless residents with more services and housing to support their needs.
• Publicize County programs that assist in home rehabilitation to address aging housing stock and infrastructure challenges.
• Increase police presence and patrols to reduce crime.
• Employ Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design techniques to discourage criminal activity, including by increasing lighting, cleaning up blight, and improving the quality of streetscape environments.
• Increase transparency and communication with County officials, including through early community consultation about new development proposals.
• Support high-quality neighborhood-serving stores, including at the San Pablo Avenue and Tara Hills Drive intersection shopping center.
• Connect existing open spaces to create a contiguous, well-maintained trail along the shoreline for outdoor recreation and fishing.
• Establish urban agriculture uses on vacant lots to encourage community cohesion and health.

During the meeting, several participants asked about the East Bay Regional Park District’s (EBRPD) plans to construct another section of the Bay Trail in this area. County staff followed up with EBRPD after the meeting, and they reported that the District is in the process of hiring a consultant to work on an alignment study and cost estimates. Once the Point Wilson to Point Pinole alignment study is done, the District will begin looking for funding sources and move to a public input planning process. A map of the trail is available here.

Stay tuned on the Envision Contra Costa 2040 website for project updates and future meetings.

Link to the Draft Guiding Principles.

Link to the meeting presentation.