-
-
Featured eventsBerkeley sites
- 510 Families
- Another Bullwinkel Show
- Bay Nature
- Berkeley Accountable Schools
- Berkeley Afoot
- Berkeley Artisans
- Berkeley Blog
- Berkeley Chamber of Commerce
- Berkeley Community Fund
- Berkeley Council Watch
- Berkeley Daily Planet
- Berkeley High Jacket
- Berkeley Historical Plaques Project
- Berkeley Parents Network
- Berkeley Path Wanderers
- Berkeley Property Owners Association
- Berkeley Public Education Foundation
- Berkeley Public Library
- Berkeley Public Library Branch Improvement Program
- Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board
- Berkeley Startup Cluster
- Berkeley Street Cleaning
- BHS Development Group
- Buy Local Berkeley
- Cal Performances
- Claremont and Elmwood Kids
- Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association
- Déjà vu: down memory lane in California
- Downtown Berkeley Association
- East Bay Ethnic Eats
- Ecology Center
- Elmwood Merchants Association
- Eye on Berkeley
- Fiat Lux!
- Friends of Lorin Station
- Friends of the Berkeley Public Library
- In Dulci Jubilo
- Infospigot: The Chronicles
- Jewish Music Festival
- Lettuce Eat Kale
- Locate In Berkeley
- McGee-Spaulding-Hardy Historic Interest Group
- Mental Masala
- Open Town Hall
- Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
- Rookie Moms
- Solano Avenue Association
- Telegraph Berkeley
- Telegraph Merchants Association
- The Berkeley Blog
- The Berkeley Diet
- The Daily Californian
- The Derringdos
- The Garden of Eating
- The Nature of Berkeley
- Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association
- UC Berkeley Extension
- UCPD Crime Alerts
- Visit Berkeley
- What I Saw in Berkeley Today
Tag Archives: vacancy registration fee
The City Council on Tuesday night voted to ask the city manager’s office to look into establishing vacancy fees on empty retail property.
The council voted unanimously to support a proposal put forward by City Councilman Jesse Arreguin to consider levying a fee when a storefront has been vacant for six months, and escalating the fee the longer the store is empty. (See full Berkeleyside story here.)
“Some Council members also raised several issues they wanted the staff to look at,” Arreguin wrote Berkeleyside in an email. “Such as why (so much) ground floor space is vacant? In addition to the vacancy fee are there other regulatory changes we could make such as amending the zoning to streamline the process, to shorten the cost and time to get permits, and are there incentives we could offer to owners to rent their spaces. They wanted the City Manager and staff to also take a broader look at the issue and see what package of proposals could we develop to fill vacant spaces.”
The council did not set a timeline for the city manager to return with a report.
Will vacant storefronts tax improve business in Berkeley?
During the month of February, there were 11 vacant storefronts along the top stretch of Solano Avenue, giving the shopping district a slightly beleaguered air.
While the soft economy accounts for some of that vacant frontage, City Councilmember Jesse Arreguín suspects some landlords in Berkeley are keeping rents artificially high, making it difficult for small business owners to find suitable retail space.
Arreguín thinks that Berkeley could minimize the number of vacant storefronts by charging landlords a fee when buildings … Continue reading »
