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Category Archives: Urban planning
Parker Place development wins council approval
Parker Place, a 155-unit development at Shattuck and Parker, won City Council approval last night after a long development tussle.
The project had originally been approved by both the Zoning Adjustments Board and the council in 2010, but a procedural error led to a lawsuit. It returned to the council last November, was the subject of a ZAB public hearing in December, and came back to the council for final approval last night.
Despite the approval, the developers expect opponents to pursue a lawsuit to delay or stop the project. Any suit would need to be filed within 30 days of formal notice of the project’s approval.
The project calls for two five-story mixed-use buildings at 2658 and 2660 Shattuck (both sides of Parker on Shattuck) and a three-story residential building at 2037 Parker. In addition to the 155 dwelling units, there is nearly 23,000 sq ft of commercial space on the ground floor. … Continue reading »
Elmwood business quotas may change to help startups
The decades-old retail and food quotas in Berkeley’s Elmwood commercial district face a potentially dramatic overhaul with Councilmember Gordon Wozniak set to propose a review of the quotas to the Planning Commission at tonight’s City Council meeting. If it’s adopted, Wozniak’s scheme would eliminate retail quotas and collapse the current three-tier food quota into a single quota.
“I want to make it easier for startups, but still maintain the special character of the Elmwood,” Wozniak, who represents most of the Elmwood business district, said. The area is centered on the intersection of Ashby and College Avenues in south Berkeley. “There’s a need to keep the balance between food and retail, but having three distinct categories for food is very destructive and consumes an inordinate amount of staff time.”
Under the current quotas (see table below), there are six distinct retail categories and three food categories — carry out, quick service and full service. Wozniak said that the system can be a “real disincentive for a new business”, because of the cost and time needed for permitting.
Court date moved in next stage of Mitch Kapor home saga
Update, 01.31.12: Both parties in the 2707 Rose Street case, which went to appeal and was heard in the First Appellate District, Division 4, California Court of Appeal in San Francisco on January 24th, are now waiting to hear the outcome. In the meantime Berkeley Hills Preservation group alerts us to its website which contains full details of its case.
Original story: Mitch Kapor is no closer to being able to begin construction on his new home in the north Berkeley hills after a court date set for tomorrow, January 10th, at which opponents to his plans were to have appealed a December 2010 ruling against them, has been moved back 14 days.
Meanwhile, Kapor, the philanthropist and founder of Lotus, and his wife Freada Kapor Klein — who received approval approved use permits from the City of Berkeley City of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board two years ago this month to build a new for a 6,478 sq ft home with 10-car garage at 2707 Rose Street — have voluntarily agreed not to undertake any construction activities at the site.
The lot has, however, been cleared in anticipation of a possible build. The original home at the location, a 2-story 2,477 sq ft 1925 house, abandoned for many years, has been removed, as well as a garage at street level, leaving merely foundations in their place.
The Berkeley Hills Preservation Group’s appeal rests on the argument that the build will have “a significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances” (California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines [14 Cal.Code Regs.]), and therefore warrants a CEQA environmental review — something not normally required for the construction of single family homes. … Continue reading »
Tagged 2707 Rose Street, Mitch Kapor
The Sequoia Building: At heart of Berkeley’s rich heritage
By Steven Finacom
Telegraph Avenue’s Sequoia Apartments building, seriously damaged in a fire on Friday, November 18, 2011, is a stately and historic edifice that helped define the character of Telegraph Avenue in both the early 20th century and in the 1960s.
Constructed in 1916, the 96-year-old, 39-apartment, building was part of an early 20th century development boom that transformed Telegraph Avenue into a bustling business and residential district.
When the Sequoia was built, Berkeley was one of most populous cities in California, riding a wave of suburb development and urbanization that had started with the construction of streetcar lines around the turn of the century, and accelerated after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. … Continue reading »
Tagged Amoeba Music, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley Cinema Guild, Berkeley civil rights, Berkeley counter culture, Berkeley Historical Society, Cafe Intermezzo, Cody’s Books, Edward Landberg, Garden Spot, Lucky’s market, Mario’s La Fiesta Restaurant, Pauline Kael, Raleigh’s, Sequoia Building, Telegraph Avenue
Average Berkeley street in at risk condition, many worse
According to a report from the City Auditor presented to the City Council last night, the average Berkeley street is in “at risk” condition. As the report, Failing Streets, details, as street condition deteriorates, the cost of paving increases rapidly.
