Oakland: Lake Merritt BART

TransForm is working with local stakeholders and the City of Oakland to unlock the Lake Merritt station area's strong potential as a new model for a transit-oriented, walkable community in the region. The Lake area currently hosts moderate density housing but has little in the way of character and identity.

Click here to see the City of Oakland's special website for this project!

TransForm's goal is to maximize community involvement by helping local stakeholders identify their own community needs and assets, helping them to understand the potential of transit oriented development, and help to facilitate as much local resident, merchant and worker participation in the planning process as possible.

Some of the key stakeholders we've already begun working with include the following: 

• Asian Health Services
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
• The Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce
• East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation
• BART
• Laney College (Peralta Community College District)

So far, TransForm has helped Asian Health Services in facilitating three community orientations to the planning process (including overviews of what tranist-oriented development is, and how community health can be improved through better planning decisions), and in the creation of a "Community Needs Assessment Survey". Key stakeholders collected over 1,100 completed surveys, and an analysis of the identified the following community needs which will serve as the 9 Guiding Principles for the planning process:

•Increased Public Safety from Crime, Violence and Traffic
•Increase the amount of good jobs
•Creation of more Affordable Housing, and protect existing housing (especially for seniors and families)
•Preserve and Improve Community Facilities
and Open Space
•Support for more businesses
•Improve Transportation (transit, walkability and the creation of safe, "complete streets")
•Support Cultural Preservation (protect and enhance cultural history of Oakland's Chinatown)

•Maximize Community Engagement (ensure residents have full access to the planning process)
•Improve Community Health and well being of current and future residents

The next step of the Great Communities Collaborative will be to help the above stakeholders and their members in participating in the planning process to help get their needs met. Currently a group of residents and merchants are helping the Consultant (Dyett & Bhatia) with drafting alternatives that will serve as a basis for the plan and will meet the needs of the community.

The end result of our combined efforts will be to have assisted key stakeholders and the City in creating a Specific Plan to guide redevelopment in meeting the community's needs while making the surrounding neighborhoods more livable and walkable, and better connecting the Lake Merritt BART Station area to the surrounding neighborhoods, and to the region as a whole. The Lake Merritt Station Area Plan will seek to better connect all the neighborhoods within a 10 minute walk or bike ride to the BART station.

To learn more, please contact Joel Ramos.