Editorials

Berkeley planning commissioners will hold an unusual Monday night meeting because the date of their usual meeting date fell on Thanksgiving eve. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will also meet Monday night, a session delayed because their meeting on the regularly scheduled date would’ve meant an interruption of Turkey Day.  

The planning session gets underway at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. ZAB’s meeting begins at the same time in City Council Chambers in the second floor of Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. 

Planning commissioners will hold a hearing on recommendations by the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development for changes in commercial parking requirements. 

Also scheduled for discussion are the potential impacts of the City Council’s actions on the Creeks Ordinance and possible comments for the scoping process on the Southside Plan’s draft Environmental Impact Report. 

Two hearings will be conducted on proposed zoning ordinances changes and another will address a proposal to allow conversion of the 29 residential units and three commercial spaces at 1809 Shattuck Ave. into condominiums. 

The major item on ZAB’s agenda is the request by developer Alex Varum to demolish the existing buildings at 1116 to 1132 University Ave. to make way for a three-to-five story building that would house 65 condos, two live/work condos, 5,309 square feet of first floor commercial space and 74 underground parking spaces. 

The project also includes 11 units designated as affordable, meaning they are within the reach of buyers earning 120 percent of the median area income. Adding the inclusionary units allows the developer to exceed the four-story height limit for the area.  

City planning staff has recommended approval of the project.