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The vast majority of walking distance residents want a renovation with a modest addition.
Please register your email address right now!!! We need your help to get our message out to the community and at upcoming planning commission meetings. Let us know how to get in touch with you.
We don’t have the resources of Safeway to produce glossy, colorful postal mailings. Whether you tend to agree with us or not, we are doing our best to get this information out so the community can provide informed input to the Planning Commission and City Council. If you are concerned about preserving the character, quality and ambiance of our College Avenue shopping experience, please register today!
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Please email Susan if you’d like to help FANS with its current projects! There are several projects that need your support!
If you wish to donate to help FANS and RCPC, click the How you can help above
IN THE NEWS
Berkeley Transportation News, click here!
Upgraded Safeways rejected by some Bay Area towns
The impact of ‘natural cultural districts’
Safeway plan debated
Should Oakland Allow Safeway to Do as It Pleases in Rockridge (and Even Berkeley?)
VIDEO OF JULY 20, 2011 PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING
Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
VIDEO OF AUGUST 3, 2011 PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING
Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
There are links to some of the letters below that you may find interesting. They are arranged by topics; please feel free to read them and let us know your thoughts!
PRIOR LAND USE
This letter and related supporting documentation shows a brief history of the current site:
DEIR Comments | Sanborn Maps
RCPC’S LETTER TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION
This letter also discusses Land Use as well as Transportation, Toxins and other shortcomings of the DEIR. It also has attached the in-depth analysis of Traffic and Air Quality by the two consultants hired by RCPC and FANS to review the DEIR.
RCPC Letter
LOADING DOCK ISSUES
This letter and related exhibit discusses the loading dock and the issue of increased truck traffic as a result of a study FANS performed.
DEIR Comments | Exhibit A | Video
THE CITY OF BERKELEY’S RESPONSES
Here are two letters from the City of Berkeley, one from the City Manager and one from Councilmember for District 8 Gordon Wozinak
City of Berkeley’s Response | Gordon Wozinak’s Response
As of October 8, 2011, over 1,700 neighbors have taken our poll and over 1,600 of those neighbors have recorded their opposition to Safeway’s plan to build an oversized store in our neighborhood.
Below is how the results of the poll look on a map:
Legend:
FANS opposed to the current Safeway plan
FANS letters on the DEIR
Dear Neighbors,
NOW IS THE TIME
We request your assistance at an important moment. We strongly believe that NOW is the time for each and every one of you--Oakland and Berkeley residents alike--to write the decision makers and express your concerns about the Safeway on College proposal. The 51,000 sq. ft. Safeway train is rolling down the track, defying anything or anyone to slow its progress. The Planning Commission and Council are under the impression that the people are split despite the fact that FANS’ door-to-door survey within a 1/4 mile of the site proves that 90% of the local residents want at most a ‘modest addition’ to the existing store size.
BACKGROUND
We remember the disappointing and frustrating experience in 2009 when Safeway invited several neighborhood constituent groups to engage in a process to determine design criteria for the College Avenue store. "Nothing is off the table," they repeatedly affirmed when asked to define the process parameters. After several meetings which each centered on community concerns relating to the size of the proposal, and once it became clear that the participants were not going to back down on the size issue, Safeway abruptly shut down the process, cancelled the last meeting, and proceeded with its application to the Planning Commission for a 50,000+ sq. ft. store, plus an additional 10,000 to 12,000 sq. ft. of retail.
Those familiar with the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) hearings this summer will recall that the nearly 400-page report and 1,000-page appendix (attempting to identify and then mitigate the negative impacts this proposal would impose on the already-congested Claremont-College-Alcatraz area) fell far short of adequately addressing the multitude of identified issues. Common sense says that a smaller new store could meet Safeway's goals while serving the community's needs, but despite plans for a 60,000+ sq. ft. store in the Rockridge Center 1.1 miles away, Safeway persists in the all-or-nothing approach on College Avenue.
The recent October 12th hearing before the Design Review Committee of the Planning Commission offers more evidence regarding Safeway's determination to refuse all possibility of compromise. When one commissioner said she would like to see a proposal that included a residential component, she was flatly told that Safeway would not consider this request. When the committee chair expressed concerns about the size of the proposed store and asked that a 40,000 sq. ft. possibility be studied, the response was that Safeway would be going forward with the 51,000 sq. ft. proposal and was not willing to spend time considering anything smaller.
