Thank you to those who turned out Thursday night to hear about the Middle Housing Ordinance which will increase density in the city of Berkeley. What an interesting meeting! Here are some take aways:

This was one of only two meetings held by councilmembers with planning staff to explain the ordinance to Berkeley residents. Neither councilmember who hosted the meeting explicitly said there would be no Q&A. Councilmember Kesarwani’s newsletter advertised the event as a “Community Meeting” and Councilmember Taplin’s newsletter advertised it as an “Open House” and as a “Community Discussion.” It’s not a surprise that people were upset they were not going to be able to discuss the issues. That said, the person who tried to grab the mic was out of line. It was nice to see members of the community go up there and tell him to back off. 

As in all other presentations by the Planning Department, the impact of the State Density Bonus (SDB) was left out. This bonus only applies to projects of five or more units. Right now, only 4 units are allowed on any one property by right, so the SDB does not apply. The upzoning ordinance increases the max number of units to seven, which puts the SDB in play and allows greater lot coverage, height, etc. than what was presented in the slides. These larger developments are the ones that will have the most negative impacts on open space, solar access, and other environmental impacts, and will be allowed by right.

Aside from that, the presentation from Principal Planner Justin Horner was excellent. He started his presentation by stating that middle housing has nothing to do with affordability. He presented slides of what is allowed now and what will be allowed. There was an audible gasp when he put up the slide showing the setbacks as they exist now vs. what is proposed.

Planning Director Jordan Klein told the audience that this ordinance is already settled. If that is the case, City Council will be passing it at their next meeting no matter what the community has to say. You should write your councilmember to express your concerns about this ordinance which will affect all of us.

Remember that we did have a Q&A session with Justin Horner at the September BNC meeting. You can view the recording here. Skip to minute 36 to see the presentation and discussion.

For more information on the subject, see: Thom Hartman's opinion piece in Common Dreams.