Clayton Pioneer
The City Council has appointed a public service veteran and a relative newcomer to the civic scene to fill two seats on the Planning Commission.
Dan Richardson has lived in Clayton for 20 years and was the force behind the renewal of the city’s Landscape Maintenance District and headed the Trails and Landscape Committee, the oversight body created by Measure M. He made a bid for the City Council in 2008.
Richardson’s career spans more than 30 years in public works. He recently retired from the city of Walnut Creek as director of public services.
The biggest challenge facing Clayton leadership is the development of a commercial town center. The city has in place a Town Center Specific Plan that calls for a mixed use of retail and commercial, with all street level use in the town center designated retail.
“I’m in favor of the TCSP,” says Richardson. “A big question is how to encourage existing downtown property owners to develop what they have. Maybe we need to look at lowering fees and streamlining the permit process. We need to look at things from a process perspective as well as how they pencil out.” Richardson and his wife Tracy live on Morningside Drive. They have two grown children.
Ted Meriam, 26, grew up in Clayton. He is a 2001 graduate of Clayton Valley High School, where he was named Grand Altair of his senior class. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2005 and went to work for Microsoft. He returned to Clayton last year and bought a house on Oak Street where, “God willing, I will get married and raise a family.”
In the year since his return to Clayton, Meriam has become a familiar face in local organizations. A member of the Clayton Business and Community Association, he was co-chair of this year’s Art and Wine Festival. He is an officer in the Clayton Historical Society and a member of the Clayton Valley Garden Club.
Meriam supports the TCSP and favors encouraging more downtown housing. “We need to bring additional people in and build up the town center. We need to make it more attractive, have more destinations.”
In a strong show of interest, eight applicants vied for the two Planning Commission seats vacated by Ed Hartley and Keith Haydon, whose terms expire June 30.
All eight candidates were interviewed by the City Council in a special session June 16.
