Archive for January, 2009
by John M. Zukoski on January 31, 2009 | 
1 Comment | Topics: Things To Do
Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held on March 14th starting at 9:30am. Here’s a quick summary of the route for the 2009 parade. The route for the 2008 parade can be found here. Please click on the picture below to get a larger overview satellite picture.
- Route starts at corner of Dublin Boulevard and Amador Plaza Road
- East on Dublin Boulevard
- North on Village Parkway
- West on Amador Valley Boulevard
- End at Donohue Drive by the Dublin Senior Center
One thing to note is that there will be road closures in Downtown Dublin to accommodate the parade. The City will post advance notice of the road closures and corresponding detour routes. Click here for a bit more detail on the road closures.
by John M. Zukoski on January 28, 2009 | 2 Comments | Topics: Things To Do
Camp Galileo will be returning to Dublin this summer for their second year at John Green Elementary School. Camp Galileo is a fun-filled summer camp that inspires pre-K through 5th grade kids to imagine new ideas, collaborate with peers, and express themselves creatively. Kids at Camp Galileo enjoy art, science, and outdoor programming every day, wrapped in fun camp traditions delivered by highly enthusiastic staff.
Each week of camp features a Science & Art theme and outdoor activities all tied together by a common storyline. As the week progresses, activities become more sophisticated and build toward a culminating project. This year’s camp themes are:
- Green Design & African Art
- Invent It! & Mythology
- Building Big & Making It Modern
One of the wonderful aspects of Camp Galileo’s program is that they set aside 10% of their available spots for scholarships – or $450K for all camp sites in 2009. Camp Galileo’s program also provides:
- Dublin with roughly 20 summer jobs for local educators; and
- John Green Elementary School with much-needed rental fees during the summer.
Camp Galileo starts on June 22nd this year and will run until July 31st. Kids can attend camp for 1 week, 2 weeks, or 3 weeks (with a $50 discount and 50% off extended care for the 3rd week). Extended care will be available in the morning and late afternoon to accommodate working parents.
Camp Galileo provides a tremendous value when considering:
- The alternative cost of a babysitter or daycare; and
- The rich memories and experiences that will benefit camp participants for the rest of their lives. It is no wonder that Camp Galileo has a 96% approval rating with parents and a 100% approval rating with my little brother and parents.
There’s a whole bunch of additional information at Camp Galileo’s website. Additionally, please feel free to contact Camp Galileo at 1-800-854-3684 or info@galileo-learning.com if you have any related questions.
by John M. Zukoski on January 27, 2009 | No Comments | Topics: City Hall
The Dublin Planning Commission will be meeting on Tuesday night at 7pm in the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Plaza. The primary focus of Tuesday night’s meeting will be to prioritize the Planning Commission’s preliminary 2009-2010 Goals and Objectives. Some of the high priority items expected to be at the top of the list include:
- Add a parking review of the high-density area around the Dublin Ranch Villages.
- Streamlining the entitlement process for businesses looking to open up shop in Dublin (as part of Mayor Tim Sbranti’s economic incentive program).
- Implement the residential development at the East Dublin BART Station Transit Village.
The Planning Commission will have a joint study session with the City Council on Saturday February 7th to make a case for their preliminary 2009-2010 Goals and Objectives. The City Council is expected to finalize Dublin’s 2009-2010 Goals and Objectives during a March 31st study session.
The Planning Commission is also expected to formally deny Iroonet’s request to operate a boarding house in Dublin Ranch.
Please contact Dublin’s Planning Department at 925-833-6610 or planning.mgr@ci.dublin.ca.us if you have any related questions or feedback related to these items.
by John M. Zukoski on January 24, 2009 | 8 Comments | Topics: Polls
The City of Dublin is committed to providing public art throughout the city. The Dublin Fine Arts Foundation was formed in 1988 to “pursue artistic excellence in all cultural activities.” Dublin’s Public Art Policy was formed in 1997 to encourage private art in public places. Examples of these works include “Dublin Time” located at the Downtown Safeway on Dublin Boulevard and “Festivity” at the Ulferts Center (the red and chrome symbols of chopsticks and dim sum).
The funding for public art in private developments is provided by developers. All non-residential projects (e.g., the Promenade) and residential projects with more than 20 units are required to make a contribution to the public art fund. The current fee is set at 1/2% of the building valuation.
- As an example, the total building valuation at Phase I of the Promenade is $26M. At a rate of 1/2%, the project developer will be required to contribute $130K to the Dublin public art fund for artwork that will be placed in front of ClubSport.
The 1/2% fee is then “baked” into the home prices and lease payments that residents and businesses pay.
The City of Dublin also places public art in parks and community gathering places. For example, Dublin contributed $105K for the public art project at the Shannon Community Center.
