Dear Rockridge community,

The Rockridge Community Planning Council Board of Directors wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to you regarding the recently proposed development project at 5295 College Avenue.  The project has a website (http://5295collegeavenue.com) which describes the proposal.  According to this website and the developer’s preliminary submission to the City of Oakland, the project would be 16 stories tall and contain 88 units (70 market rate ownership units and 18 below market rate units), as well as potentially a hotel and ground floor retail space.

The developer (Allen Construction) has indicated its intention to make use of various new and updated state laws which are intended to promote the development of housing throughout California.  The developer intends to invoke the state density bonus law as recently amended, which allows residential development projects to significantly exceed zoned height and density limits for projects that include specified percentages of below market rate units.  In addition, the developer has stated its intention to invoke SB423, which allows much faster, non-discretionary project approvals for projects that meet certain requirements.

RCPC became aware of this project a little over a week ago.  We do not yet have a position on the project and at the moment are focused on monitoring it and understanding if the developer is appropriately using the various new and updated state housing laws, which are complex.  We will be reaching out to the developer very soon and consulting a number of experts in our community.  We are committed to keeping the community in the loop as this proposal progresses.  As a start to that, all are welcome to attend the next monthly RCPC Land Use Committee meeting, on Wednesday, July 17 at 7:30 pm on zoom. Zoom info is at the bottom.

Thank you,

Casey Farmer RCPC Board Chair

Tom Lollini, RCPC Land Use Committee Chair

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