Site Selection

Criteria for Evaluating the Site Alternatives

Adjacency This criterion addresses how facilities are located to maximize utilization of spaces and minimize the need to construct redundant spaces to support programming needs. The criterion also addresses operational issues, such as travel between facilities.

Vision of the Education and Youth Services Master Plan This vision is to create a safe, nurturing and enriching environment for youth and families through active partnerships among all segments of the community. Key to this vision is the implementation of the Math, Science and Technology Initiative at EUSD, which promotes small school communities of approximately 400 students. Other primary goals include better coordination of City and EUSD youth services, attracting and retaining high quality teachers and institutionalizing links between the business community and youth services.

Vision of the Emeryville Center of Community Life This vision is to develop a facility or group of facilities that have flexible use for all ages and community uses and that are accessible 7 days per week, from early morning until late in the evening. The criterion measures how well a scenario creates an ECCL environment that fosters community interaction, learning and recreation.

Feasibility This criterion evaluates the likelihood of implementing the scenario, considering such factors as cost, timing, environmental issues, disruption to education and recreation programs during construction, and political issues.

Emeryville Center of Community Life Site Alternatives

Using the program elements document, together with the input from the Town Hall meetings, EYSAC completed the initial space program for the Emeryville Center of Community Life in early 2004. The space program takes each of the program elements to be included in the ECCL and quantifies the amount of space needed to support the program as envisioned. The space program describes adjacencies (which functions need to be located near each other), as well as space utilization (whether the space will be used separately or jointly by different programs). EYSAC also completed a program description, which describes the main functions to be included in each of the program categories.

The next step involved testing the space program on the following three sites to actually see how the program would work in different physical locations:

Scenario A - AC Transit Site. This scenario assumed acquisition of the AC transit bus maintenance facility and the San Pablo Avenue frontage, as well as the closure of 47th street to combine the site with the existing Emery Secondary school site.
Scenario B - Expanded Anna Yates Site. This scenario assumed expanding the Anna Yates school site up to San Pablo Avenue, acquiring the San Pablo Avenue frontage and reusing the Anna Yates and Emery Secondary school sites.
Scenario C - Reuse Existing Sites. This scenario assumed acquiring the San Pablo Avenue frontage and reusing all three existing school sites (Emery Secondary, Anna Yates, and Emery Middle School).

These three scenarios were compared on the Site Alternative Evaluation Matrix. The criteria that were considered included adjacency, vision of the Education and Youth Services Master Plan, vision of the Emeryville Center of Community Life, feasibility and cost.

In April 2004, EYSAC selected the AC Transit site alternative as the location that best achieves the vision for the Emeryville Center of Community Life and directed staff to focus efforts on this alternative.