While many residents feel that Dublin’s public art program provides many benefits such as inspiring civic pride among residents, some residents aren’t as enthusiastic. As recently noted by one Dublin resident, “I believe we spend too much on large sculptures, etc. It’s one thing if it’s some decorative feature, but isn’t nice landscaping and building design much more memorable and pleasing than (a statue)?” Another school of thought is that the residents and businesses of Dublin would be better served to have the 1/2% public art fee at least temporarily diverted into infrastructure projects to provide additional parking and improve traffic circulation in Dublin’s problem areas.
This week’s poll question is – What do you think about Dublin’s Public Art Program?
by John M. Zukoski on January 23, 2009 | 5 Comments | Topics: Parks
The 700 ft. Alamo Canal Trail undercrossing at the intersection of I-580 and I-680 will be THE first East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) trail connection between Dublin and Pleasanton. As noted by Dublin Parks Commissioner and 2007 Citizen of the Year Rich Guarienti, “closure of this trail gap will provide a new and safe bicycle and pedestrian crossing between Dublin and Pleasanton. Many cyclists now use either the Dougherty Rd./Hopyard Rd. or the San Ramon Rd./Foothill Rd. freeway overcrossings to get between the two cities. This can be quite hazardous at some times of the day. This project would help alleviate this problem.
As a member of the Dublin Parks and Community Services Commission, the East Bay Regional Parks Advisory Committee, and the ACTIA Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, I have been a long time supporter and advocate for this project.”
The Alamo Canal Trail connection will provide an uninterrupted 25-mile non-motorized corridor from historic Martinez to Pleasanton (with a connection at Centennial Trail near Johnson Drive). Please click on the picture below for a larger view of the Alamo Canal Trail Connection site plan.
Funding for the $3M Alamo Canal Trail connection will come from a variety of sources. The recently passed Measure WW will provide $630K of the required funds and ACTIA will be kicking in a $235K grant. The California River Parkways Grant Program is also expected to contribute funding to complete the connection.
Please contact the City of Dublin’s Senior Civil Engineer Ferd Del Rosario at (925) 833-6637 or ferd.delrosario@ci.dublin.ca.us for additional details regarding this project.
by Around Dublin Team on January 21, 2009 | 1 Comment | Topics: Announcements
The Around Dublin Team created the Around Dublin Facebook Group on October 12, 2008, to facilitate interaction among readers who would like to take a more active role in our community. The Around Dublin Team wanted to leverage Facebook’s social networking capabilities to promote more resident involvement in our city governance and empower like-minded readers to engage in their own actions.
Unfortunately, the Around Dublin Facebook Group has not lived up to the high expectations the Around Dublin Team had for it. The one most glaring deficiency of a Facebook Group is that it cannot host applications. A Facebook Fan Page, on the other hand, can fully support rich media and interactive applications like an RSS reader and a photo album to engage visitors and fans. An RSS reader is important, because it provides another venue for the Around Dublin Blog to serve its content. The photo album application is essential, because pictures can now be organized into logical categories; this basic feature is not available to a Group Page. A Fan Page also allows the page administrator to maintain a personal/professional distinction on Facebook, while a Group Page does not. The Around Dublin Team prefers that all content posting on Facebook appear as coming from the Around Dublin brand and not from any particular individual who happens to be the Group administrator. Finally, a Fan Page allows the Around Dublin Team to send non-obtrusive Facebook Updates to our growing community, while the only option for direct communication via the Group Page is mass emailing, a solution that is extremely unappealing on many levels. The Around Dublin Team would like to thank Adriel Hampton and his blog post titled Facebook Pages are Better than Groups for motivating us toward the better solution that is the Fan Page.
In summary, the Around Dublin Fan Page offers everything the Group Page does and so much more. We at the Around Dublin Team apologize for any inconvenience this move to the new Fan Page may have caused. We appreciate your understanding and are looking forward to seeing everyone there soon. Thank again for your continued support.
by John M. Zukoski on January 19, 2009 | 4 Comments | Topics: City Hall
UPDATE: Please check out a summary of the Council’s decision on the Promenade project at Dublin Townhall
The City Council will be meeting at 7pm on Tuesday night at 100 Civic Plaza. The most notable items to be discussed include:
Promenade Phase I
The City Council will consider the appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to adopt a “Shared Parking” model at Phase I of the Promenade. The Planning Commission recently approved a developer’s request to provide 500 parking spaces at Phase I of the Promenade vs. the 541 spaces required by Dublin’s Zoning Ordinance.
A Dublin resident appealed the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council based on the principle that the Shared Parking Study approved by the Planning Commission does not take into account the existing street parking shortage at the Dublin Ranch Villages and that if this had been taken into account, the Shared Parking Study would have required all 541 parking spaces specified by Dublin’s Zoning Ordinance.
