Estuary Park: A key open space resource
Help save our waterfront park !
The Estuary Park Master Plan to renovate and expand a key recreational resource is at risk. This major Measure DD effort will provide a waterfront park for Oakland and Alameda County residents, and serve the many people of Brooklyn Basin and the Jack London neighborhood. But now, the developer of Brooklyn Basin is asking City approval to construct 81 private homes on a large portion of the Estuary Park site, known as Parcel N.
Filling Parcel N with expensive housing would invalidate the already-prepared $1.4M Estuary Park Master Plan, forcing complete redesign and removing many features sought by the community. It would sacrifice a landscaped park entry, spacious parking with food truck plaza, family picnicking adjacent to a water-wise/habitat garden, a multi-purpose area for lawn games, an enclosed dog park, boat storage building, and public restrooms—recreational amenities defined by residents during four interactive community design sessions. The park would be invisible from Embarcadero Road.
Stopping and restarting the Project’s design and development phases is costly, wastes effort, and would require repetition of community participation and major regulatory changes.
The Estuary Park Task Committee of the Measure DD Community Coalition urges you and/or your organization to join the effort to save and re-invigorate our major park on the Estuary. Please write today! (See the sample letter.) Planning commission meets WEDNESDAY September 18!
✓ A completed master plan
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✓ a view from embarcadero
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✓ a user-friendly park
SAMPLE LETTER <officeofthemayor@oaklandca.gov><officeofthecityadministrator@oaklandca.gov> <atlarge@oaklandca.gov><nfortunatobas@oaklandca.gov> <dkalb@oaklandca.gov> <cfife@oaklandca.gov><District4@oaklandca.gov><ngallo@oaklandca.gov><District6@oaklandca.gov><District7@oaklandca.gov>
CC: <creed2@oaklandca.gov> <ctan@oaklandca.gov>
BCC: <info@save-estuary-park.org>
Mayor Sheng Thao
City Administrator Jestin D. Johnson
Members of the Oakland City Council
Dear Mayor Thao and Councilmembers,
We (Name) express our strong support for the City’s plan for renovating and expanding Estuary Park—the City’s major park with access to the waterfront and the Estuary.
Recently, we learned that the developer of Brooklyn Basin is seeking City approval to construct 81 private homes on “Parcel N”—a portion of the Estuary Park site. We understand that if approved, this proposal would invalidate the $1.4M Estuary Park Master Plan already developed by the City of Oakland, forcing a complete redesign to a smaller park without many of the features sought by the community. Such a change would be costly, wasteful of City staff resources, and disappointing to local citizens. Instead, we support the City Council’s principle of “Public Land for Public Good”.
We stand firmly with the Measure DD Community Coalition and The Portobello Residential Owners Association—neighbor to Estuary Park—in opposing any changes in the Master Plan. We strongly urge the City to proceed immediately with the community-approved Plan.
Sincerely, (Names & Titles)
