Public Comment

The last meeting of Thanksgiving week ended at 12:02 pm Tuesday.

After calls for a cease-fire brought the November 14 council meeting to an abrupt end

the entire consent and action calendar from the November 14, 2023 city council meeting was moved to 9 am on November 21. Most people missed the rescheduling announcement (it was in the Activist’s Calendar), but not a group calling for a cease-fire that showed up at the unusual meeting hour.

The calls for action on a cease-fire began within minutes of the start of the meeting and could be heard in the background while Mayor Arreguin ran through the early votes. Russell Bates was the loudest. Arreguin responded stating disruption would not be tolerated, disruptive persons would be removed and council would reconvene at another location, and he gaveled for a ten-minute recess.

Unlike the demonstration that ended the November 14th council meeting, this time a camera was turned into the room and Bates was loud enough to be heard on ZOOM. Arreguin attempted to resume the meeting in the BUSD Boardroom. When the public calls for action continued, Arreguin announced that due to the disruption the council meeting would be continued without the public present in another room.

When the meeting resumed in a smaller room the main agenda item, rezoning the Southside was up for discussion and vote. The Southside rezoning is a major overhaul, with bigger and taller buildings covering lots with little or no space between them. As with all zoning changes the path to approval goes through the Planning Commission first and then on to City Council.  

Besides bigger taller buildings, the amount of usable open space which would be required in this area went on the chopping block. Open space is normally defined as open to the sky and air for passive or active use. For the time being, that still defines open space for the rest of the city, and 50% of that condition for other locations can be satisfied with balconies that have a minimum length and width of 6 feet.  

In the new Southside zoning code 50% of the usable open space can be satisfied indoors with a pet washing room, a multi-purpose room or a gym/health club/fitness studio. The calculation of how much open space is required was changed from a per unit basis to per 1000 square feet of gross residential area.  

The new maximum height in the R-SMU (residential – southside multi-unit) increased to 85 feet / 8-stories, from a former 4 stories (5 stories with a use permit). While the new standard does not allow more height with a use permit, it comes with the possibility of density bonuses. Justin Horner, Associate Planner stated in his presentation to the council that with density bonuses the height could increase up to 100%. Since the amount of the density bonus is based on the percentage of below market units and developers have been providing the minimum number of units to qualify for the bonus, 10 to 12 story buildings are the most likely result.  

The C-T (commercial on Telegraph) is also 85 feet. The R-S (residential high-density Southside) is set at 55 feet / 5 stories and R-3 (residential medium density) is set at 45 feet / 4-stories.  

The Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ) runs through the Southside east of College Avenue. The very highest risk fire zone in the entire city, Panoramic Hill, backs up to the Southside on the eastern border and comes with the zoning code ES-R (environmental safety-residential). Other VHFHSZ areas of Berkeley (the hills) are in what is called the Hillside Overlay and have a H added to the zoning code.  

The Hayward fault runs through Panoramic Hill and the Southside with upper Bancroft, Channing and Dwight all located in the Earthquake Zones of Required Investigation. https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/EQZApp/app/  

It is unclear from the discussion and the documents whether the height limit in the hillside overlay will be 3 or 4 stories. Either one with a density bonus has the potential to crossover to high-rise definition for the purpose of how firefighters would respond. The H that should be added to designate the hillside overlay was included in earlier documents for the Planning Commission, but absent in the documents for Council.  

A high-rise is defined as above seven stories, though the transition to high-rise response begins above five stories according the Fire Chief Sprague. Response to a high-rise fire means calling more fire fighters and equipment. The example given to the Budget Committee by the fire chief was that a response to a fire in a low-rise building would need around 30 firefighters. Though fires in high-rises are infrequent, when they happen they are “high risk”. In rough numbers, 50 - 100 fire fighters might be needed for such a fire, and if it is more than a couple of rooms then significantly more firefighters would be needed. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-05-08/article/50289?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-week-ending-April-30--Kelly-Hammargren  

The Planning and Development Department has been insistent that all this increased density will neatly fit into the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) Update with no need for any adjustment other than for the Council to approve the addendum stating the conclusion, “[B]ased on substantial evidence, that the proposed project would not result in new or substantially more severe significant environmental impacts beyond those identified in the 2023 EIR due to substantial changes in the previously approved project…”  

The EIR declared that the Southside is underbuilt and since the new buildings will be built to higher fire safety standards that will improve Fire Department efficiency. That conclusion ignores the fact that the population in the Southside will easily double, could triple and college students do stupid stuff, get themselves in trouble and need emergency services. Some of that stupid stuff is forgetting about their e-scooters or e-skateboards with lithium ion batteries that are plugged in, overcharging and overheating and occasionally catching on fire.  

Fire Chief Sprague presented the Fire Department Facilities Master Plan to the City Council on May 16, 2023 with a thorough description of the upgrades and new facilities needed to serve Berkeley now and in the future. That seems like a long-forgotten memory for those who attended the presentation: Bartlett, Hahn, Wengraf, Robinson, Humbert and Arreguin. Kesarwani, Taplin and Harrison were absent. The City Council has yet to hear the presentation from Fire Chief Sprague on the Dispatch Needs Assessment (911 calls).  

I’ve heard both presentations and read the documents. We (the Council and the City) need to pay attention.  

Two Supplementals were submitted for the Southside rezoning. A Supplemental is best thought of as an alternative or addition to the initial proposal. In this case that was the staff report.  