Commission Appointments
The Dublin City Council will consider the approval of Mayor Tim Sbranti’s Commission and Committee appointments:
- Planning Commission – Alan Brown to fill the position recently vacated by newly-appointed Councilmember Don Biddle.
- Heritage & Cultural Arts Commission – Sonal Nuckols to fill the position recently vacated by newly-appointed Planning Commissioner Eric Swalwell.
- Senior Advisory Committee – Delilah Vanderpool and Jeanette Villegas
- Housing Committee – Christine Kachuaea and Ramoncito “Jing” Fermeza.
Request For Community Development Block Grant Funding
The City Council will consider City Staff’s recommendation to request funds for various local non-profit agencies as part of Dublin’s 2009-2010 $80,524 Community Development Block Grant funding request.
Please join the Around Dublin Team at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
by John M. Zukoski on January 17, 2009 | 21 Comments | Topics: Development
Avalon II is a mixed use project that will be built at the East Dublin BART Station Transit Village on the 7.2 acre site that is currently being used to provide surface-level parking. Once this project is built, there will be approximately 1,100 fewer parking spaces at the East Dublin BART Station. The impact of having fewer spaces should be at least partially offset by the 1,200 parking spaces that will be available at the West Dublin BART Station.
Avalon II will be located to the south of the Elan and Avalon I projects with a future hotel/office development planned to the east. Please click on the picture above for a few conceptual illustrations drawn from different perspectives of the Avalon II project. Some of the project highlights include:
- 405 apartments spread across 2 buildings.
- 15,115 sq. ft. of retail space.
- 720 total parking spaces (includes 36 street-side parking spaces). While this is 66 more parking spaces than what is required by Dublin’s parking ordinance, Avalon II’s parking ratio of 1.67 spaces/apartment is significantly less than the first Avalon project.
Another feature of Avalon II is the 1-acre village greenbelt area known as Campbell Green. This park-like area features ample lawn areas and seating beneath wood trellises. The expectation is that Campbell Green will be accessible by residents and visitors exiting the East Dublin BART Station.
One twist with the Avalon II project is that the Master Development Agreement only requires the developer to designate 10% of the 405 apartments as affordable rate housing vs. the standard 12.5% applicable to all other projects subject to Dublin’s existing Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance.
Planning for Avalon II is still in the early stages and further changes are expected based on Planning Commission and City Council feedback in the months ahead. Please check back on Around Dublin for more details as they become available.
by John M. Zukoski on January 14, 2009 | 21 Comments | Topics: Parks
Dublin’s Parks and Community Service department hosted a community workshop tonight to provide a status on the progress of Phase IV of the Emerald Glen Master Plan (please click on the image above for an illustration). The Emerald Glen Recreation and Aquatics Complex will be a Silver LEED certified facility with state of the art amenities for Dublin’s residents (i.e., it will be uber-green and the envy of the Tri-Valley).
The funding for Phase IV of the project will come from two primary sources – 1) $19.6M of development impact fees (from residential and commercial projects); and 2) earmarks in the General Fund. Because of the economic slowdown, Dublin is still striving to obtain the balance of the $19.6M of impact fees. However, the City still estimates that we should see the first part of Phase IV open to the public by summer 2012. So what will be included in the first part of Phase IV?
Residents attending the workshop had a bumper crop of feedback for the project’s architect (Dahlin Group). Two primary “must-haves” were identified during the discussions:
- Competitive Lap Pool and Teaching Pool – the dimensions of the competitive lap pool would need to be 50 meters by 25 yards with a deep end to ensure that Dublin could host swim meets, water polo events, and diving competitions.
- Indoor Gymnasium – hardwood flooring would allow for basketball, volleyball, badminton, and other activities that could be enjoyed year-round.
A few of the other items that residents noted they’d most like to have included a splash/play area, multi-purpose facility, child care, a fitness facility with a rock climbing wall, an elevated running track above the pool, and an entry desk and cafe area (ice cream for the kids and lattes for mom and dad). Assistant Director of Parks and Community Services Paul McCreary also noted that there will be 200 permanent parking spaces added as part of Phase IV. Presumably, the Recreation and Aquatics Complex would also need to have locker rooms, showers, and an administrative area.
The last phase of Emerald Glen Park is expected to include a Community Center, lake, and outdoor amphitheater. The timing of this facility will depend on the pace of development in eastern Dublin and the collection of community facility impact fees.
The next public workshop will be in approximately 10 weeks. Please check back on Around Dublin for the date/time and location.
One thing to note is that there will be road closures in Downtown Dublin to accommodate the parade. The City will post advance notice of the road closures and corresponding detour routes. Click here for a bit more detail on the road closures.
