Public Comment

I have been following the debate over significant public benefits as required by for properties over 6 stories in the downtown. Developers are already required by Municipal Code Chapter 22, section 20 to mitigate any negative impacts caused by their development. Thus, significant community benefits must be items that benefit the general public after all the negative impacts have been mitigated. 

The development of hundreds of units of apartments, hotel space and condos in downtown will impact the ability of residents of Berkeley neighborhoods to find parking in the downtown area. It is incredible that developers state that people who can afford $3000 to $4000+ a month rent for these new developments will not want to have cars and that they won’t have guests arriving in cars.  

Developers must be required to mitigate this impact by providing additional parking for residents of Berkeley neighborhoods who wish to go downtown. For example, I regularly attend the YMCA and use the downtown library and shop and eat downtown. I drive because there is no public transportation serving my neighborhood. If the developers do not provide additional parking or pay the costs of a shuttle bus to/from downtown and the neighborhoods, Berkeley neighborhood residents will be forced to shop and eat in Walnut Creek or Emeryville where parking exists. Please require developers to mitigate their impacts to prevent making the downtown inaccessible to neighborhood residents. 

Additionally, the development of thousands more units in the City will impact the Berkeley Unified School District. It is unrealistic and illegal to assume that none of these residents will have children. As the Berkeley schools are already at capacity, the developers must be required by Chapter 22, section 20 to mitigate the impact of additional students by paying the costs of constructing new classrooms for these children. 

I ask the Council to ensure that these impacts and other negative impacts are mitigated by the developers by impact fees. Significant community benefits cannot be used to solve the problems that the projects create, but must be for projects that benefit the general community only after the negative impacts have been mitigated.