Extracted text · highlighting “Kathy Walsh”

WHEN IS THE NEXT MEETING?

Plan to attend. the next regular meeting of the Rockridge
Community Planing Council to be held Thursday,
March 20th, 7:30 P.M. at the College Avenue
Presbyterian Church.
Major Issues to be discussed are:
¢ Presentation by Wilson Associates of design
changes in the facade of the Market Hall building.
+ Work Session to plan specific Neighborhood
strategies for responding to Dreyer’s;
« Formulation of a response to Tony and Peter Wilson’s
proposal to build 22 apartments on Shafter between
College and Forest.

Ne _S

Shafter Avenue Housing
_ Proposed by Wilson Bros.

At a meeting they requested with RCPC
representatives, Tony, Sarah, and Peter
Wilson presented preliminary drawings and
plans for constructing 22 apartments at the
back of their Market Hall development on
Shafter between College and Forest.

The apartments, primarily studios approxi-
mately 500 square feet apiece and one and one-half

stories high, would be clustered at the Southwest -

corner of the lot and face inward toward a narrow
enclosed courtyard. Pe

_ The land the Wilsons, propose to develop is
currently slated to hold 42 parking places for patrons
of the Market Hali/Alta Bates Showcase complex.
This lot would be replaced with a two-level garage
(one level underground) containing a total of roughly
90 spaces -- enough, the Wilsons contend, to provide
for the commercial and residential developments and
still create a net increase in parking spaces for the
neighborhood -- with the apartments constructed over
the garage.

Although the Wilsons do not propose at present
to demolish the three California Craftsman bungalows
they own on Forest, the planned development will
eliminate the back yards of all three houses and
demolish a second unit built at the rear of one of the

(See “Wilson”, Pg. 2)

Dreyer’s Plans Final!

Ready for City Submission

Presentation to Neighborhood Scheduled

Dreyer’s Ice Cream Corporation
representative Rick Graffis confirmed
Wednesday, March 12, that the firm has
completed its plans for a major development
on College, Chabot, and Claremont Avenues
and will submit them to the City Planning
Department by Friday, March 14.

According to Graffis, the Corporation still
proposes a three-story, 41,000 square foot office
building fronting on College Avenue, a two-story,
5,400 square foot research and development building
on Chabot Avenue, and a four-level garage on
Claremont Avenue with parking for 120 employees.
Construction of these buildings will require the
destruction of three houses on Chabot and two
commercial buildings on Claremont. Shipping and
receiving now handled from College Avenue will be
moved to Claremont Avenue.

Graffis said some alterations had been made in
the plans. The large stucco house at the front of the
Western-most lot on Chabot will be retained, but
converted to office space for the research and
development facility, bringing the total square footage
to roughly 48,000. Retail space will be located at each
end of the first floor of the main office building
roughly equal to the amount of existing retail space.
The previously proposed truck tumn-around space has
been eliminated and trucks will continue to have to
back in and out of the facility from Chabot Road.

This final version of the plans will be presented
at a special RCPC Neighborhood Forum to be held
Thursday, March 27 at 7:30 P.M. at the College
Avenue Presbyterian Church. Rick Graffis, Financial
Vice-President Paul Woodland, and architect Steve
Wisenbaker will formally present the plans to the
Neighborhood. .

RCPC will invite members of the City Council
and Planning Commission and representatives of the
press to this meeting. This will be our first
opportunity to respond as a community to Dreyer’s
formal proposal. Be sure to attend to present your
questions and concerns to Dreyer’s and City officials.

{ Calendar of Upcoming Events

Saturdays 11-2 Picketing, in front of Dryer’s
Monday March 18 7:30 P.M. Dreyer’s Project

Media Action Committee

Open Meeting 5703 Oak Grove
Regular General Meeting of RCPC
College Avenue Presbyterian

Church.

SURPRISE MEDIA EVENT. Attend
Media Action Committee Meeting

or phone 654-1051 or 658-9523
for details.

Picketing, in front of Dreyer’s.
Special Neighborhood Forum on
Dreyer’sProject; College Avenue
Presbyterian Church.

Thursday March 20 7:30 P.M.

Saturday March 23 (A.M.)

Saturday March 23 11-2
Thursday March 27 7:30 P.M.

XN

Wilson, from page 1

lots. This will make the three lots substandard in size
and require that any future development or sale of the
property treat them as one parcel, rather than as three
single-family homes. These homes have been the
subject of controversy before!

While generally supporting additional housing
in Rockridge, RCPC representatives at the meeting
(Chris Boddum, Jack Brown, Annette Floystrup, Don
Kinkead, Diane Rhett, Nina Robinson, and Richard
Smith) voiced a number of objections to the plans.

Key objections were the density of the
development, elimination of one building and all three
rear yards for the houses on Forest Avenue, the small
size of the units, and their orientation inward toward
the courtyard instead of out to the street.

Several of those present at the meeting felt that
such an orientation creates a blank, lifeless facade
facing the street, and fails to integrate the apartments
into the residential neighborhood around them. They
also felt that the orientation of the proposed develop-
ment and its concentration on one corner of the parcel
appears to leave the door open for adding additional
units in the future facing Shafter Avenue and on the
site of the Forest Avenue homes.

To proceed with their plans as presented, the
Wilsons will need a Major Conditional Use Permit to
extend the density of the C-31 zoning of their College
Avenue frontage onto the rear parcels, zoned R-35.
They will also be subject to design review by the
neighborhood.

This project will be discussed at the RCPC
meeting Thursday, March 20. Please plan to attend to
participate in formulating a response to the Wilson’s
plans, or contact a board member to register your
concems.

~

S

Taft Street Neighbors
Oppose Conversion

Dreyer’s Development Pressure

Three psychotherapists facing eviction from
offices located in a Claremont Avenue building slated
for demolition by Dreyer’s for its proposed four-level
garage went before the Planning Commission on
March 5 to request a variance that would allow them to
establish offices in a home located at 5902 Taft Street
at Broadway.

This house has been for sale for several years.

Its current owner and one other prospective purchaser
have tried previously to obtain a similar variance, but
relented under severe opposition from surrounding
neighbors. -
At the March 5 meeting, the Planning Com-
mission listened to arguments from the therapists and
from a dozen neighbors who attended to speak against
the proposal. RCPC has sent the Commission a letter
of opposition and was represented at the meeting by
Board Member Annette Floystrup.

The Planning Commission deferred its decision
pending completion of a staff report, expected by
March 24.

Taft Street neighbors, led by Ted Radosevich—
(658-1150) and Kathy Walsh (653-8594) have orga-
nized strongly against this unfortunate and inevitable
fallout from the proposed Dreyer’s expansion.

Call Ted or Kathy for more information. Lend
your support by writing today to the Planning Com-
mission to protest such a variance.

\

This is the first issue of what is expected to
become a regular monthly newsletter sponsored by RCPC.
It will be distributed through our block captain network to

households in the Rockridge Neighborhood. Paid sub-
scriptions deliverable by mail are a strong possibility for
the future.

In addition to updating residents on development
and planning activities that affect our Neighborhood, the
newsletter will present information on community events
and issues affecting residents and merchants alike. Readers
are encouraged to submit articles and opinions.

The newsletter title is a working title and subject
to change! Please call Don Kinkead at 655-7474 or Nina
Robinson at 658-9523 to suggest alternatives.