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What is the General Plan and why update it now?

The General Plan is a statement of goals, objectives, policies and actions that describe the community’s priorities for the next 20 years. California State law requires that every city adopt and maintain an up to date, internally consistent general plan. The City Council adopted the Alameda General Plan 2040 on November 30, 2021. The Housing Element 2022 update is currently under review. The General Plan addresses climate change, affordable housing, equity and inclusiveness, safe streets, open space and park funding priorities, and disaster preparation.

GENERAL PLAN UPDATE

HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE

WHAT ARE WE PLANNING FOR?

Located at the center of a growing and evolving San Francisco Bay Area, Alameda’s next 20 years will be a period of change.

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Population Growth + Housing

By 2040, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments, the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area is projected to grow to include 4.5 million jobs and 9.3 million people. The continued growth in employment and population will continue to create housing and transportation challenges and economic opportunities both regionally and locally.

Alameda will continue to provide for its share of the growing regional housing need as required by State Housing Law and Alameda’s regional housing needs allocation, which is projected to include the need for approximately 10,000 to 12,000 new housing units in Alameda over the next 20 years. The majority of the growth in Alameda will occur on the former Naval Air Station lands and along the Northern Waterfront of Alameda. Both areas are designated as priority development areas in the regional plan, Plan Bay Area. Additional housing opportunities exist for accessory units and additional units on existing residential properties, and along the Park Street and Webster Street commercial corridors and shopping centers. It is expected that Alameda’s existing historic neighborhoods and commercial main streets will look very similar in 2040 as they do today and as they did in 2000 since much of the new housing in these areas will be limited to backyard accessory buildings and addition of units within existing buildings.

Job Growth and Employment

Over the next 20 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is expected to remain a global leader and center for the development of new technologies, research, development, and innovation. The growing Bay Area economy is expected to create opportunities for business and job growth in Alameda and increased on-island employment opportunities for Alameda residents. Alameda’s business community is expected to create between 10,000 to 12,000 new jobs over the next twenty years. Most of the new jobs will be located at Alameda Point, along the Northern Waterfront, and in the Harbor Bay and Marina Village business parks.

Transportation and Climate Change

Over the next twenty years, transportation and climate change will pose major challenges for Alameda and the region. Regional employment growth and housing shortages will continue to strain the regional roadway and transit systems, including Alameda’s connecting network of streets, roads, and transit systems. Automobile trips will continue to increase regional greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to global warming and the resulting rising of the Bay that surrounds this island community and the groundwater below the community. In the next 20 years the community will experience rising sea and groundwater levels and more frequent flooding in Alameda.

Equity and Inclusion

The global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 demonstrated that living on an island does not protect us from global and regional challenges, and the pandemic revealed the severity of the inequalities within the Alameda community. Over the next 20 years, Alameda and the region will face the need to address the inequities that have been systematically embedded in the Bay Area and Alameda economy, housing policies, transportation system, public safety standards and priorities, and health care systems over the last 150 years. In 2020, it became apparent that the most vulnerable members of our community are the least likely to be able to “shelter in place”, “work from home”, and educate their children “virtually”. Many in the Alameda community do not have access to affordable housing, adequate transportation, or adequate health care. In 2020, children and seniors are the most likely to suffer severe injuries or death while walking across the street in Alameda, and there are people living in tents, cars, and cardboard structures in Alameda’s parks and on Alameda’s streets.