Councilmember Hahn, who was on the Zoning Adjustment Board for years reviewing large multi-unit projects, had a much different perspective on the upzoning of the Southside than Rigel Robinson, whom I have never seen at a Zoning Adjustment Board meeting since I started attending in November 2014. Robinson’s perspective, with no visible experience, included in his supplemental and initial motion that any project, citywide, that meets SB 35 with 10% low-income housing on-site and prevailing wage should be eligible for ministerial approval (by right – a simple signing at the counter without Design Review Committee, Zoning Adjustment Board or public review).  

Hahn said this, “Zoning is not just about how you use your own parcel, but how the use of your parcel impacts other parcels and the public realm”. Translated, wall to wall 8-story multi-unit buildings that could go up to 12 maybe even 16 stories with density bonuses are dramatically going to change the Southside and the micro-climate (heat island effect).  

Hahn’s supplemental included using green roofs to combat the heat island effect, requiring windows in bedrooms, widening sidewalks, studying and landmarking of historical and cultural buildings and sites and incorporating affordable housing for low income students. The substitute motion that was supported only by Hahn and Harrison removed pet washing rooms from satisfying an open space requirement.  

In the final motion that was approved by all the councilmembers except Wengraf, who was absent, the recommendations from Hahn ended up as a referral to the city manager. It is hard to know how soon any of Hahn’s recommendations will see the light of day. The Bird Safe Glass ordinance took five years.  

The part of the final motion on the prevailing wage and ministerial approval citywide of SB 35 projects with 10% affordable housing will get fast tracked to meet the implementation date of March 1, 2024.  

Not much happened at the only other City meeting I attended during Thanksgiving week.  

At the Agenda Committee UC Berkeley students lined up to request that Harrison’s Resolution: Opposition to Police Brutality and Use of Force on Nonviolent Protesters stay on the agenda for December 5. They lost, of course. The Agenda Committee sent the resolution to the Public Safety Committee. Taplin’s item to name the planned new pier after Nancy Skinner is on the December 5 agenda as a referral to the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission.  

Carol Marasovic reported that the Commission on Status of Women had to meet outside as the North Berkeley Senior Center was closed and Peter Radu did not have the authority to direct staff to open the building for the scheduled meeting.  

Last, I did receive the 2023 bicycle count performed by Bryce Nesbitt and volunteers. The bicycle counts were done midweek in the fall from 4 pm to 6 pm to duplicate the conditions from four previous bicycle counts in 2010, 2015, 2018, 2022 performed by the City.  

I have been in a string of emails regarding the bicycle counts and bicycle riding. Here are some of the thoughtful responses and points to consider for further research.  

The decline of bicycle riding as documented by the bicycle counts matches observations by bicycle riders in the email string, my own observations and other studies.  

There is nothing from current observations and counts that supports Rigel Robinson’s glorious declarations in his Berkeleyside op-ed that automobile traffic is on the decline and bicycle riding is increasing or that Berkeley is fourth in the nation in bicycle riders. https://www.berkeleyside.org/2019/12/17/opinion-the-future-of-telegraph-avenue-is-a-shared-street  

Fourth in the nation was 2014. Berkeley did better in the number of bicycle riders in 2015 than 2023. The bicycle plan was approved in 2017.  

UC Berkeley student population increased from 35,833 in 2010 to 45,307 in 2022. The bicycle count at Bowditch and Channing (Southside near campus) in 2010 was 305. In 2023 it was 181. The 2023 count also included scooters 160 and pedestrians 600.  

For the intersection of Channing, a designated bicycle boulevard, and Milvia, with a protected bike lane, the count in 2010 was 510 and in 2023 was 450. Milvia and Hearst did increase from 402 in 2010 to 443 in 2023.  

What was notable is that lots of people walk and scooters are increasingly popular. One person wrote, “What’s going on? Shouldn’t we try to find out? If Berkeley had a 10-year plan to build new tennis courts, but the world had switched to pickle-ball wouldn’t we want to change the plan?  

After the presentation of the bicycle count to the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission, the majority response was to make excuses and move on without a deeper look, which strikes me as a “don’t confuse me with the facts when I have already made up my mind.”  

The bottom line is there does need to be a deep look into why bicycle riding is declining and going in the opposite direction of the City’s plan. And any street that is being considered as a bicycle street without protective bicycle lane curbing or a street with protected bicycle lanes needs to have multiple bicycle and traffic counts before embarking re-engineering planning and after any modifications or improvements.  

The Telraam sensor that I wrote about in the November 19 Activist’s Diary looks like a great way to collect what modes of transportation people are actually using and how that may or may not change with street modifications and improvements. Bryce Nesbitt noted in his presentation of the bicycle counts to the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission documentation of vehicle traffic speeding up after repaving. Telraam continuously monitors motorized vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and more according to the company website. 

https://telraam.net/en/what-is-telraam  

There is a $900,000 budget referral on the December 5 city council agenda from Harrison co-sponsored by Taplin to calm traffic with $100,000 of it designated in the vicinity of Derby.  

Will preconceived notions dominate the response to the child struck by a hit-and-run driver on Halloween after sunset (6:11 pm) around 6:25 pm? According, to the Berkeley Scanner, the child ran out into the street between two parked cars on Derby near Mabel. The car sped away westward on Derby. https://tinyurl.com/56p2ynxh  

Mabel is not a through street. The intersection at Mabel and Derby diverts southbound traffic on Mabel onto Derby in a westerly direction, which might indicate that the traffic diversion contributed to the accident. There is no marked crosswalk at this intersection that I saw when I walked around the area.  

As I looked for traffic and crossed at the corner, I tried to reimagine the incident from reading the Berkeley Scanner report and listening to the story the child’s mother told to the Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Sustainability Committee (FITES).  

We’ll never know the full story as the driver sped off. But what we do know is bad things can happen quickly when we’re in a hurry, not paying attention and not thinking safety first.