City Council Holds Public Hearing Tonight

A public hearing on the will be held at tonight's city council meeting.

The program removes or kills weeds on vacant commercial and industrial properties that are not maintained by property wonders. The fire marshal is the designated director for this program.

As of April 1, no written objections have been received. According to the city council packet, some property owners said they will take care of the weeds themselves.

If property owners fail to do so in a timely manner, the City of Newark's contractor will perform the work in May, according to the packet.

City council members will also hear two presentations about efforts to build communities based on compact growth at its regular meeting tonight.

Community Development Director Terrence Grindall will update the five-member council about Newark's effort to develop a Sustainable Communities Strategy.

The idea behind the development of a Sustainable Communities Strategy in all metropolitan regions in California stems from Senate Bill 375, according to the council's agenda packet.

The planning process calls for:

• Providing a new 25-year land use strategy in the Bay Area that accommodates the region's population and includes all income groups
• Forecast a land use pattern that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions if integrated with a transportation system

The strategy's Initial Vision Scenario anticipates that Newark must plan for an increase of 5,802 housing units and 2,750 jobs over the next 25 years. 

Grindall is slated to talk about possible residential developments in Newark, including the Dumbarton Transit-Oriented Development project.

A draft of the Specific Plan for the is also scheduled to be presented to the council tonight.

The draft calls for the development of about 2,500 low- and high-density residential units, a neighborhood center with retail and grocery stores and more than 16 acres of parks on 200 acres of land in West Newark.

Read more about the draft of the Specific Plan

To read more about what will be discussed and voted on at the city council meeting, visit the city's website here or see the attached PDF.

The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. at , 37101 Newark Blvd.