The Golden West project is on a site with a long history A view of the Golden West plot near the BART station at 1396 5th St. At that time, members could decide to either support the Planning Commission’s decision to approve the project or uphold the appeal and require further environmental review. The issue is now expected to return to the council in late January or early February for another public hearing. “I’m really concerned about the historic harm of the pollution in the air and the water and the ground in West Oakland,” she said.Īt Fife’s request, the council agreed to take more time to review the project. “This doesn’t in any way impact the project being built,” Dalrymple said, “it just means that we build safer.” A new environmental report, he added, could take only six to eight months.Ĭouncilmember Carroll Fife, who represents District 3, was more apprehensive.
John Dalrymple, a spokesperson for EBRRD, said the goal isn’t to interrupt the project but to protect the people who may someday be living in the building. “I don’t believe that their appeal aligns with the feelings of myself or our neighbors in South Prescott, who in my experience are uniformly positive about the project,” said one homeowner, Sean Taylor, who lives two blocks from the site. 21 where residents on both sides of the issue weighed in. The council held a public hearing on Sept. One development in particular-“Golden West,” a proposed eight-story apartment complex that would build 222 market-rate units and 16 low-income units (designated for renters at 30% to 50% of area median income) on what is currently an empty triangular one-acre lot across from the BART station at 1396 Fifth St.- received the green light from the Oakland Planning Commission on March 3.īut the project hit a wall on March 12 when a coalition of labor groups, East Bay Residents for Responsible Development, filed an appeal with the City Council requesting an environmental review and saying hazardous materials such as benzene, lead, and diesel on the site make it unfit for housing unless removed. The planned projects have fueled a debate over development and displacement in West Oakland. The area is set to undergo even more changes in the next few years due to approved housing complex developments-part of a larger West Oakland Specific Plan launched by the city in 2014-that will add hundreds of new market-rate units, include retail and workspace, and change West Oakland’s skyline permanently.
The neighborhood surrounding the West Oakland BART station could be described as a microcosm of the city’s growing housing inequality: Unhoused residents live in camps alongside new apartments and condos that cater primarily to affluent newcomers and commuters.