Wednesday: Waterfront Committee to Discuss Berkeley Lab Proposal for Golden Gate Fields

The city's Waterfront Committee will discuss the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's proposed second campus Wednesday night. 

Golden Gate Fields racetrack is for the lab site. 

Committee members will weigh the proposal, along with a range of range of documents, which are linked below.

According to the staff report prepared for Wednesday's meeting, "The (Golden Gate Fields) development team has a deadline of September 30 to submit information to the University. The University will review the materials from the six finalists, and is expected to make an announcement of a preferred site in November 2011."

Committee Chairman Francesco Papalia emailed hundreds of Albany residents Tuesday to let them know about the meeting. His email contained several facts about the plan:

• Phase One of Berkeley Lab's second Campus will include 500,000 sq. ft. of lab space, with room for 1.5 million sq. ft. of expansion over time and a 3,000 foot long particle accelerator.
• The plan will require a Measure C Vote in Albany and a Measure N Vote in Berkeley. A majority of the electorate in each city must approve the required zoning changes.
• The Berkeley Lab buildings will be locked to the public but the campus will be open to the public to use.
• Since the Berkeley Lab Campus may be exempt from Albany taxes, the project must include taxable commercial development and/or a fee from the developer in lieu of taxes to the City and the School District.
• Since the developer believes that the best place to site the lab for a successful design is in Albany, the Berkeley portion of the site could have the most commercial taxable development. A revenue share agreement between the two cities would be necessary so that Albany would receive our fair share of the revenue. A similar agreement exists between the Cities of Oakland and Emeryville that allowed the planning of a commercial development that crossed those city’s boundaries.
• The present plan includes two parks: a large one along the shore that includes part of the upper portion of the Fleming Point and the smaller park along Codornices Creek. Also note there is a Class 1 Bicycle path around the site with a Bay Trail Connector along the shore and along the freeway with bike and pedestrian paths throughout the site.

Papalia concluded his email saying, "I see the essential question is: How do we calculate the proper balance between open space/recreational opportunities with the amount of development that will make the project feasible and worth the developer/owner’s risk of time, land and capital.

"Please come and weigh in on this issue. Help us all find the acceptable middle ground for a majority of Albanians."

Staff Report
RFQ
Economic Impact report (March 2010)
Lawrence Berkeley Lab Presentation
Land Use
Voices to Vision, Final
Voices to Vision 2, Interview
Voices to Vision 2, Background
Session Summary
Q&A Handout
Golden Gate Fields, Presentation
Golden Gate Fields, Section Drawing

Racetrack developers are holding a to answer questions about their process, and about the project. Upcoming open house dates include Sept. 12, Sept. 19 and Sept. 26 from 4–7 p.m. at .

Read more about the process for selecting the proposed second campus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Albany Patch here.

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Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com.