CURRENT STATUS OF SAFEWAY’S PROPOSAL
Currently two things are happening to the project's official review:
- The Draft EIR is back at the city staff level where the staff will define what changes to the document are required. There were many comments from the public and the Commissioners pointing out the deficiencies of the document, and we thank many of you for those. What scope of changes to the document staff will require, and how long Safeway's consultant will take to modify is unknown to us at this point. We continue to ask staff for information as it becomes available.
- The project came before the Design Review Committee, of the Planning Commission on October 12th. Whether it will go back to that sub-committee again, or come before the full Commission next is unknown at this point. Please see the attachment for some additional details of what happened at the October Design Review meeting.
WHO TO WRITE
We have learned that the Planning Commissioners and City Council Members have received a substantial number of letters and emails supporting Safeway's application for the big box store. In the absence of communications from those of us seeking a new, appropriately-scaled project, the "for" letters are carrying significant weight. In order to balance the inputs, we are asking all who care about this issue to write a personal email or letter stating your specific concerns to the Oakland and Berkeley Planning Commissions, City Councils and Mayors. Even if you have written before, please write again now.
Please address you letters to ‘Council Members and Commissioners’ Here is a link that includes the email addresses of the Oakland Planning Commission, Oakland City Council, Oakland Mayor, Berkeley Planning Commission, Berkeley City Council, Berkeley Mayor, and FANS:
CLICK HERE
If this link is broken please find all the addresses to send your email to, listed at the bottom of this email to cut and paste into your letter.
To help you identify aspects of the proposal to address, we are attaching a link to a table of significant topics relating to both DEIR and design issues. In your own words, and with your personal experiences, preferences and values in support, focus on any of the subjects in the table that are of greatest concern to you and add anything else you believe relevant. Your letter or email need not be long, but please focus on specific aspects of the proposal that concern you, not just "I don't like it."
And, please remember:
- We are not against Safeway; we need and seek an updated neighborhood grocery store to complement the Rockridge shopping experience and more effectively serve the community’s needs.
- While some have indicated a preference for a new or remodeled store with no increase in size beyond the current 22,000sf, most are not opposed to a modest increase in the size of the store. Based upon a door-to-door survey, over 90% of the residents living within a 1?/4 mile of the site prefer a remodeled store or a ‘modest addition’ to the store.
- The main goal is to have a new store appropriately scaled for the community and of a size that is in compliance with the CN-1 zoning: not one so large that it creates myriad traffic, pedestrian, parking, and environmental problems which are impossible to mitigate.
We hope you will take this request seriously and get your letter out as soon as possible. This is a real make-a-difference opportunity at a critical juncture in the process and it is imperative for an overwhelming number of letters to land in decision-makers' mailboxes so that the true feelings of the community are represented. We thank you for your concern and participation and invite you to remain informed by frequently visiting our website: www.fansco.org.
SAFEWAY PROPOSAL
Here is a link to the 60,000sf project as proposed:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CEDA/o/PlanningZoning/o/Commissions/DOWD009007
Then click on:
Design Review Committee 10-12-11 College Avenue Safeway-Plans
ALTERNATIVES
Here is a link to smaller alternatives proposed by FANS: Click here
EMAIL ADDRESSES
Here is a list of emails to send your letter to, if the link above is broken. Please select all and paste them inot the 'to' box of your email:
jquan@oaklandnet.com; jbrunner@oaklandnet.com; zwald@oaklandnet.com; pkernighan@oaklandnet.com; nnadel@oaklandnet.com; lschaaf@oaklandnet.com; idelafuente@oaklandnet.com; dbrooks@oaklandnet.com; lreid@oaklandnet.com; rkaplan@oaklandnet.com;mayor@CityofBerkeley.info;lmaio@CityofBerkeley.info; dmoore@CityofBerkeley.info; manderson@CityofBerkeley.info; jarreguin@CityofBerkeley.info; lcapitelli@CityofBerkeley.info; swengraf@CityofBerkeley.info; kworthington@CityofBerkeley.info; gwozniak@CityofBerkeley.info;vienv.truong@gmail.com;sgalvez@phi.org; Blake.Huntsman@seiu1021.org; michael.colbruno@gmail.com; mzmdesignworks@gmail.com; jaw1123@aol.com; Pattillo@pgadesign.com; JHarrison@CityofBerkeley.info; info@fansco.org
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