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Comprehensive Planning Highlights


 

San Leandro, California 2035 General Plan Update (2014 -2016)

In March 2014, the team of Barry Miller Consulting and Placeworks (Berkeley) was selected to update the San Leandro General Plan. Barry served as project manager for San Leandro’s previous Plan update in 1998-2001, and also authored the City’s two previous Housing Elements. The 2015-2023 Housing Element was completed in just six months, and received State certification in November 2014. Barry and the PlaceWorks team are currently developing new land use, transportation, and sustainability policies for San Leandro, and updating the City’s General Plan Map. The project is due to be completed in early 2016.

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San Leandro community meeting

Albany, California General Plan (2013- 2015)

Albany is one of the most densely populated cities in California, with 18,500 residents in just 1.7 square miles. The city is known for its traditional neighborhoods, strong sense of community, great schools, and engaged citizenry. In March 2013, Barry Miller was retained to update Albany’s General Plan, including the Housing Element. This was the City’s first Plan update in over 20 years. The 2035 Plan includes strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists, linking the city to its waterfront, and expanding affordable housing opportunities. Most of the 825 new housing units anticipated by the Plan will be along San Pablo Avenue. The Plan envisions the Avenue’s transformation into a walkable shopping street with new businesses, multi-family housing, and enhanced public space. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.

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Albany Street Fair public input

Newark, California General Plan (2012-13)

Barry was the project manager and author of the Newark, California General Plan in 2012-2013. Working with the Berkeley office of Placeworks, who served as prime contractor and EIR consultant, Barry completed the update of the Plan update in just 11 months. The prior Plan had been adopted in 1991 and did not reflect emerging issues and growth opportunities. The key task was to incorporate several area plans, covering most of the city’s potential growth areas, into the General Plan while establishing an overarching framework for Newark’s future. The General Plan envisions a 45 percent increase in the number of housing units by 2035, and expands Newark’s position as a growth hub for the technology and logistics sectors.


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Newark city fair

Orinda Housing Element (2013)

Barry Miller assisted the City of Orinda in achieving its first-ever state-certified Housing Element. Orinda is largely a community of single family homes on large lots. Changes in state law required that the City plan for multi-family housing as well as single family homes in order to meet the needs of all income groups. This required rezoning a key parcel of land, as well as new rules for secondary dwellings and mixed use development. Barry worked with state reviewers and City staff to draft an Element that recognized Orinda’s unique context while meeting state requirements.


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Downtown Orinda, CA

Washington, DC Comprehensive Plan (2003-2006)

From 2003 to 2006, Barry was employed as the Associate Director of Comprehensive Planning for the District of Columbia. He relocated to Washington, DC to manage the first major revision of the city’s Comprehensive Plan in more than two decades. In this capacity, he served as lead author of the Plan, the point person for public, local, and federal government input, and the manager of a consulting team that included 11 separate firms.

The Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital presents a strategy for making Washington, DC a more environmentally sustainable, equitable, and inclusive city. The Plan includes policies and programs to revitalize neighborhoods, avoid displacement, increase affordable housing, balance competing demands for land, link residents to jobs, provide transportation alternatives, restore rivers and streams, and rebuild the District’s infrastructure and schools. The Plan update included over 800 amendments to the city’s Future Land Use Map, creating growth opportunities around transit stations, along corridors, and on underutilized land across the city.


small graphic depicting an award ribbon    Award winner:  National Capital Chapter APA

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Rowhouses in Washington, DC

Fremont General Plan Update (2007-2011)

Barry assisted the City of Fremont in the update of its 1991 General Plan. This Bay Area city of 215,000 residents seeks to become the national model for transforming an auto-oriented suburb into a strategically urban, modern city. The Plan focuses on directing growth to the city’s existing BART station and two new BART stations that are under construction. Barry drafted the Plan’s Land Use and Transportation Elements. He also prepared a new element of the General Plan consisting of 11 “community plans” for subareas of the city. Barry has served as “peer advisor” on other elements of the Plan, and worked as an extension of staff on Plan workshops and Council study sessions.

small graphic depicting an award ribbon    Award winner:  Northern California APA

