October, 18 2018

Upcoming Public Meetings on the Oakland Vegetation Management Plan

The Draft Oakland Vegetation Management Plan (Plan) was released on May 11, 2018.  We received 165 comment letters on the Draft Plan.  Several of the comments expressed common suggestions, including the following issues:

  1. The Plan should better incorporate the role of volunteers and stewardship groups that actively maintain vegetation at various City-managed parks/open space areas. The City should conduct additional outreach to such groups to continue to receive their input and feedback.
  2. The Plan should include more specificity regarding vegetation management recommendations at each City-managed parcel.
  3. The Plan should include cost estimates, or a range of potential costs, for the recommended treatments to assist the City for longer-term work budgeting and planning. The cost estimates and site-specific plans for City-managed parks would also help identify activities that volunteers can conduct.

To address these comments and follow the direction provided by the City Council Public Safety Committee, the City will be hosting two additional public meetings/workshops on the Draft Plan.  The purpose of these meetings will be to address issues (1) and (2) above.  Each meeting will focus on issue (1) or (2) with the goal of collecting specific input and feedback on the Plan text, rather than general comments about the Plan itself.  Receiving this input will help the City consider further edits or adjustments to the draft Plan.

Meeting (1) is targeted towards the park steward/volunteer groups working on City-owned parcels.  The meeting details are provided below.

Date: Thursday, November 15, 2018
Time: 5:30-7:30 PM
Location: Richard C. Trudeau Training Center, 11500 Skyline Blvd, Oakland, CA 94619

Meeting (2) will focus on the issue of plan specificity. The details of the second meeting are provided below.

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Time: 5:30-7:30 PM
Location: Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Hearing Room 2, Oakland, CA 94612

It is requested that participants come prepared to discuss their recommended edits/comments.  At each meeting we will briefly discuss each project site/area, and your feedback will be collected and considered for the revised draft Plan to be released in 2019.

If you are unable to attend either of the meetings, or if you would also like to submit written comments to the project team, you may also send your comments to:

Email: info@oaklandvegmanagement.org

-or-

Mailing address:
Oakland Vegetation Management
150 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 3354
Oakland, CA  94612

Thank you to everyone that has attended meetings on the Plan and has commented to date.

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