“Berkeley streets are in a serious state of disrepair, with the average street at risk of failing,” said City Auditor Ann-Marie Hogan. “Our audit shows how to use available data to decide how much to invest, when, and where, to stop the skyrocketing future cost of failed streets.”
The audit used StreetSaver software, developed by the Metropolitan Tranportation Commission for the nine-county Bay Area. The software assigns a pavement condition index (PCI) between 100 (excellent) and 0 (failed) for a city’s streets and generates scenarios for five-year repair plans. Berkeley’s streets have an average PCI of 58, at the top of the “at risk” range. … Continue reading »
Up to $6,300 rebates available for home energy upgrades
Berkeley residents can claim rebates up to the value of $6,300 for implementing energy efficiency upgrades to their homes. And they can learn all about the what, where and how at a Berkeley Home Energy Efficiency Forum happening tomorrow, November 2nd, in Berkeley.
The City of Berkeley has partnered with Energy Upgrade California to offer the workshop as a one-stop shop for all Alameda County homeowners to find contractors, get information about the rebates and tax credits available and have all their questions answered.
Residents will get a chance to meet participating contractors who are trained and ready to work on their home, as well as homeowners who have already made energy improvements to their homes. … Continue reading »
City Council tackles housing development downtown
With the passage of Measure R last year, Berkeley voters set the stage for a taller, denser, greener downtown.
While developers will be allowed to build one hotel and two residential buildings of 180 feet, a couple of office buildings at 120 feet and other buildings that are taller than in today’s downtown, what the city’s core will actually look like – who will live there, how much open space will be retained and how people will get around – is likely to be the focus of many late-night council and commission meetings over the next months and years to come.
The question the council debated at its Tuesday evening work session was whether paying a $20,000 per rental unit fee to an affordable housing fund would negatively impact the developer’s bottom line, affecting a proposed project to the degree that it would not to be built.
Developer fees are not taxes. They are intended to pay cities back for partial costs they bear for new development. Currently in Berkeley developers pay into a childcare fund, commercial developers pay into a fund for affordable housing, and condominium developers pay into a fund for affordable housing if they don’t choose to build lower-cost housing on site.
Berkeley formerly mandated that 20% of new rental units a developer built would be affordable, with an option for the developer to pay into a fund to house lower-income people in lieu of creating new affordable units. The 2009 Palmer decision by the state supreme court made that illegal.
The council is also likely to impose developer fees dedicated to open space and transportation, but that wasn’t part of Tuesday’s discussion. … Continue reading »
City Council unanimously passes Southside Plan
The Southside Plan, in the works since 1997 (or since 1929, as one councilmember joked), was passed unanimously by the Berkeley City Council last night.
“Congratulations! We have a plan,” exulted Mayor Tom Bates after the vote.
The main goals of the plan, which covers the area directly south of the UC Berkeley campus, include creating additional housing to help meet the housing demand for students and local employees; to encourage affordable housing; to provide for a high-density residential and … Continue reading »
Council to consider zoning change for “auto row” dealers
In the 1980s, Berkeley instituted zoning changes to prohibit new car sales and other auto-oriented uses in the South Shattuck corridor. The thinking was that industry trends would push dealerships to bigger sites near the I-80 freeway, and that prime property near the downtown could find other uses.
That’s not how things turned out. South Shattuck remains Berkeley’s auto row, with Toyota, Honda and Volvo shortly to be joined by Fiat. All are in long-established car sales facilities. Only … Continue reading »
Crossing at Dwight and Telegraph prompts safety calls
If you’ve ever driven up Dwight Way and merged onto Telegraph, or if you’ve walked across the corner, you probably have noticed the problem with the pedestrian crossing on the intersection. The “slip right turn”, in the language of traffic engineers, leads vehicles around the corner without being delayed at the stoplight for those continuing east or turning north. The problem is that traffic speeds around the corner to confront a concealed pedestrian crossing.
“I get more complaints about this … Continue reading »
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