Home > Your Region > Bay Area-Wide > Plan Bay Area

Sign up for news: Please leave this field empty

WWW SiteSearch

Planning for a sustainable future

OneBayArea Grant Program

As of July 2011, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s regional transportation planning agency, is considering a proposal (PDF) to create grant programs for sustainable growth.  This is a key step forward, and we like a lot of what we see.

Specifically:

• The creation of a OneBayArea grant program to support those cities that are doing the most to plan for sustainable and equitable development near transit.
• A new land conservation grant program to allow rural areas to develop and implement strategies to protect natural resource areas and working farms …

This is the first time in history that MTC is proposing a grant program to support open space conservation and farmland preservation in rural areas.

Keep reading about the OneBayArea grant program.

Regional agencies release Initial Vision Scenario

On Friday, March 11, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments presented the Initial Vision Scenario of Plan Bay Area, the region’s plan for growth over the next 25 years.

Greenbelt Alliance, along with a coalition of transportation and land-use non-profits, is leading efforts to ensure that Plan Bay Area is beneficial to cities and residents, and we wanted to share our response to the first draft of the plan.

Namely, it’s a good start.

Targets approved for Plan Bay Area!

In January, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved strong land-use targets for the Sustainable Communities Strategy planning process. Read more about it here.

Plan Bay Area

In 2008, the California legislature passed SB 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, which identifies clear strategies to reduce emissions through housing and transportation planning decisions and funding mechanisms. Under SB375, each region in California must adopt a Sustainable Communities Strategy: a region-wide transportation and land-use plan that will meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set by the state.

The Bay Area regional planning agencies, Metropolitan Transportation Comission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, are currently developing Plan Bay Area, our region's Sustainable Community Strategy. In March 2013, the Commission will approve Plan Bay Area as part of the Regional Transportation Plan.

What's at Stake
By 2035, the nine-county Bay Area is expected to add over 900,000 new households and 1.2 million new jobs. We have to plan now for how we get around and how we build. We have to grow smarter.

The Regional Transportation Plan will also distribute millions of dollars in funding for transportation projects around the Bay Area. A strong Plan Bay Area will direct those much needed federal, state, and local funds to cities that plan for growth around existing transportation corridors as opposed to sprawling into the region's greenbelt.

What You Can Do
This is your chance to choose what happens in the Bay Area.

1. Take action! Please tell your Commissioner to support the OneBayArea grant program which directs funds to cities and rural areas that are planning for sustainable growth.

2. Visit YouChoose Bay Area and give us your feedback on what priorities you want to see reflected in Plan Bay Area.

3. Download the Plan Bay Area Primer (PDF) to familiarize yourself with the timeline for developing Plan Bay Area by 2013.

YouChoose Bay Area is a project of Envision Bay Area, an initiative led by Silicon Valley Community Foundation with Greenbelt Alliance, Transform, KQED, and Calthorpe Associates.