On February 10, RCPC launched the Community Vision Plan (CVP) at a Town Hall meeting attended by nearly 100 community members. We received a lot of positive feedback, helpful clarifying questions, and excellent ideas to ensure our process is inclusive and thoughtful. Participants overwhelmingly supported the creation of a plan for Rockridge — one that could serve as a roadmap for improving our community for the next 20 years and beyond.

Why Create a Community Vision Plan?
The idea for the CVP emerged from conversations at Land Use Committee meetings over the past couple of years. There are two reasons why the RCPC board thinks this is ideal timing to develop a Community Vision Plan:

1) We haven’t done one since 1990. This plan was highly influential as it instigated treasured Rockridge amenities, including the library and Frog Park.

2) The City of Oakland recently developed its Housing Element (zoning changes and identifying housing opportunity sites). It will
soon begin its General Plan Amendment planning process, which will focus on land use, circulation (mobility), housing, environmental justice, conservation, open space, noise, and safety.

RCPC will be able to share our neighborhood’s feedback through our final CVP plan with the City this fall. The update of Oakland’s General Plan is expected to be adopted next year

What Are the Goals of the CVP?

  • To bring the community together to create a shared vision for the long-range future of Rockridge
  • Identify opportunities to improve the vitality of College Avenue, mobility of all kinds (pedestrians, strollers, bicycles, cars, and transit), and green/open spaces.
  • Identify solutions to improve the neighborhood’s sustainability, resilience, and safety.
  • Identify corollary benefits, challenges and opportunities from increasing housing access.
  • Create a vision for housing and community development in Rockridge to help guide collaboration with the City, public agencies, the development community, and the Rockridge District Association.

What Will the Process Look Like?
At the launch meeting, there was significant interest in beginning the process by exploring residents’ emotional connections to the neighborhood before diving into strategies. Beginning with questions like “What is essential to Rockridge?,” and “How do you connect to yourneighborhood?” will help identify shared values to shape specific goals for the plan. Rockridge is fortunate to have neighbors who are experts in fun, hands-on community engagement. We have asked James Rojas and John Kamp of Place It to facilitate three pop-up events to support the process (see details below).

Following the pop-up events, RCPC will host a series of meetings to listen, share information, and strategize together in community. We will also determine ways for online participatation to ensure broad and inclusive access to this community conversation. Over the summer, the RCPC Board and Steering Committee will collect and organize additional feedback, and present a draft in late
summer. Finally, we will celebrate the plan at a large event in October.

Get Involved: Attend An Event or Pop-Up
RCPC is excited by the energy that was brought to the first meeting, and we appreciate our neighbors’ thoughtful comments. We encourage the community to get involved.

Join a Steering Committee: We recognize that many in our community have skills that could contribute to the CVP, or interest in participating more deeply in the process. Stop by our booth for a hands-on activity to share your ideas at one of our pop-ups
— spend as little as five minutes, or as long as you’d like. There are three opportunities to engage — please bring neighbors, youth, and children.

Community Engagement Pop-Ups

  • Tuesday, March 11, 6-8pm at the Rockridge Library
  • Saturday, March 15, 11-1pm at the Safeway Plaza (College/63rd)
  • Sunday, March 16, 9-noon at the DMV Farmer’s Market
  • Community Meeting #2: Thursday, March 20, 7pm, at Claremont Middle School. Enter on Miles Avenue. Zachary’s pizza provided.

  • To RSVP, click on this link. To download and share our flyer with your neighborhood email list, click here. Email chair@rockridge. org to get involved.