General Plan Update: Community Feedback & Options Survey Results

Published on December 18, 2025

Community Feedback Shows Oaklanders Prefer Connected Neighborhoods with More Jobs & Housing

Hello Oakland community,

Happy holiday season! The General Plan Update team has reviewed and compiled all the community feedback we’ve heard from community engagement efforts over the last year into this report. We reached over 1300 people directly through a mix of pop-up events, walking tours, deep listening sessions, focus groups, and more. We also had a successful project with students at Oakland High School. The report groups community feedback into 12 major themes, which include:

Accessibility and Inclusion
Community Identity
Economic Opportunity
Environmental Impacts
Housing and Displacement
Illegal Dumping & Neglected Public Space
Maintenance
Mobility
Parks and Open Space
Traffic Safety
Transparency

The community engagement process demonstrated both the resilience of Oakland’s neighborhoods and the urgency of their needs. Residents across all districts expressed pride in the city’s diversity, creativity, and community spirit, while calling for more equitable delivery of services, resources, and opportunities. We saw shared priorities around creating safer streets and more reliable mobility options, investing in affordable housing citywide, and ensuring economic growth benefits all Oaklanders. Get into the details in the Community Engagement Summary Report.

We have also summarized the results of the Options Survey. We received 757 responses and, overall, people ranked Option A: City of Neighborhoods as their top choice, followed by Option B: Connected Corridors and Gateways. People preferred distribution of housing, jobs, and amenities across the city over transit-oriented development or concentrated waterfront development. They want to see improvements in first-last mile connectivity between neighborhoods and transit stops, as well as improved maintenance of existing parks. Check out the Options Survey Report for more findings!

The feedback we’ve received throughout the engagement process is being used to inform the development of the Draft Land Use Framework which will be published in February 2026.