Tag Archives: College Avenue Safeway
New Safeway on College green-lighted, designs revealed
A new Safeway grocery store and retail development planned for College and Claremont avenues has gotten the nod from Oakland officials after seven long years in the making, and a hard-won community consensus on the heels of steep resistance from many residents.
The Oakland City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to deny a neighborhood appeal against the project, after representatives from several community groups reached an agreement with the grocery store company earlier this week. (The appeal could not simply be withdrawn, despite the signed agreement, due to procedural rules, city staff said.)
The settlement agreement over the particulars of the College Avenue Safeway project resulted from several intensive mediation sessions, run by Oakland Councilwoman Jane Brunner, between Safeway and neighborhood reps over the past five weeks. The sessions came about in the face of a possible lawsuit from community members who opposed aspects of the development that had been approved by the Oakland Planning Commission. … Continue reading »
Residents air concerns about College Ave. Safeway plans
Update, 5:23 p.m.: Via Stuart Flashman, ”After another five hours of negotiating today (following up on two hours over the weekend) the agreement has been finalized. The RCPC Board (which has been primed for a vote since Friday) promptly approved the agreement by electronic vote. The other two groups (FANS and BPOD) will be voting tonight, but the community negotiators are unanimously recommending approval.”
Original story, 2:15 p.m.
With what may be the final major approvals for a new Safeway store on College Avenue set to take place Tuesday night before the Oakland City Council, residents came together for an update late last week.
About 60 community members attended a session Thursday night run by several mediators who have, along with Oakland Councilwoman Jane Brunner, helped broker a deal to get Safeway to respond to neighborhood concerns and bring negotiations to a close so the project can move forward after seven years in development. … Continue reading »
Safeway on College needs all-new design after mediation
In response to pressure from neighbors, Safeway has scrapped years of work and agreed to a smaller, street-level store for its site at the junction of College and Claremont avenues, with enough parking, store reps say, for all of its customers.
When the project comes back before the Oakland City Council on Dec. 18, officials and community members will see a whole new set of plans, said architect Ken Lowney of the Oakland-based Lowney Architecture. Tuesday night, Lowney presented the council with rough sketches for the 45,500 square foot store, which is set to open onto College Avenue just north of a plaza separating it from a new, 9,500 square foot retail space.
As for all the site plans, renderings and videos for the project (viewable on the store’s website), “it’s all out the window for now,” said Lowney. Coming up with a whole new design in the next few weeks could pose a major challenge. The previous design took his firm about six weeks to complete. But, he said: “We’re just going take a run at it.” … Continue reading »
Breaking: Neighbors, Safeway agree on College Ave. store
This story was updated at 4:35 p.m.
A mediation effort between Safeway and three community groups opposing aspects of the grocer’s College Avenue store has resulted in a resolution and new agreement, according to statements released this week.
As a result, final action on an appeal before the Oakland City Council set for Tuesday, Nov. 13, has been postponed until Dec. 18., according to a statement from Safeway.
Oakland city staff said at 4:30 p.m. that the hearing will still take place and community members will be allowed to speak, given the late notice, but that council members could announce tonight whether a decision will be postponed. … Continue reading »
Op-Ed: Why I support plans for the Safeway on College
In July, the Berkeley City Council took up the EIR agreement for the proposed Safeway store on College Avenue in Oakland’s Rockridge district right on the Berkeley border. Buoyed by the protests of the attendees, Mayor Bates summarized the objections of the council, “it’s just too big for the location.”
In the debate about the Rockridge Safeway, there is little understanding of how the 61,000 sq ft design came about. Why is this project so big? Why have they piled … Continue reading »
Oakland Planning Commission approves Safeway plans
On Wednesday, the Oakland Planning Commission unanimously certified the final EIR and approved Safeway’s proposed plans for its College Avenue store which sits on the Oakland-Berkeley border.
A statement released by Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners, who have been retained by Safeway, said the grocery store was “heartened by the commission’s support and their comments in support of the design, the size and the community benefit our proposal would convey on Rockridge.”
The statement continued: “The commission did not agree with the opponent’s assertions that our project violated zoning, or that traffic was unmitigatable. They did not buy arguments that the store would negatively affect the small merchants across the street, or that the EIR was in any way inadequate.” … Continue reading »
Berkeley Council unites in opposing Safeway project
A ten-year-old girl who lives on Lewiston Avenue was among more than 20 people who stood up to voice their opposition to Safeway’s plans to expand its Claremont-College Avenue store at Tuesday night’s Berkeley City Council meeting. “It will ruin my neighborhood and community and cause traffic chaos,” she said. “It’s already wiped out cute stores like Chimes Pharmacy.”
She and the other member of the public who object to the scale of the proposed store and its potential impact on local traffic and air pollution needn’t have worried. Berkeley’s leaders are unanimous in their disapproval of the grocery giant’s plans for a store which is sited in Oakland, a hair’s breadth from the Berkeley border. They have little power to stop it, however. … Continue reading »
Berkeley City Council to hold hearing on Safeway project
Even though the new Safeway store proposed for College and Claremont Avenues is in Oakland, the project will have significant impacts on Berkeley. To assess how the new supermarket will affect the Rockridge area, the Berkeley City Council will hold a special work session Tuesday night at 5:30 pm.
The city of Oakland sent a draft Environmental Impact Report about the store to Berkeley in July when the council was on recess. Berkeley is holding … Continue reading »
Locals protest scale, traffic of new Rockridge Safeway
Plans to rebuild the Safeway store on College and Claremont on the Oakland-Berkeley border have been on the drawing board for more than two years. In fact, the store has put a number of different proposals in front of the city of Oakland and local residents. And, while the latest design, by Lowney Architecture, has met with broad approval, the scale of the project and its impact on local traffic are still stumbling blocks to development.
Local residents and small business owners, from both sides of the border, came out in force to a July 20 hearing of the Oakland Planning Commission’s Draft Environmental Impact Report on the redevelopment of the store, which is at 6310 College Avenue. The turn-out was so large, the crowd had to move from the Planning Commission chambers to those of the City Council. The meeting was continued until August 3rd.
Current plans call for the Rockridge store to more than double its square footage, and they show eight new retail shops, a restaurant and an elevated walkway, among other amenities. … Continue reading »
Safeway buys Berkeley’s Chimes Pharmacy, to consolidate
Chimes Pharmacy, one of the last remaining independent pharmacies in Berkeley, will be turned into a Safeway Pharmacy on July 23.
John Gelinas, who has owned and run Chimes at 3210 College Avenue near the Oakland border for more than 25 years, sold the business to Safeway and will stay on as pharmacy manager.
“The main reason was I wanted to be a pharmacist again and not have to run a business,” Gelinas said.
The new Safeway Pharmacy will operate at the current Chimes location until the revamped College Avenue Safeway is completed. … Continue reading »
