Whole Foods Project to Council With Planning Panel Approval Recommendation

The city made a recommendation Wednesday night to the to approve of a project to develop a at . 

The project, designed to straddle Monroe Street and sit just west of San Pablo Avenue, has been in the works for nearly five years. The University of California, which owns the land, has plans to work with Whole Foods market and to develop the 6.3-acre site, which is also set to include several separate retail businesses along San Pablo. 

Nearly 30 people spoke during the public comment period of the June 27 meeting; many asked the Planning & Zoning Commission to slow down and reconsider key aspects of the project, while numerous others said they hoped the development would face no further delays.

Community members and other speakers filled the seats in the council chambers, stood along the room's back wall, and spilled out into the hallway during much of the meeting.

(See live tweets from the meeting in the PDF attached to the right. A video of the three hour meeting will be posted via KALB, Albany's cable access channel, here.)

The planning commission recommended that the City Council approve the project's development agreement and relax parking and open space requirements.

The council is tentatively set to consider these issues at a special meeting on July 9; it will also take into consideration the project's , as well as rezoning issues and the possibility of a Planned Unit Development, which allows for more flexibility in terms of density and open space requirements.

Three members of the  were in attendance Wednesday night; Commissioner  was out of town, and Commissioner  recused himself from the discussion because he works too close to the project area to vote on the development.

Many members of the public who spoke aligned themselves with the Occupy the Farm urban farming movement, and asked for protection of the agricultural fields and the creation of an agro-ecology center on the land to promote community farming. 

Although the official project area does not overlap with the university's existing agricultural research fields, urban farming supporters say they fear the field's future will be threatened if the mixed-use project is approved. 

Some speakers questioned the validity of the , as well as the safety of the land, parts of which in the past were exposed to .

Supporters of the project said it will bring a much-needed boost to Albany's economy, via jobs and taxes, and will revitalize a portion of San Pablo Avenue sorely in need of improvement. They said they also looked forward to project amenities such as the opening up of two creeks to pedestrians and cyclists; having a grocery store within walking distance; and the creation of an extensive senior housing complex to serve members of the community who currently have few options as they age.

supporters also said the project will offer , via both a promise to allow the fields to remain in place for at least 10 years, and assurances from the university that costs to relocate will be covered by the institution if and when the need arises.

Albany's Community Development Director Jeff Bond said, after the meeting, that many of the comments made by the public Wednesday night will be more relevant to the upcoming council decision than they were to the planning commission's conversation. 

"The commission needed to make a decision about the that are required for approval," he said. "A lot of the people here tonight were talking, at kind of a policy level, about urban agriculture. There really wasn't anything about urban agriculture."

Some Occupy the Farm supporters told the commission they already have plans to appeal the decision if the council approves the mixed-use project and, if need be, that they will also pursue additional legal action to stop the development if that is the only remedy left to them. 

"This was a warning shot, to the commission and to the council," said Krystof Cantor, a post-doctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, of much of the testimony Wednesday night related to urban farming at the Gill Tract.

And though the occupation of the Gill Tract ended May 14 when UC police that had been seized by activists in April, members of Occupy the Farm say the fight is just beginning. 

"We're ramping up," said Effie Rawlings, after the meeting. "UC has been a poor steward of this land, which is a precious resource to the community. It's the last resource of its kind and it needs to be protected."

Rawlings further criticized officials for continuing to move forward on the project despite promises, which she said were as yet unfulfilled, to promote dialogue about, and community access to, the agricultural field and remaining vegetable crops.

"This process is moving forward on land that is the Gill Tract without a forum or hearing, or an opportunity for the public to weigh in," she told the commission. "You saw what happened last time the community was ignored."

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If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email at albany@patch.com.