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Rockridge-area residents turned out en masse tonight to tell Safeway that plans to more than double the size of its existing store on College Avenue are unacceptable.

About 300 people crammed into a hot auditorium at Peralta Elementary School to hear Safeway officials discuss their proposal for the 40-year old store. Most didn’t like what they heard.

“I do think when I looked at the plan for the first time, it was not College, it was not Oakland, it was Bay Street,” said Peter Sussman, reflecting the sentiments of many in the room. “What Safeway needs to do is go back to the drawing board and see what we the neighborhood needs, not what Safeway needs.”

Safeway wants to tear down the current 25,000-square-foot store, built in 1964, and replace it and an adjoining gas station with a 59,000-square-foot structure housing a supermarket, 212 parking spaces and 16,000-square-feet of street-level retail shops.

The College Avenue side could feature space for sidewalk tables, bike racks and plenty of room for pedestrian traffic, said Todd Paradis, of Safeway real estate. Paradis said the architects designed the College Avenue facade with about 85 percent glass to give it a more open, airy feel.

Todd Paradis of Safeway, right, speaks to the crowd.

“We’ve never had a plan like this,” Paradis said. “It’s the new urbanism. If you’re in a city, and you want to maximize it to its best use, you need density.”

Paradis acknowledged that the store, due to open in 2012, would be large. But he said that as much as 50 percent of the space is for wider aisles and a roomier shopping experience. Most people consider the current Safeway to be cramped.

Safeway first began talking about a replacement for the College Avenue store a year ago. It submitted a pre-application to the city planning department in December showing artist renderings of a nearly 60,000-foot store. When neighbors reacted negatively to those plans, some thought Safeway would come back with a scaled-back building. Instead, the plans unveiled last week on a web site set up for the project show a store with about the same footprint, but with new street level retail shops and a concealed parking area on the ground level instead of the roof.

Although most in the audience appeared to dislike the current proposal, the opposition varied. Some opposed any change to the store; others just want Safeway to scale back the size of the project or produce a design that better fits the neighborhood, a quaint stretch of College Avenue near Claremont Avenue.

“The way I see it, it will produce a big impact on the neighborhood that we don’t want to see,” said Patrick McCullough, who recently lost a bid to be elected to the city council. “Stand up for your neighborhood. Don’t let it be taken away by corporate interests.”

“It looks like it belongs in a strip mall,” said another of about 60 speakers who took the microphone during the two-hour meeting.

Susan Shawl is spearheading opposition to the expansion. She wants Safeway to remodel and expand the store only slightly and to view the location as a satellite to its larger 51st Avenue and Pleasant Valley Avenue store.

Others criticized the design as being too suburban.

“The design needs a considerable amount of work,” one speaker said. “You’ve piled one cliche on top of another cliche. I’d recommend you bring in a design panel.”

Said another speaker: “That block on College across from Safeway is probably the prettiest in Oakland, and we all love it. Everybody in this neighborhood is hypersensitive. I’m not opposed to Safeway expanding. If there’s a chance for more designers (to be involved) that’d be great.”

Safeway representatives posted many positive comments from neighbors on their web site in recent days. And there appeared to be more than a handful of supporters in the audience tonight, though few spoke up.

“I’m not against the size,” one speaker said. “Let’s not shut it down cold, OK?”

Zac Unger said a larger store would present an opportunity to shift shopping dollars from Berkeley to Oakland.

“I think we shouldn’t fear change,” Unger said. “I remember all the gnashing of teeth when Market Hall came in. I remember when Trader Joe’s came in. … They’re adding 15,000 square feet of shops. They’re probably the kind of shops we like.”

Rebecca Saltzman agreed. “I think that corner is atrocious. I think we could use retail there. This is a way to actually bring people in. We’re all going to continue to go to these (existing) small stores, and we could use more retail.”

Safeway representatives insisted their dialogue with the community was just beginning and the plans could change significantly over time.

“Keep in mind it’s a work in progress,” Paradis said. “It could take on a new life. They all do.”

Once Safeway files formal plans with the city, the project will go through a long process of review, possibly including an environmental impact report. Construction would take another year.

Stuart Flashman from the Rockridge Community Planning Council said the group would take up the issue as soon at next week. He said the group will pay particular attention to C-31 zoning, a type of zoning specifically intended to preserve the character of small shopping areas such as Rockridge. As a non-profit watchdog group, the RCPC traditionally only speaks up when it opposes a project. It never takes a position supporting a project.

AC Transit planner Ajay Martin said his agency would also watch the project closely and its impact on public transportation in the area. One concern is that additional traffic could make it harder for buses to drive through that stretch of College Avenue.

Arvi Dorsey battled with Safeway years ago over the remodel of its Grand Avenue store. The neighbors ultimately prevailed, forcing Safeway to scale back the size of its store. He’s convinced Rockridge residents will enjoys a similar outcome.

“These folks will fight it and win it,” he said of the Rockridge neighbors. “These folks will win with something smaller.”

[See all our related Safeway stories here.]