This past November and December, nearly 400 Rockridge residents filled out a survey that was posted in the Rockridge News as a way to express their preferences regarding how the vacant land at the Ridge Shopping Plaza (51st and Broadway) can best benefit our local community. The intent of the survey, administered by the Rockridge Community Planning Council, was to answer three questions:

1- What are the most popular and least popular ways that our community would like to see the land at the Ridge used?
2- How do these answers differ by demographics, if at all?
3- More generally, what issues are most important to our community?

We learned that the most popular options for land use were, in order of preference: housing, small-scale retail, and restaurants. The least popular options were auto dealerships, fast food chains, and big-box retail. Interestingly, these results were consistent across all demographics — in other words, regardless of respondents’ age group, length of Rockridge residency, or renters vs. owners, Rockridge residents are broadly in agreement about how they would like to see this land developed.

Of these results, housing was far and away the most popular way that our community believes the land should be used. Over 60 percent of respondents indicated that housing was their first choice, which was 3.5x more popular than the second-most popular option (small-scale retail). Housing also came up in free-text responses as the issue that is most important to our community. After housing, in order of importance, were homelessness, crime/ safety, support for small businesses, parks, and transit.

There was, of course, some nuance to the specific interests and concerns that arose. For example, some residents were concerned that more housing might damage the character of the neighborhood, whereas others were concerned that lack of additional housing would continue to keep Rockridge unaffordable for most families. Others saw housing as a moral imperative for keeping our unhoused population safe. Still, others expressed despair and frustration over the growing homeless encampments.

Ultimately, what’s clear is that one survey over a two-month period is not enough to effectively engage our community, spark continued thoughtful, nuanced conversation, and explore ideas about these important issues and their potential solutions. Over the next few months, we are hoping to re-launch virtual and in-person town hall meetings around these topic areas to learn more. We’ll start with a Virtual Town Hall Meeting on January 20 where participants can break into groups to discuss some of these issues in more detail. We plan to continue the conversations with facilitated dialogue, a speaker series, and more. Stay tuned.