Lafayette Mayor's Presentation 11/14/2013

Mayor Mike Anderson gave a powerpoint presentation concerning growth issues in Lafayette to a packed, standing room only and overflow room at the Veterans Building on Thursday night. Following his presentation there was a lengthy set of questions and comments that almost universally questioned the prospect of further development in Lafayette. The sense was that the view that the mayor presented was not only that Lafayette had little say in this overdevelopment but had positioned itself to be prone to development by volunteering to be a Priority Development Area and accepting funding in return for that. 
It should be noted that numerous communities such as San Rafael have now opted out of being a PDA. It should also be noted that removing ourselves as a PDA may not slow development, this could take a revision of the the general plan, the downtown specific plan and the city using means to resist the encroachment of outside agencies. Removing ourselves as a PDA would also mean the loss of some transportation funding. The mayor talked about housing prices being up 25% in Lafayette, hopefully some of the greater property taxes we're paying as a whole will make up the difference. Removing ourselves as a PDA could take that target for developers off our back. One idea that was proposed that the mayor seemed to react positively to was putting this up for a citywide vote.
The Association of Bay Area Governments has foisted a development number for affordable housing on Lafayette with little explanation if any how they came up with that number, or seemingly any concern for the topography of Lafayette, having only one main boulevard, or the concerns of it's residents. The current number seems to be 361 yet no answer was provided concerning how many current units go towards that number, how that accounting is done, if any current developments such as Towne Center, Marquis, Merrill Gardens affect that number or what conditions might be put on further developments to add units that will reduce that number. With Lafayette being on a highway and BART line and the economy and housing turning around it's clear that developed now have Lafayette in their crosshairs for high density development that could drastically change the character of our town. Will the residents or the city council have the fortitude to stand up to this or simply buckle and have our town turned into a high density BART bedroom community for San Francisco. Get involved and write the mayor and city council to turn this around. The PDA, General Plan, Downtown Plan and current and future developments should all be examined in light of the current environment. Let your voice be heard, get involved, Save Lafayette!