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Map of Fremont from the plan document

Concord General Plan Amendments (2009-2011)

As a subcontractor to Arup, a prominent consulting firm, Barry was part of the team responsible for amending the Concord General Plan to incorporate a new vision for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station. This 5,000+ acre military base was used for munitions storage for over 60 years. Following a three-year base reuse and closure process, Barry was retained by Arup to assist in preparation of an Area Plan and a series of General Plan text and map amendments to reflect the added development and conservation opportunities on the site. The site is planned for more than 12,000 housing units and 6 million square feet of non-residential floor space along with a 2,500-acre new regional park and network of greenbelts. Community design and planning emphasize principles of sustainability, with most of the development clustered around a BART station and an overarching emphasis on bikes, pedestrians, transit, green building, and energy conservation.

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Concord Naval Weapons Station Reuse Area

San Leandro General Plan Update (1998-2002)

San Leandro is an “inner ring” suburb of about 80,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the city was developed during the 1940s and 1950s. The city decided to update its General Plan in 1998 in response to changing demographics, shifting land use patterns, and a myriad of urban design and economic development issues. Barry was the consulting project manager and principal planner for the project. The Update included extensive data collection and analysis, preparation of a new Land Use Map, development of policies and programs, and completion of an Environmental Impact Report. More than 100 public meetings were held, including a large community fair and several town meetings. Major themes of the Plan include conservation of older residential neighborhoods, development of transit villages around the city’s two BART stations, revitalization of the Downtown area, creative reuse of older industrial lands, and reshaping auto-oriented shopping districts to be more attractive and pedestrian friendly.


small graphic depicting an award ribbon    Award winner:  Cal Chapter APA

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photograph of the San Leandro marina

Danville General Plan (1998-99 and 2011-13)

Barry prepared the General Plan for the Town of Danville, California in 1998-99. Danville is a mostly residential community of 44,000 people located 30 miles east of San Francisco. The 1999 Plan defined the community’s growth policies and land use plan through 2010, addressing issues such as hillside and ridgeline development, agricultural land preservation, and growth management. When the Town initiated a major revision to their Plan in 2010 to look ahead 20 years, they called Barry to manage the project. Barry facilitated more than 20 joint study sessions of the Town Council and Planning Commission to revisit the 1999 Plan’s policies, and address emerging issues such as climate change and sustainability. The revised Plan redirects new development from the perimeter of the Town back to the center. Several underutilized office buildings and retail sites were redesignated for high-density residential and mixed use development. These proposals were extremely controversial, leading to more than 20 hours of public hearings with hundreds of residents attending.  Policies in the revised Plan ensure that growth will retain Danville’s low scale and traditional architecture, while extending the pedestrian-oriented character of the historic Downtown into new areas

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Town Hall in Danville, CA

San Leandro Housing Element (2008-2010)

Like all cities in California, San Leandro is required to adopt a General Plan Housing Element identifying how the city will meet the housing needs of its current and future residents. Barry prepared San Leandro’s Housing Element in 2001-2002, and was retained by the City again in 2008 to prepare the seven year update. His responsibilities included organizing and implementing a community outreach program, updating housing data and needs assessments, and revising policies and action programs to reflect changing conditions and emerging issues in the city. The Element was deemed compliant by the State of California and is now being implemented through housing programs and zoning ordinance changes.

 

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Man and woman standing at a housing opportunities map

Piedmont General Plan Revision and Housing Element Update (2007-2010 and 2013-2014)

Barry prepared the General Plan Update for the City of Piedmont, a residential community of 11,000 people in the San Francisco East Bay. Incorporated in 1907, Piedmont is largely built out and well-established. Yet the community faces long-standing issues relating to the character of new construction, the needs of an increasingly diverse and aging population, the demand for affordable housing, the management of traffic and parking, and the use of park and open space lands. The General Plan addresses these issues through over 200 policies and 135 action programs, as well as a series of maps and diagrams.

Following adoption of the Plan in April 2009, Barry was retained to update the City’s Housing Element. That process was completed in 2011, when certification by the State of California was received. In 2013, Piedmont retained Barry again to prepare their 2015-2023 Housing Element. The Housing Element was completed in 2014 and certified by the state. The document has received praise from state and local planners for its innovative strategies for using in-law units to meet the City’s affordable housing needs.

