We’ve been writing about the March of the Mini-Dorms since our very first eNEWS, and it’s still a Hot Topic. Readers will remember the issue in regard to the proposal for the Bartlett Houses. That proposal was defeated in an outstanding example of how residents of neighborhoods can work together to persuade our City Council to do the right thing. Thank you Council.
Currently, Mini-Dorms can exist in any zoning district, from R-1 to R-3 but new residences with 5 or more bedrooms now require a zoning permit after a hearing before the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB). Mini-Dorms are a form of Group Living Accommodations (GLAs) which are designed to house groups such as fraternities, sororities or co-ops. GLAs are not allowed in zoning districts R-1 to R-2A, but are first allowed in the R-3 zoning district and above. Most exist in the south of campus area.
Because of pressures over the lack of and cost of student housing combined with continued neighbor complaints about noise, trash, traffic problems and drunken parties occurring in both Mini-Dorms and GLAs, the Council decided to take another look at operating standards for both. A proposed new ordinance, applying to both, was scheduled to be considered by the Council on March 24, 2015. There was resistance to that proposed ordinance so the subject was held over. Between March 24 and August 18, 2015, staff held over 30 separate meetings with 16 different stakeholder groups. The stakeholder groups consulted included the ASUC, Intra- Fraternity Council, Panhellenic, Coops, Dean of Students, the UC Title 9 Advocate, Alta Bates Hospital, the Willard, Panoramic, LeConte, Parker/Piedmont, Dwight Hillside neighborhoods, Berkeley Safe Neighborhood Committee, UC Office of Government Community Relations, Bay Area Women Against Rape and Berkeley Property Owners Association.
Council discussed the proposed ordinance in a workshop held on September 29, 2015, during which some 93 speakers testified.
The intent of this new ordinance is to:
- reduce excessive use of Police, Fire and hospital emergency resources and free up City resources to respond to other emergencies
- reduce inappropriate and illegal alcohol use and frequency of sexual assault
- reduce potential detrimental impacts from the operation of Mini-Dorms and GLAs on neighborhoods
- protect residents and guests of Mini-Dorms and GLAs
- exempt GLAs that have policies and procedures in place that meet the objectives of the proposed ordinance
In citing the need for the revised ordinance the City listed the following:
- In the last eight months:
- Two individuals suffered alcohol-related deaths, one at a fraternity and one at an apartment.
- The University of California Berkeley 2014 Annual Security Report lists 33 forcible sexual offenses on campus or in the adjacent area for the year 2013 and at least nine sexual assaults reported in the campus area in the first two months of the 2014-15 school year. These included five who allege they were drugged and sexually assaulted at one fraternity in October 2014.
- There were 282 calls for service for the Berkeley Fire Department between January 2013 and September 2015 originating from the following locations:
- 138 residence halls
- 63 fraternities
- 1 sorority
- 43 houses or apartments
- 7 co-ops
- 30 miscellaneous
- 65% (184) of these calls were alcohol related and required transports to the Emergency Room (ER) by the Fire Department. These transports originated from:
- 91 residence halls
- 39 fraternities
- 40 houses or apartments
- 3 co-ops
- 11 miscellaneous
City Staff also reported that as of today all sororities and several fraternities at UCB have an alcohol-free premises policy, including three of the largest fraternities on campus. However, their report also noted that “not all fraternities are following this policy.”
The proposed ordinance calls for:
- The owner of a GLA property to retain the services of a property manager, and provide the City with property manager contact information.
- The owner or manager shall provide all tenants with a copy of the ordinance.
- The residents of each GLA or Mini-Dorm shall designate a “Responsible Resident.”
- The owner or manager shall provide contact information of the Responsible Resident to neighbors around the property, and the City.
- The Responsible Residents shall:
- Maintain a written property maintenance log that demonstrates how the property is maintained so that it does not have accumulations of solid waste, excess vegetation, graffiti or rodent harborages.
- Notify neighbors 48 hours in advice re entertainment events with 50 or more people.
- Respond to neighborhood complaints within 24 hours and maintain a log of complaints and how they were resolved.
- Promptly notify the owner or manager of any notices of code violations.
- An exemption to the entertainment event management provisions of the ordinance may be provided in instances in which a GLA has policies and procedures in place that serve the functional equivalent of that section of the ordinance.
- Regulations for Entertainment Events Involving Alcohol include:
- No access to the roof.
- Events must end by 10 pm, Sunday through Thursday.
- Events must end by 1 am, Fridays and Saturdays, or any day preceding a national holiday.
- Prohibit the service of alcohol in bedrooms occupied by persons age 21 years or under.
- Prevent access to alcohol by minors in the building.
- Gatherings should generally be under 200 persons, including on the public right-of-way.
- Specified violent crimes and sexual assaults when committed at an event may be grounds for nuisance proceedings.
