Controversial Expansion of Safeway in Oakland Could Be Approved Next Month
on the corner of College and Claremont avenues
in Oakland.
After nearly five years of political wrangling, Berkeley and Oakland residents expressed cautious support for new plans to rebuild the Safeway grocery store at 6310 College Ave., Oakland.
Dozens of concerned residents packed in for a public hearing at the Tuesday night meeting of the Oakland City Council, the latest development in Safeway’s struggle to remodel its Rockridge location.
The current Safeway building is small and decades old, taking up approximately 25,000 square feet on the busy corner of College and Claremont avenues. Although plans to replace the Claremont location have been underway for over five years, Safeway announced it would be upgrading several aging or smaller stores in the Bay Area as part of a strategy to compete with an influx of competitors such as Sprouts, Trader Joes and Whole Foods.
Safeway’s original plans – approved by the Oakland Planning Commission late July 2012 –called for 62,000 square feet of commercial development; an ambitious two-story, 51,500 square foot grocery store including eight separate retail store locations totaling 10,500 square feet. Parking was to be provided in a partial subterranean lot and an upper level lot.
the Oakland City Council’s public hearing Tuesday
night.
These plans were stymied by an appeal by a coalition of Oakland and Berkeley residents groups – such as Friends and Neighbors of College Avenue (FANSCO) and Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC) – who were concerned about the large size of the project and its potential impact on local business, parking and traffic.
The two sides reached a settlement during a Nov. 8 mediation session with Oakland city councilmember Jane Brunner.
The new plan limits the entire development to 55,000 square feet; 45,500 for the Safeway store and 9,500 for the retail stores. In addition, the grocery store “will be moved to the ground floor with rooftop parking and covered loading dock with appropriate visual screening and lighting and acoustic treatments,” according to the settlement documents.
“Certainly it’s a huge milestone after six years of basically being stone walled by Safeway and feeling like they are not listening to the community,” said Smith Wygint, who lives close to the Safeway. “So, it’s an amazing result.“
The official decision on whether to move forward with the project will come at the Dec. 18 meeting of the Oakland City Council.
