Three neighborhoods prepare for battle over a plan that will add multi-family housing to their commercial districts for the first time in a half-century.
Really informative article. Wish I was a "fly on the wall" to hear some of these discussions you had with the Save Berkeley Shops people. From your article it sounds like they are part of the problem they complain about - disruption to local stores due to construction. If they'd allow apartments in the residential blocks where they live, rather than just on the commercial corridors, then there'd be less disruption of stores on the corridors.
Actually SBS calls for zoning around the commercial districts on their website.
YIMBY groups wanted the zoning 2 blocks outwards of commercial districts. Staff shot the idea down because the environmental study had only been done for the committed commercial corridors.
I like the idea of multi-story commercial retail and housing, but as I've said many times, I honestly don't like high-density housing being focused only on commercial corridors. It's predicated on 1990s-era urban planning that all corridors are in decline in retail activity so they're politically easy to put housing on. It also focuses residences on polluted car-oriented corridors instead of in the quieter residential areas. Apartment dwellers deserve quiet streets, too.
Really informative article. Wish I was a "fly on the wall" to hear some of these discussions you had with the Save Berkeley Shops people. From your article it sounds like they are part of the problem they complain about - disruption to local stores due to construction. If they'd allow apartments in the residential blocks where they live, rather than just on the commercial corridors, then there'd be less disruption of stores on the corridors.
Actually SBS calls for zoning around the commercial districts on their website.
YIMBY groups wanted the zoning 2 blocks outwards of commercial districts. Staff shot the idea down because the environmental study had only been done for the committed commercial corridors.
I like the idea of multi-story commercial retail and housing, but as I've said many times, I honestly don't like high-density housing being focused only on commercial corridors. It's predicated on 1990s-era urban planning that all corridors are in decline in retail activity so they're politically easy to put housing on. It also focuses residences on polluted car-oriented corridors instead of in the quieter residential areas. Apartment dwellers deserve quiet streets, too.