When i first moved here i asked people where to get plants for my tiny balcony garden. I can’t count the times folks from every part of the east bay said, “No need to go to Berkeley Hortic or Grand Ace, or …. You know where the Long’s Super Store on PV is? They’re the best! Best prices. Great staff. They seem to magically know what we want each year and can bring in what isn’t there, if we ask.” Little did i know, i bought a place across the street from a beloved garden ctr, as well as being at the intersection of 3 great neighborhoods! (My condos are called “Rockridge”, even though we’re in the Piedmont neighborhood – go figya!)

At the recent “open houses” conveniently set up so that there would be no “public comment” for us to organize around (as the last neighbor to leave, i overheard the COO say to one of his people), again the one theme that was heard was, please don’t close the garden center! Of course at that time – this is no exaggeration – the doe-eyed young woman said in a sweet, innocent voice, head cocked to the side, “But we don’t have anything to do with it. That’s CVS’ decision.”

There was no mention of this at the city scoping mtg. Maybe it isn’t an EIR issue. Regardless, i’m going to review the list of EIR questions tonight, so that i can get my comments in to the city TOMORROW, THE LAST DAY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT TO BE SUBMITTED on the EIR. Checklist for the California Environmental Quality Act:
http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/guidelines/Appendix_G.html. Submit comments by email to DRanelletti@oaklandnet.com.

Frank, there’s another active thread talking about this center at – http://www.abetteroakland.com/new-broadway-safeway-eir-scoping-session-tonight/2009-07-15#comments – You might talk it up there too.

http://transbayblog.com/2009/06/30/more-pleasant-on-pleasant-valley/

As to LEED, I admit to very little experience w/same–I was ttrying to indicate a desire for genuine Green building results. This project, the Safeway at Claremont, both give Oakland opportunities to correct mistakes of prior eras–kinda like tighter cafe/lower particulate regs. And as to solar PV/thermal within the mix, why not?

The notion that we should treat employees visiting the site different from others is ridiculous. Can you imagine the amount of paperwork and enforcement that would be involved in ensuring NO employees commute car? Far better would be to decouple parking from housing to create a micro-market for parking on the site. If an employee can afford to park their car all shift, so be it.

Finally, having AC Transit troll through side streets should be a non-starter. Buses should keep to main thoroughfares – that walk from Safeway back to Broadway and/or Pleasant Valley just needs to be much nicer.

Entrances on Broadway and Pleasant Valley and housing and upper floors are good ideas though.

Putting forth the perception that the community is unwilling to comprimise and/or work with the applicant to reach a middle ground which benefits both sides is a great way to kill a project, or at the very least lessen their willingness to engage and work with the community.

Establishing a clear dialogue and fostering an understanding of wants, needs and limitations on both sides will make the process more efficient and beneficial for all involved.

As to leed, solar, and transit passes/no auto commuting, well, yes city regulations are demands. Kinda like no left turn signs, no smoking, etc. We as citizens do empower our city to regulate some behaviors. To me insisting on greener buildings flows directly from the recently enacted state law calling for ghg reduction. And, looking back at other efforts to change societal behaviors, if now is not yet the right time to push for these goals, when will it be?

As you noted, they complied with the zoning code and with the general plan, and some of the changes demanded by the city and the neighbors will require variances from the existing zoning, such as the 4 of 5 story buildings suggested. (C-30 has a 45 foot height limit I think.) There are also seem to be setback requirments for the PV frontage.

#3 I dont’ care, but I am not sure how making everyone travelling on the bus spend another few minutes driving through a mall is a good thing for ACTransit riders overall.

#2 I too would like to see charging stations, but there aren’t any standards yet.

And david, “requirements” is such an unfreindly term. It sounds too much like “demands”.

However, I don’t think grouping people together who oppose the College Safeway remodel is a generalization in and of itself. I never said they all think exactly the same way about everything, but I do think they think differently about city planning than I do. And I know some of these people say they don’t oppose a remodel of the College Safeway, but realistically, they oppose any remodel that would be financially viable for Safeway.

Standalone power? Nopw.

3-5 are totally achievable. Though I don’t think you need to actually bring busses into the lot in order to make the most of transit.