K&A Supports Multiple Public Meetings on East and West Coasts

From San Francisco to San Diego, and up and down the East Coast, our team has been on the move supporting a number of recent public meetings for Caltrain, the U.S. Navy and the City of San Diego. And while planning and executing public meetings is one of our many specialties, each project requires its own unique approach to achieving meaningful engagement with its stakeholders.

giphy (1)Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project

A series of public meetings for the Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project are currently underway, with the first of 11 public meetings held in San Bruno on July 13. In attendance was the mayor of South San Francisco, Caltrain council members and a member of the California State Assembly!  Our team will get to know many stakeholders along the peninsula corridor as this high-profile project gets rolling.

More about the project:  Over the last decade, Caltrain has experienced a substantial increase in ridership and anticipates further increases in ridership demand as the Bay Area’s population grows. Caltrain electrification, scheduled to be implemented by 2020/early 2021, will electrify and upgrade the performance, operating efficiency, capacity, safety and reliability of Caltrain’s commuter rail service.

giphy (2)U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing

These meetings were part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/ Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS). A series of meetings traveled down the East Coast, starting in Providence, Rhode Island on July 19 and ending in Panama City, Florida on August 3. The meetings provided an opportunity for the public to talk directly to subject matter experts and provide comments on the draft EIS/OEIS. In preparation for these meetings, our team developed seven fact sheets, five posters and six 5 ft. x 5 ft. fabric displays. We also created six videos based on these large graphics. The videos were shared on the project website to give those unable to attend the meetings a chance to participate virtually. The logistics of shipping the plethora of materials from location to location on a tight schedule was a challenge for our team, but they were up for it – nothing was late or lost in transit!

More about the project: The Navy has prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS) for Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) activities in the sea space and in the airspace over the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern coast of North America, portions of the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. The Navy has conducted previous analyses for these types of activities in the AFTT Study Area and signed a Record of Decision in November of 2013. This new AFTT EIS/OEIS analyzes the continuation of military readiness activities in the AFTT Study Area beginning in late 2018 into the reasonably foreseeable future.

IMG_1195City of San Diego De Anza Revitalization Plan

Last month, our Environmental & Public Participation team supported the sixth and last ad-hoc committee meeting for the De Anza Revitalization Plan. The project team presented two refined draft concept alternatives for discussion by the Committee. An Open House directly followed the meeting, allowing the public to review the alternatives in detail, ask questions and provide feedback on the identified uses and design for this northeast portion of San Diego’s Mission Bay Park. Due to the regional and diverse interests of the Project, the Open House drew over 240 people!

More about the project: The De Anza Revitalization Plan project, an amendment to the Mission Bay Park Master Plan, is a three-year comprehensive outreach and planning program designed to reimagine, repurpose and revitalize the northeast corner of Mission Bay Park in San Diego. The Mission Bay Park Master Plan does not provide specific land use concepts for the De Anza area, therefore, the City of San Diego initiated a special study that will result in an area-specific development plan. In compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a rigorous community engagement plan is currently underway, giving community members and other stakeholders a chance to comment on the project’s alternatives and draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR).