San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan & Complete Streets
Last updated September 20, 2026.
The San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan is the city’s main plan for growth along San Pablo Avenue. It covers what can be built, how the street is redesigned for people walking, biking and taking transit (“Complete Streets”), and what public infrastructure is needed. This page records the plan’s history, the versions that exist, what the city reports it has produced, and the status of the plan’s Midtown and Downtown street project.
The plan
- Area: about 2.5 miles of San Pablo Avenue plus the El Cerrito Plaza BART station area; part of the area is in Richmond. The City and Richmond began the planning in 2007, when the former Redevelopment Agency started the work. The avenue was designated a single Priority Development Area (a regional planning label) in 2007.
- Adopted: September 2014, together with the Complete Streets Plan.
- Three parts: Form-Based Code (Chapter 2, what can be built), Complete Streets Plan (Chapter 3) and infrastructure analysis (Chapter 4).
- Capacity studied: the 2014 environmental review analyzed 1,706 new homes and 243,112 square feet of commercial space. A notice for the 2022 update describes about 2,500 homes and 100,000 square feet.
- 2022 update: the council adopted the update’s environmental review on December 6, 2022. The update replaced the plan’s 2014 goals (five goals, A–E) with four goals: enliven San Pablo Avenue; practical and market-friendly development; support climate action goals; housing for a diverse population.
Source: San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Chapter 1 (Introduction), section 1.03; City Specific Plan web page; Draft SEIR notice, State Clearinghouse 2014042025.
Which version is the plan?
- The city’s web page calls the current text the “adopted 2022 version.” The chapters posted online are marked-up copies with edits in color.
- Chapter footers still read “August, 2014 - Corrected.” The cover is dated October 2022; the city’s cover file is named “September-2024.”
- The city web page says the plan has “six goals” but lists five, and describes “three PDAs” while the plan text describes one Priority Development Area.
A reader who needs the clean adopted text may have to ask the City Clerk.
Source: San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan cover, Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 (redline PDFs, October 13, 2022); City Specific Plan web page.
What the Complete Streets chapter calls for (Chapter 3)
- Downtown: “Super Sharrows” (shared lanes), described as a short-term fix that depends on other facilities.
- Midtown: cycle tracks (separated bike lanes).
- Uptown: bike lanes south of Wall Street; sharrows north of it.
The built del Norte project uses separated Class IV lanes; see del Norte Complete Streets.
Source: San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Chapter 3, section 3.03 (redline; verify page numbers against the clean text).
What the city reports has been built
| Measure | Figure | Document |
|---|---|---|
| Homes and commercial space finished, 2019 to 2025 | 464 homes and 65,000 sq ft on 7 sites | City Economic Development page |
| Homes delivered since 2014 | about 400 | Strategic Economics, July 7, 2026 (slide 10) |
| Retail vacancy | about 10% | Strategic Economics, July 7, 2026 (slide 20) |
| Plan Area share of city retail / office | 90% / 63% | Strategic Economics, July 7, 2026 (slide 9) |
The 464 and 400 figures do not match. Slide 11 of the Housing deck lists projects that sum to 321 completed homes plus 70 under construction. The city has not reconciled these.
What the consultant recommended (July 7, 2026)
Strategic Economics released two reports for the city on July 7, 2026: an implementation strategy for the plan and an affordable housing and anti-displacement strategy. They describe construction costs rising faster than rents and note that the city’s inclusionary housing policy (2018: 10% of homes in new rental buildings, 12% in for-sale buildings) had produced no homes as of the reports. These are recommendations. The documents reviewed do not show council action on them.
Source: Strategic Economics, SPASP Implementation Strategy (26 slides) and Affordable Housing and Anti-Displacement Strategy (26 slides), July 7, 2026.
Project C5035, “San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets”
Project: C5035, “San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets” — implements the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and Complete Streets Plan, adopted by City Council in September 2014, in the Mid-town and Downtown sections.
Scope: sidewalk replacement, pedestrian-level lighting, crosswalk improvements (curb bulb-outs, pedestrian refuge islands, flashing lights, enhanced signing/striping), new mid-block crosswalks, bike facility implementation (route, lanes, cycletrack), bus islands, street trees, landscaping, and street furniture.
Status (FY2026-27/FY2027-28 budget): Planning. A 35% concept plan was completed in December 2020, funded by a Regional Measure 2 Safe Routes to Transit grant.
CEQA: cleared as part of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan & Complete Streets Plan FEIR, adopted September 2014.
Funding status: project is pending additional funding. Anticipated sources include the Active Transportation Program, the One Bay Area Grant Program, and CCTA Measure J TLC funds. A local match of $250,000 is budgeted in FY2031 for construction, contingent on a successful grant application.
Funding shown in the current biennial budget (all years): $250,000 (SB1 – Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, FY2031 only) — a placeholder local-match amount, not a construction budget.