It is disheartening to discover that a councilmember that would most likely be in jail, or at least out of office, if it weren’t for the remaining councilmembers being a series of dastardly passive puppets, has such great influence on the developer of the Waterfront. What also remains unclear is exactly what AndersonPacific received in [...]
Councilmember Ed Balico will get his wish. A competition will be held to determine the names for the future streets and public spaces in the waterfront. For some reason, the existing Bayfront Boulevard is one of them. Finalists for the Waterfront’s main street include Balico Way, Corruptible Drive, and the very short, yet apt, Ego [...]
The City Council will receive a report on the Intermodal Station and Hercules Bayfront project at their next meeting on Tuesday — 7pm at City Hall. Other items on the agenda include:
Construction of an “innovative classroom” for the John Swett Unified School District. Cost: $15k.
Design work for the Bayfront Boulevard bridge. Cost: $78k.
Additional architecture work [...]
A workshop to discuss the implementation of an interpretive program for the parks and public spaces in the Waterfront is scheduled for Monday evening, 7pm, at the Senior Center (next door to City Hall).
The future Hercules Intermodal Station and “its relation to the Bay Trail will be discussed Thursday at a meeting of the Pinole/Hercules/East Bay Regional Park District [EBRPD] Joint Powers Agency board.” The meeting will be held at 2pm at Pinole’s City Hall.
The design team has been referring to the Bay Trail segment through the Hercules [...]
The City Council will adopt the Refugio Creek Watershed Vision Plan as guiding policy for future improvements in the watershed at its next meeting on Tuesday — 7pm at City Hall. The staff report states that “over 50 people, including representatives from other agencies, stakeholders, residents, and the general public participated in the workshops.” However, [...]
There has been some bad news around the bay recently for advocates of transit-oriented and mixed-use development (not to mention New Urbanism and smart growth)…
Several residents of San Carlos (on the peninsula) criticized plans for a mixed-use transit village (not unlike Hercules Bayfront), largely complaining of a lack of planned parking spaces. (via Streetsblog)
And on [...]
When the Planning Commission made their recommendation on the design of the train station on October 5, 2009, the commissioners asked the design team how the modern design of Alternative 1 would work with the planned development that would surround it. The design team deferred to the developer (Jim Anderson of AndersonPacific) to answer the [...]
EIR scoping comments are due… “Deadlines will fall the next two weeks for public comments on potential environmental impacts of two high-profile Hercules projects: an Intermodal Transit Center and the adjacent Hercules Bayfront mixed-use development. [...] The deadline for comments for Hercules Bayfront is Monday; for the Intermodal Transit Center, Dec. 30.”
I had discussed my [...]
A scoping meeting for the Intermodal Station’s EIR will be held today at 5:30pm at the Hercules Library.
The Intermodal Station is part of the Hercules Bayfront mixed-use New Urbanism project. Bayfront is a pedestrian-oriented development, and one big aspect has been the reduced number of lanes on John Muir Parkway, which was originally slated as [...]
The City will pay for an assistant principal at the Middle/High school for the current school year ($101k), as well as pay for a music teacher to rotate through all three elementary schools each week ($42.6k), as a result of the current financial woes of the school district (WCCUSD) and the State. The City Council [...]
The Times’ Eye on the East Bay column poked fun at Councilmember Ed Balico for oddly requesting that Bayfront Boulevard be renamed something more waterfront-sounding…
The Hercules development called Bayfront, in the estimation of Hercules Councilman Ed Balico, lacks a certain je ne sais quoi, a catchy ring that could vault it to the status of [...]
Councilmember Ed Balico demanded that Bayfront Boulevard be renamed in order to increase property values at the last City Council meeting (in a discussion on the design of the intermodal station). Balico offered Waterfront Drive as being “more appealing.” (At ~0:25, Balico says that “it has to be changed.”)
The argument that “waterfront” property is more [...]
As expected, the City Council unanimously recommended Alternative 1 as the preferred intermodal station design last night. The process has come to an end.
More surprising was Councilmember Ed Balico’s odd request that Bayfront Boulevard be renamed Waterfront Boulevard (or similar) so people will know that it is on the water. I’m confused too.
First, the entire [...]
A workshop is scheduled for Wednesday evening — 7pm at the library — to discuss the public plazas planned for the Waterfront. Punch and pie.
At this Monday’s Community Services Commission meeting — 7pm at City Hall — Assistant City Manager Lisa Hammon will be presenting an informational update on the parks, plazas, and open spaces that are a part of the Hercules Bayfront/Intermodal Transit Center project. This will include the plans for Hercules Point. (I believe the Bay Trail [...]
Below is the illustrative master plan of the revised Hercules Bayfront project. Changes include the termini at Sycamore Avenue and Bayfront Boulevard, a revised street grid for the Transit Village (northeast of Refugio Creek), and a reconfigured corporate campus centered around the historic Clubhouse (lower left).
Click image for large version.
Another big addition to AndersonPacific’s revised Hercules Bayfront plan is the signature building placed at the western end of Bayfront Boulevard. The building may become a boutique hotel, which would compete with draft plans for a boutique hotel in the Sycamore Crossing development, but a hotel closer to the ferry and rail station (and within [...]
One of the big (positive) changes to come out of the revised plans for the waterfront is the introduction of a formal terminus for Sycamore Avenue, adjacent to the Powder Keg and historic Administration Building…
The current configuration has left an unseemly large and nearly impassable intersection. (I typically readjust my watch each time I walk [...]
An informative update on the progress for development plans for the Waterfront and the long-awaited intermodal transit station is scheduled for Monday, June 1, from 6 to 8:30pm at City Hall.
The “latest and greatest” plans for the intermodal station will be presented to a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission. Additionally, there [...]