Good news for Berkeley Bowl shoppers and people who think any developer is full of it when he dangles the prospect of a high-end supermarket in front of the Fremont officials.

The City Council will soon revisit a development proposal from Ray Tong, who earlier this year convinced the council to disregard a recommendation from city staff members and support a commercial center on Technology Drive off of Auto Mall Parkway, near the Fremont Boulevard intersection.

Tong wants the zoning to go from light industrial to neighborhood commercial, so he can build restaurants, retail shops, offices and a high end grocery store - modeled on the Berkeley landmark on the 8.7 acre site.

Noting that there isn’t really a surrounding neighborhood, city staff members said it was a bad idea that would cause unmitigatable traffic problems.

As a bit of a compromise, Tong agreed not to include medical offices in the plan. The planning commission gave it its blessing last month.

Not that it impacted the council’s earlier vote or its future vote on the revised project, but Tong is local, and he did contribute to several local candidates this year.

The Urban Planner, who signs his name ”Frisbie” has alerted residents of a proposed development in the Irvington District.

The subdivision would include 145 single-family homes and 40 apartments and a park located between Paseo Padre Parkway and Washington Boulevard. the plan “contemplates” extending Union Street into the subdivision and realigning and extending High Street to connect with Main Street.

It goes to the Planning Commission on Oct. 23.

It will be interesting to see where the council’s smart growthers stand on 140 single-family homes relatively close to the planned Irvington BART Station.

Development leaders are hosting a community meeting Wednesday night at the Newark Community Center to share and discuss some of the proposed plans for housing development within the city.

By 2014, Newark will have to accommodate for 1,800 new housing units, a third of which is required by the state to be of the high-density (aka: apartments) fashion. Spoke to Terrence Grindall, director of community development, and he said this is meeting is an opportunity for residents to share their comments and concerns about such projects, which could involve tearing down shopping center(s) or abandoned school site(s) currently being used for other purposes. Read the rest of this entry »