Friday, January 18, 2002 - 3:03:52 AM MST
Development might cramp ACE parking
Shopping center planned near Centerville station
By Sean R. Cabibi
STAFF WRITER
Parking at the Centerville train station in Fremont may become tighter
after redevelopment in the area is complete.
Although most Altamont Commuter Express riders responding to the 2001
annual passenger survey said parking was not a problem, a number of
parking spaces will disappear when a new plaza is built.
Each day, more than 2,000 people ride ACE trains, which run from
Stockton to Santa Clara. About 180 of those passengers board at the
Centerville station, ACE spokeswoman Heather Swendzal said.
Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, which averages 159 passengers either
boarding or stopping at Centerville each day, also stops at the
station, Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said.
The Centerville station has approximately 92 parking spaces, 22 of
which are short-term.
Seventy percent of the passengers who responded to the survey said
parking always is available. But the survey didn't take into account
people parking in adjacent empty lots or the shopping center that will
swallow up lots and likely increase traffic in the area.
"It's usually not too bad," said Fremont resident Carl Gatsch, who
occasionally takes the ACE to work in San Jose. "But I know a lot of
people park on the streets, in the dirt lot next to the station and
even in the empty spaces at the shopping center when the train station
spaces fill up."
An adjacent dirt lot on Peralta Court -- just south of the tracks off
Fremont Boulevard -- is available, but a new $1.7 million
20,000-square-foot plaza will eliminate parking in the city-owned lot.
But Roger Ravenstad, a landscape engineer for the city, said parking
in the lot already is illegal.
"We don't see it as taking parking away because people aren't supposed
to park there," he said.
The plaza is expected to be completed by June.
The city also is redeveloping a 6-acre site -- dubbed the Centerville
Station Shopping Center -- just north of the station. Plans for the
shopping center include six commercial buildings, the largest being a
52,000-square-foot Ralphs grocery store, and 376 parking spaces.
Construction on the center is expected to start in the fall.
"Ridership is going up on these trains and the city is bringing in
businesses that will attract more people," said Fremont resident
Michelle Vargas, who takes ACE to work in San Jose. "I hope (Fremont)
is planning for that growth and realizes the potential problems it
faces."
ACE ridership increased approximately 40 percent from 2000 to 2001,
according to the passenger survey. Capitol Corridor ridership
increased 34 percent during the same period, Graham said.
A parking study of the entire Centerville area is being planned, said
Craig Whittom, director of the city's redevelopment agency.
"In the next month or two we will start the study," Whittom said.
"We'll take the results and go from there."
ACE officials will be analyzing the impact the shopping center and
plaza project will have on parking at the Centerville station,
Swendzal said.
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