Features

Drayage Owner Seeks Means to Force Out Tenants By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday May 27, 2005

With the blessing of city officials, the owner of an illegal West Berkeley live/work warehouse where 15 tenants refuse to leave has formulated a plan to speed up evictions and safeguard the value of the property. 

Lawrence White, owner of the Drayage building, is set to apply for permits to demolish the building’s 24 illegal residential units, according to his attorney William Berland. The permits could potentially allow White to evict tenants and ask a judge to enforce an eviction order months earlier than he could otherwise. 

City officials said approval of the interior demolition permit could be fast-tracked and would not need to go before the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board, sparking an angry rebuke from the tenants’ legal advisor, Jeffrey Carter. 

“The implications of this is that in Berkeley it is easy to throw people on the street for living a slightly bohemian lifestyle,” Carter said. 

He contends the city’s zoning board must approve the permits, which would add several months to the process. 

If granted, the demolition permit would allow White, under Berkeley’s rent laws, to proceed with evictions without subjecting his property to restrictions on its future use. Without the permit, White’s surest option to legally remove the tenants is to leave the rental business. 

Had White taken that route, city law requires that the tenants be allowed to remain for four months, and they have the right to return if the building was brought up to code as rental housing. In addition, the building could not be converted to a condominium for 10 years after the eviction. 

Condominium restrictions could lower the value of the property which White has said he would put on the market for $2.7 million. Two months ago a deal fell through to sell the site for $2.05 million to a developer who planned to build condos. 

White has been under pressure from the city to have the tenants vacate the building since a fire inspection in March uncovered over 250 code violations at the warehouse on Addison and Third streets. 

Calling the building “an extreme fire hazard,” Berkeley Fire Marshal David Orth has fined White $2,500 a day since Apr. 15 and made him pay an extra $1,000 a day for an on-site fire watch until all of the tenants are removed. 

Although Carter maintains that the Zoning Adjustments Board is required to rule on the demolition of dwelling units, Berkeley Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades said that the Drayage residences don’t qualify for ZAB review since they were built illegally. 

“They were never recognized under the zoning ordinance as dwelling units,” Rhoades said. “The residences are commercial spaces that have been illegally used as dwelling units.” 

Carter countered that the city’s zoning ordinance only requires that a dwelling unit be occupied “by persons living in a household,” not that the unit be legally established. 

Rhoades said the city would need about three to four weeks to rule on the permit application once it is presented. He added that after obtaining the permit, the city could not require White to follow through with the demolition work. 

The tenants, many of whom are artisans and have lived at the warehouse for a decade, continue to hope that by staying put they can pressure White to accept a deal from the Northern California Land Trust. The trust has reportedly offered more than $2.05 million for the property and has pledged of to give tenants the right to return in a new building that meets city codes. 

“We’re disappointed the landlord has refused the land trust’s offer,” said Claudia Viera, a tenant. “It seems like they’re trying very hard to get around the law.”