- Non-compliance with the ordinance could be deemed a nuisance.
Some 93 speakers testified at the September 29 workshop. Most were students opposed to the proposed new ordinance. It was said that student organizations (un-named) had hired buses to bring students to the meeting. Opposition centered around three themes:
- Student groups recognized the problems and had been working on solutions. They had approved policies and procedures that had successfully reduced the number of transports to the emergency room. They should be allowed to continue that work.
- Real and lasting change must come from within, not imposed by outsider regulations. Student organizations should be allowed to “self-govern.”
- Provisions in the ordinance might cause the loss of housing to a person lodging a complaint and his/her friends and this would discourage sexual assault victims from making a complaint.
The South Side Neighborhood Consortium (Dwight Hillside, Willard, Piedmont/Parker, Claremont Elwood, Regent Street, LeConte, Stuart Street/Willard, Berkeley Neighborhoods Council) indicated their strong support of the proposed ordinance. They suggested three additions:
- Ensure that all Mini-Dorm and GLA vehicles park in their approved spaces, not randomly in their front yards.
- Give neighbors the right to review the Responsible Resident log.
- Prohibit issuing Resident Parking Permits to Mini-Dorm and GLA residents.
The Berkeley Safe Neighborhoods Committee (BSNC) wrote to the Council in support of the ordinance, but also suggested additions:
- The Responsible Resident should receive training designed collaboratively by the City and the Campus.
- Require the Responsible Resident to be present during the entire time of any event.
- Require the City to provide each property owner of a Mini-Dorm or GLA a copy of the ordinance and obtain a signed receipt from the owner.
- Require signatures of neighbors that they have received notice as required by the ordinance.
- Consider reducing the number from 200 regarding events, at least as applied to Mini-Dorms.
The Council does not take action at workshops, so the proposed ordinance was referred to the Agenda Committee to set a date for future action. In the meantime:
- On October 31/November 1, 2015: Per media reports some 2,000 to 3,000 students and others “took to the streets” around Channing Way and Prospect, throwing rocks and bottles, jumping on cars and causing “numerous medical calls for students and others who had been drinking.” One person was hospitalized, three were detained for battery and assault. 33 Berkeley Police officers responded as well as officers from the Highway Patrol, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and UCPD. One Berkeley officer was quoted as saying that this riot “put the rest of the City at risk” because of the “delay in getting resources elsewhere.” There was a much greater crowd in the area because of Halloween parties and the USC v Cal football game. Cause of the riot is unknown. It should be acknowledged that many students participated in clean-up of the area after the riot was over.
- On December 19, 2015: A student in his early 20’s was found dead inside the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity located at 2908 Channing Way (between Prospect and Warring). The victim was not a current Cal student, but he was a member of the fraternity while he attended another nearby college. He was said to have fallen from a “significant” height and that “alcohol appears to be a contributing factor.” He had apparently attended a “small holiday party” earlier in the evening. The incident is still under investigation.
- On December 21, 2015: The External Affairs Office of the ASUC wrote a letter to the Agenda Committee stating students had been promised that the matter would be heard either at Willard Middle School or at a location near or on Campus. The letter opposed Willard Middle School as being too far for students to come and requested that the Council hear testimony on or near the campus.
After the September workshop, City Staff continued to work on the ordinance and are now proposed modifications as follows:
- The provision for the required monitoring of entertainment problems are now limited to GLAs. The groups that will do the monitoring now include the ASUC, the Intra-fraternity Council and “any other group the City determines to be capable.” If GLAs adopt approved “functional equivalent protocols” the GLA will be exempt from the ordinance entirely. Such exemption could be rescinded if it is found that the adopted protocols don’t work.
- GLAs don’t have to have a property manager if they have 15 or fewer residents.
- The entertaining restrictions will not apply to events that are limited to residents of GLAs or Mini-Dorms when the events take place in their own building. They apply only to events of 50 or more that are open to the public and involve alcohol.
- The closing times mentioned in the first ordinance are no longer binding but all music must cease by those times.
- A sexual assault complaint could only be used as a basis for a nuisance determination if it occurred in an area where an entertainment event was taking place, not in a private room elsewhere in the building. Such a complaint would have to be submitted in writing from the victim and it would not affect that person’s housing.
It is puzzling that the staff report that accompanies the new modified version of the proposed ordinance uses statistics from a different time period (January 2013 through August 2015 rather than September 2015). The report does, however, provide the additional information that “There are on average 6-7 calls for service from BFD per weekend and 4-5 emergency transports.”
On January 11, 2016, the ASUC sent a letter to the Council stating it strongly opposes the ordinance.
The modified ordinance is item 13 on the Council agenda for January 26, 2015 which will be held in the Auditorium of Longfellow Middle School, 1500 Derby Street. We shall see what the next chapter in this story brings.