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Public hearing for BART extension to Livermore
PLEASANTON — Residents can voice their opinion today on nine possible routes to extend BART service into Livermore.
A public hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. today in the city council chambers, 200 Old Bernal Ave.
In a draft environmental report released in November by BART, there are nine possible routes being considered in this very early planning stage. Five of the routes would have tracks leave the median of Interstate 580 near El Charro Road and cut through the east side of Pleasanton on land that set to house the long-awaited Staples Ranch project.
Staples Ranch is a 124-acre site at the junction of I-580 and El Charro Road. Among the elements to be included in the development is a 45-acre senior continuing care facility, a 37-acre auto mall, 11 acres of retail, a 17-acre community park that would include a 141,679-square foot indoor ice skating facility and a 5-acre neighborhood park.
BART has held two previous public hearings in Livermore, but added the Pleasanton meeting at the request of City Manager Nelson Fialho. Fialho sent a e-mail to BART project manager Malcolm Quint in November after finding out about the routes that cut through Pleasanton.
Pleasanton city officials have said they support extending BART service to Livermore, but only with plans that keep it on the freeway median.
The five routes that cut through east Pleasanton all deviate from Interstate 580 just before El Charro Road and head through Pleasanton and then east at Stanley Boulevard and into downtown Livermore. Three of the routes go through downtown Livermore and end at a station near Greenville Road, while the two other alternatives end at stations at Isabel Avenue and Stanley Boulevard or in downtown Livermore.
The BART extension could take from 10 to 25 years and cost from $1.12 billion to $3.8 billion, depending on which route is chosen.
The deadline for written comments to be submitted on the plan was also extended at the request of Fialho and ends Jan. 21, the same date that BART will hold its final public hearing in Livermore.
Robert Jordan covers Dublin and Pleasanton, contact him at 925-847-2184.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oakland...ws/ci_14127976
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Im gonna have to side with Pleasanton on this one. Keep BART along 580 just like it is along 24. Its probably cheaper, will cause far less of a construction headache for residents and you wont have to chop up neighborhoods-plus many of Pleasanton's ritziest neighborhoods would fight tooth and nail and this would delay or even nix the project altogether.
Especially if BART is going to go thru Ruby Hill, which is fast becoming NorCal's version of Westlake Village.