 

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Piedmont City Hall and fountain

Raleigh, North Carolina Comprehensive Plan Update (2007-2009)

HNTB Associates of Washington, DC retained Barry to assist in the preparation of the Raleigh 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Barry’s role was to advise the city and consulting team on plan organization, policy formulation, and land use mapping, including the proposed land use categories. Barry also completed an “audit” of the more than 80 small area plans and neighborhood plans adopted since the last Comprehensive Plan update, analyzing key policies to be carried forward or elevated to the citywide level, and policies to be retired. Following completion of an Administrative Draft Plan, the City of Raleigh hired Barry to do Plan editing and peer review.

 

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Photograph of downtown Raleigh, NC

Lake Buena Vista / Bay Lake, Florida Comprehensive Plan Update (1998-1999)

Barry was the project manager and principal planner for the update of the Comprehensive Plan for the 42-square mile Central Florida communities that comprise the Walt Disney World resort (also known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District). The project approach and work products were structured to meet the requirements of Florida’s state planning laws. At the same time, the Plan recognized the unique land use composition of Walt Disney World and the private development plans for the site. The Plan included several innovative components, including a Housing Element that addresses the affordable housing needs of theme park and hotel employees, and a growth management system that sets development thresholds for each land use category.

 

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Epcot Center globe

Oakland General Plan and Environmental Impact Report (1995-1998)

The Oakland General Plan Update was led by a staff-consultant team that included Barry. Barry’s responsibilities included preparation of a detailed work program for the overall project, management of the environmental impact report, and extensive work on the Land Use Map. He led the impact assessment tasks on land use, housing, employment, public services, and visual, biotic, and historic resources. He also played a key role in the assessment of land use alternatives, the development of land use policies, and the facilitation of community meetings. Barry coordinated the work of several subcontractors, including those addressing transportation, air quality, and noise impacts. He provided subsequent services in 1999 on the Oakland Estuary Plan EIR.


small graphic depicting an award ribbon    Award winner:  Cal Chapter APA

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City of Oakland skyline as seen from Lake Merritt

San Juan Bautista General Plan Update (1995-1998)

Barry prepared the General Plan Update for this small 200-year old community in San Benito County, California centered around the historic Mission San Juan Bautista. The process included regular meetings of a 16-member task force and frequent briefings to the City Council and Planning Commission. Major issues included protection of historic resources (one-third of the town is a National Register historic district), provision of affordable housing, farmland preservation, mitigation of earthquake hazards (the town is bisected by the San Andreas Fault), and maintenance of small town character and lifestyle qualities. The work scope also included an Environmental Impact Report and Housing Element.

 

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Historic mission church at San Juan Bautista

Oakland Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation Element (1992-1995)

Barry worked as a contract staff person to the City of Oakland for three years as the city updated its Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation (“OSCAR”) Element for the first time since 1976. As project manager, Barry prepared an inventory of Oakland’s natural resources, developed policies to manage Oakland’s parks and undeveloped lands, and drafted numerous implementation measures to increase park acreage in the city. The three year process involved 50 public meetings, with a 20-member task force and more than 1,000 people participating directly in the process. The Plan included management guidelines for 120 city parks, as well as programs for shoreline access, creek restoration, hillside and wetland protection, habitat restoration, acquisition of sensitive lands, new funding sources, and park safety and maintenance.


small graphic depicting an award ribbon    Award winner:  APA - Northern California Section

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a view of Lake Merritt Park and scenery

Other Comprehensive Plans

In addition to the projects profiled above, Barry has worked on comprehensive plans or plan elements for the California cities of Palo Alto, Gonzales, Milpitas and Vallejo; Colusa County in California; Volusia and Monroe counties in Florida, and the town of Farmers Branch, Texas.

Barry J. Miller, FAICP ◊ 817 Alvarado Road, Oakland, CA 94705 ◊ 2512 Ninth Street, Suite 8 ◊ Berkeley, CA 94710 ◊ (510)647-9270 ◊ Send Barry an e-mail

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