Public Comment

A major detriment of the 2011 Harold Way plan is the demolition of the very popular 10-screen Shattuck Cinemas (275,00 to 300,000 tickets sold per year). The Shattuck Cinemas bring both popular and little known films to Berkeley and draw loyal patrons from all over the East Bay each week whose patronage extends beyond seeing movies to benefit Shattuck Avenue merchants, cafes and restaurants, as well. These theaters, then, are a cultural and entertainment attraction that draw several hundred thousand people to downtown Berkeley each year and contribute significantly to the vitality of our downtown and to Berkeley's cultural richness. 

Mark Rhoades and Joseph Penner must not be allowed to confuse mitigation of the demolition of these theaters with the conferring of significant community benefits, as Mr. Penner does in his July 30 interview with Berkeleyside regarding his revised plan for 2211 Harold Way, which includes space allotments for 10 screening rooms: 

"Penner agreed to add the theaters, but told the city of Berkeley that the inclusion should count as part of the project’s 'significant community benefits.' Theaters generally lose money. Landmark currently pays below market rent and Penner agreed to continue that arrangement after the new theaters were built. The construction, rent reduction and loss of other rental opportunities, however, would cost Penner $16 million over the next 20 years, he said. Penner said he wanted that included in the benefits package." 

The revised plan would place 6 of the 10 proposed theaters in the basement below street level, some underneath the Shattuck Hotel—hardly comparable to the existing 10 beautifully-decorated theaters at street level he plans to demolish (see photos below), and potentially a deadly place to be in time of a serious earthquake. Mr. Penner considers this poor if costly replacement to qualify as a significant community benefit. However, in fact, this would merely be a partial and inadequate mitigation of the huge loss that his demolition of our theaters would represent. It is essential that if the people of Berkeley are to have our downtown disrupted for several years of construction, the natural light to our main library forever blocked by this hugely out-of-scale building, our infrastructure impacted to a point that will require substantial and immediate repair or expansion of water and sewer lines, emergency services, parking, public transit, etc. that he be required to mitigate the detriments posed by his project. His consideration of significant community benefits to be provided to the city should only follow the mitigation of detriments resulting from construction of this building. 

It should be requisite that if a developer proposes to demolish a viable Berkeley business, and especially one that is a cultural resource as well, this business should be provided at equal rent comparable space in the new building and the cost of temporary space be paid by the developer during the construction of the new building. Berkeley city government claims to support local businesses, so it is baffling that this should be an issue at all. We are concerned for the future of Ace Hardware, The Missing Link bike repair cooperative, and Berkeley Vacuum Center as well—all valuable downtown businesses under threat by proposed new development. 

As the LPC considers this proposal, which would so radically affect the character of our city, I request once again that the developer be required to contract with a licensed professional to provide story poles to delineate the volume and height of this huge project and notify the public of the schedule. 

Below is my 4/21/15 comment to the Zoning Adjustments Commission regarding the numerous detriments to the city of Berkeley posed by the 2211 Harold Way project: 

The detriments to the city posed by approval of this project far outweigh any possible benefits. 

1. This project contains no units of low income housing, which is obviously the great need in our city. Instead the developer will enjoy the "discount" of $8,000 per unit of the $28,000 in lieu fee. If the city continues to approve market rate and luxury developments, there will be no space left for inclusionary housing for Berkeley residents with moderate or low incomes and no solution to our critical lack of inclusionary and affordable housing. 

2. The 2 to 4-year construction period will inhibit access to our Main Branch Library, our downtown Post Office, the YMCA, and to the 3000-student Berkeley High School a block away. 

3. Construction of this hugely out-of-scale project proposed for Berkeley's historic district will not only disrupt downtown traffic during the years of its construction but the majority of the 302 units will be owned or rented by people who will bring additional cars to Berkeley's already very congested downtown, thus increasing our contribution of greenhouse gases rather than reducing it, as we must do. 

4. The developer of this project would demolish the successful, well-attended Landmark Shattuck Cinemas, that provide thousands of residents of Berkeley and the surrounding area highly-valued programming of independent, foreign, and documentary films not offered elsewhere. Film is a major art form and the Shattuck Cinemas provide our city with a significant cultural benefit. We don't want this enrichment to our lives sacrificed to luxury housing. 

5. The 2211 Harold Way project would also demolish the thriving Habitot, with its convenient location adjacent to the YMCA and the Public Library, all of which provide Berkeley families with ready access to children's programs. Surrounding restaurants and cafes also benefit from the attraction of young families to downtown Berkeley, so they too will lose business if Habitot is forced to move. 

6. Exacerbation of traffic congestion, closed sidewalks and streets, and construction equipment blocking parking will make it greatly more difficult to reach the existing businesses, restaurants and cafes in the Shattuck/Kittredge/Harold Way/Allston Way block and in the adjacent areas. Should the proposed hotel be under construction at the same time, the damage to downtown businesses from the resulting traffic congestion will be dire. 

7. This huge building project is within the school zone of Berkeley High School. The decibel level and pollution emissions during the construction period would quite possibly exceed what the law allows in a school zone. 

8. Adding 302 more units to the downtown area, in addition to the several large buildings built here in recent years, would significantly increase water use and demands on fire and police services, sewage disposal, city streets and aging infrastructure. There is no effort to meet the Zero Net Energy standards California will require of residential buildings in 2020. There is no provision of affordable units, so workers unable to find housing here will be forced to commute into Berkeley. In these ways too, this project would significantly increase production of greenhouse gases rather than reducing it. 

Before any more development proposals are approved, it is essential that we examine the cumulative effect of the many large building projects recently completed, under construction, or awaiting approval in the downtown area and throughout Berkeley. To allocate the few available building sites to for-profit developers will radically change the demographics of our city and force city workers to commute longer distances, thus increasing our production of greenhouse gases rather than reducing it. To interject into our city's handsome historic area so obtrusive a building that does not serve our city's need is among the detriments to the community that this project represents.