The agenda for the July 22 Traffic & Safety Commission meeting has been posted on the city website.  Also available is the staff report on the city’s Safeway Store major projects page (attachements referenced in the staff report are on the major projects page).

For vehicle circulation, Safeway proposes three options:

Option A:  Vehicle access for the underground parking garage well down Curtis and Neilson and across from residences (as per previous designs), no Solano access.  Truck access would be via a loading dock high up on Neilson.

Option B:  Vehicle access well down Curtis and Neilson, no Solano access.  Truck access would be via a loading dock located on Solano Ave.

Option B-1:  Truck access via a loading dock located on Solano.  There would also be a vehicle access ramp on Solano adjacent to the loading dock, however there would still be vehicle access on Curtis and Neilson and these access points would be south of the existing parking lot access cuts.

Unfortunately the city engineer has thrown his support behind proposal A, which makes it all the more important that we emphasize how detrimental this proposal is to the neighborhood.  Even option B-1 could use some improvement — the driveways on Curtis/Neilson need to either be removed, or moved north (towards Solano) to their existing locations.

There are two important meetings coming up, both of which will be held at City Hall.  The first is a hearing of the Traffic and Safety Commission on Thursday, July 22 at 7 p.m.  At the time of this post an agenda is not available on the City website, but we know the Safeway project will be discussed.  The purpose of this session is to “review auto and truck circulation plans” associated with the Safeway application.  To provide feedback, send an email to Aleida Andrino-Chavez at achavez@albanyca.org, copy Jeff Bond at jbond@albanyca.org.  As a reminder, please keep your emails on topic (i.e., the Traffic Commission should consider that primary access is being switched to a residential street and that the larger store will push major streets like Solano and Marin past capacity, but they don’t care that the building is annoyingly tall).

Second, the Planning and Zoning Commission will have Safeway on its agenda at its Tuesday, July 27 meeting at 7:30 p.m.

At the current development meetings, Safeway has made many promises — statements regarding their future behavior, and how they will be a good neighbor.  Shown below is a truck violating the Albany Municipal Code by deviating from the prescribed truck route and traveling down Marin Avenue.  If neighbors react with skepticism to Safeway’s assurances it’s because we can’t even convince them to follow city ordinances — let alone unwritten promises.

Safeway truck traveling down Marin Ave

AOL’s new hyper-local news website, patch.com, has an Albany version and with it an article on the proposed Safeway expansion.  Overall I think the article does a good job of painting the various issues surrounding this project.  It’s worth noting, however, that Allen Cain of the Solano Avenue Assocation continues to make misleading statements regarding support for this project from Solano Avenue businesses:

He also said 250 of the entire association’s members have not expressed any opposition to the plan, although some have shared concerns over Safeway’s “mega store.”

This comes at the end of an article that quotes several Solano Avenue business owners as being strongly opposed to the plan, which  makes you wonder what’s going on.  However, as we discussed below Mr. Cain’s statement is made based on a postcard mailing the avenue association sent out, to which they received only four replies.

For those looking for a summary of the project, Albany Today has a nice piece that provides a good overview.  Here’s the lede:

Safeway Inc. has tentative plans to tear down its Albany store and reconstruct one twice the size with a parking lot underneath the building, according to an application to the Albany Planning and Zoning Commission.

The answer is an unequivocal yes.  The issue of whether Solano Businesses support Safeway’s expansion, however, is less clear.  Allen Cain, executive director of the Solano Avenue Association, wrote a May 26 letter to the Planning Commission stating:

We acknowledge the fact that there are neighbors in the immediate vicinity that have concerns; we have polled the Solano Avenue Association membership (now at almost 250) and as of this writing we are not aware of any opposition [from anyone] to the proposed expansion.

This deliberately misleading statement was designed to give the impression of broad support for the Safeway expansion.  Fortunately  during the June 3 study session it was revealed that only four members responded to the poll.  In fact, the following businesses have written letters to the planning commission opposing the new development in its current form:

• Matsu, 1519 Solano (Betty Yu)
• William Moore DDS, 1396 Solano
• Gathering Tribes, 1412 Solano (Pennie Opal Plant)

The bottom line is that many local businesses understand a design that incorporating inadequate parking, that includes specialty stores designed to cannibalize neighborhood businesses, and that is of a size unfit for a low density neighborhood is not a design that is good for the Cities of Albany or Berkeley.

At the June 3 meeting several neighbors brought up the point that Safeway has been a poor steward of its existing property, frequently allowing trash and other eyesores to accumulate.  If you thought that such a high profile airing of its dirty laundry would encourage the store to clean up its property, you would have thought wrong.  The picture below was just taken today:

Trash accumulation on Safeway property

This trash heap was present for several weeks prior to the June 3 meeting, and almost a week later continues to be an urban eyesore.  The point here is that even under the spotlight Safeway has remained steadfast in its refusal to adequately maintain its property.  A larger footprint, with underground parking no less, means more opportunities for the property to fall into disrepair.

Thanks to all who came out on June 3 to voice their concerns on this project.  A link to the video stream from the meeting can be found here.  I hope to have commentary on the meeting up in the next couple days.

Yesterday, my neighbor and I visited the Montclair (Oakland) Safeway on Mountain Blvd. at the intersection with Moraga Blvd.  This Safeway store was remodeled about a year ago.  It is modest in size, well stocked and clean. The outside of the store was refurbished, and the loading dock is at the front of the store.  Inside, it is clear that the store is not brand new, but it was upgraded and is so well maintained, that it doesn’t matter.  According to one person we spoke to, the upper parking lot requires constant monitoring to prevent shoppers from using that lot as free parking when they patronize the local stores in Montclair Village.

If you have the opportunity, visit this Safeway and see what a simple remodeling (and good store management!) can accomplish.

Continue reading…

We’ve acquired a PDF copy of the Planning and Zoning Ordinance, which is Title XX of the City of Albany Municipal Code.  The entire municipal code is available here, but the PDF is easier on the eyes and looks better when you print out sections.

Here is a link to the Zoning Ordinance in PDF format; a permanent link to the file will kept off to the right.