Business View - May 2015 177
which sit alongside and have access to parks, sports
fields, community facilities and a number of recreation
programs.
What Union City is not, however, is just a suburb of
a bigger, more well-known neighbor – a fact ably evi-
denced by an ambitious plan conceived by its veteran
redevelopment manager and Interim Deputy City Man-
ager, Mark Evanoff.
The Union City Station District project involved the pur-
chase/remediation of a 30-acre PG&E pipe yard, re-
configuration of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) sta-
tion to make it accessible to pedestrians and buses,
the construction of 841 housing units, and the pend-
ing construction of 900 residences.
“We’re our own community. The Station District Plan
was premised on attracting major employers, creating
a vibrant walkable community, served by an intermo-
dal transit hub,” Evanoff said. “We’re completing the
construction of BART Station improvements, to cre-
ate a two-sided station with direct pedestrian links to
housing and job centers and markets..
“Since that plan adoption, 90 acres of environmentally
contaminated land – with a negative land value – has
been remediated and is now generating property tax.
It’s a win-win for the region.”
Union City’s Public Works Department includes an
engineering division which is responsible for the en-
gineering and management of capital improvement
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
City of Union City
WHAT:
Municipality of nearly 70,000 residents
that was incorporated on Jan. 13, 1959, following
the combination of the communities of Alvarado,
New Haven and Decoto
WHERE:
Suburb in the San Francisco Bay area
in Alameda County, Calif., approximately 30 miles
from San Francisco and 20 miles north of San
Jose
WEBSITE
:
INFRASTRUCTURE
