Reimagining the Vacant Triangular Lot at Claremont & College
by Casey Farmer | Laurie Williams, Andrew Krulewitz, and David Garcia
Ask any Rockridge resident about the vacant triangle-shaped lot at College and Claremont and nearly all will have a strong opinion about what they hope it becomes. Through RCPC’s Community Vision Plan process, we heard countless frustrations about how the site was “a dead spot” on the Avenue, or that amidst a shortage of housing or a dearth of open space, why couldn’t this site be activated.
For background, this site consists of two distinct legal parcels, owned by two different property owners who live in the Bay Area, and neither is currently for sale. A Shell gas station formerly operated at the site until 2013 and Shell cleaned up the property to commercial standards under the county’s oversight. Alameda County Department of Environmental Health will require the residual contamination to be cleaned up or mitigated in compliance with residential standards if it will be put to residential use. The site is listed on Oakland’s housing element as a priority site.
The following are some creative solutions from Rockridge residents about what could go there:
The Beer Garden, by Andrew Krulewitz
The Town Triangle, by Laurie Williams
The Housing Need, by David Garcia
PDF (or see below) of landscape designer Kat Gritt’s interpretation of how the triangle could be used—one of many creative people who see the site as an enticing blank slate.
