Reaching an Agreement with the JCC East Bay

by Mark Aaronson, RCPC Board Member

In 2021, the Jewish Community Center East Bay (JCCEB) began partial office occupancy of the Dreyer’s/Nestle site bounded by College, Claremont, and Chabot. The property had been acquired by the philanthropist Moses Libitsky with the intention of its being repurposed as a second campus for JCCEB office and programmatic activities. The JCCEB had and continues to have an active campus in North Berkeley. The plans also included the site becoming a centralized office location for other Bay Area Jewish nonprofit organizations.

RCPC convened a town hall meeting in late Spring 2022 during which JCCEB presented its proposed plans for the property. The initial proposal included a large recreational field on top of a parking garage, a pre-school childcare program, special event programming, office uses by multiple Jewish nonprofit organizations, and retention of the College Avenue retail stores. Though Rockridge residents at the meeting welcomed the JCCEB to the neighborhood, there were concerns regarding traffic, noise, and parking impacts because due too new community education and community assembly uses.

After the meeting, RCPC and JCCEB convened a working group to discuss the JCCEB’s plans and their impact on the neighborhood. From the beginning, the group included the JCCEB’s planning team, RCPC Board designees, and representatives from residents of Chabot between College and Claremont, who would be most immediately impacted by the changes in use. Over the next two and a half years, there were approximately twenty 20 working group meetings that led to agreed changes in the physical and operational plans for the site in stages.

Almost immediately, the JCCEB abandoned plans for a parking garage and athletic field as too financially ambitious, and in response to neighborhood concerns. The physical site changes that will take place now are modest and mainly involve creating a new ground-level entry to the College Avenue office building from the Chabot parking lot and an expanded and landscaped recreational area in the middle of the site.

From the inception, discussions mainly focused on mitigation measures for improving pedestrian safety at College and Chabot and for lessening the anticipated impact of increased traffic on Chabot between College and Claremont. Parking and noise issues also were important essential concerns.

After initially being raised in these working group discussions, the JCCEB and the City of Oakland agreed to include in project approvals new pedestrian safety measures at the College and Chabot intersection in project approvals, with the JCCEB paying the costs. These involve constructing a bulb-out at the northwest corner, installing Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons across both College crosswalks, and relocating both College bus stops to the far sides of the intersection.

Further changes affecting project terms and conditions occurred in anticipation of, at, and after the Planning Commission hearing last November 6.

Based on transportation and noise consultant reports, additional mitigation plans regarding controlling vehicle access, special event parking, and noise-control fencing are part of the conditions of approval.

At the hearing and in response to neighborhood concerns, the JCCEB agreed to eliminate a relatively late-added proposal for pickle ball courts in the JCCEB’s Claremont parking lot when not used for parking. It also agreed to include as conditions of approval limiting event drop-offs and pickups for ride share applications to the old Yoshi’s site on Claremont, and using the Claremont parking lot driveway as the vehicle ingress and egress point for cultural programming, special events, and construction vehicles during construction. On a 4-0 vote, the Planning Commission approved the project.

After the hearing, the working group engaged in further discussion that led that led to a negotiated Community Benefits Agreement effective as of November 15. A CBA is a contractual agreement between a developer, such as the JCCEB, and neighborhood groups, where each side gets something wanted in exchange for giving up something. In this instance, RCPC and the immediate Chabot Road. neighbors organized as the Chabot Village agreed not to file an appeal of the Planning Commission decision to the Oakland City Council.

In return, the JCCEB agreed to additional limitations on programs and special events, on amplified outside sound, and on usage of a small ball court usage. The JCCEB further agreed to use Claremont Avenue for drop-offs and pickups for after-school and summer camp programs if such programs are initiated, to experiment with making only right-turns only in and out of the Chabot parking lot for childcare drop-offs and pickups, and to make available allow space for neighborhood meetings when the site is otherwise in use. 

Lastly, the CBA establishes a Neighborhood Committee that will meet at least twice a year to seek to resolve any potential JCCEB site and programmatic issues of neighborhood concern. The first meeting will be on February 7.