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Petition signatures gathered to date: 380

Click here to sign the petition on-line.

We are concerned about the future of the Elmwood, including the shopping area at its center. The neighborhood should serve the interests of residents, visitors, and local merchants -- and not be controlled by developers and their political allies.

Our agenda prior to  the City Council deciding on our appeal of the ZAB decision:
Mobilize the neighborhood to encourage the Council to take seriously our appeal of the ZAB decision.

 For more information about this matter, please contact us at:

The Gordon Commercial Properties proposal is the subject of the following petition.

You can download a printable PDF version of the petition, an explanation of its five points, and a flier  by clicking here.

The Elmwood is already a congested district.  Traffic is intense and parking difficult to find – traffic collisions have taken a toll in this neighborhood. Making this situation worse by installing a large restaurant and bar at 2629-2635 Ashby will negatively impact residents and visitors to the neighborhood.

The developer’s proposal should be denied because it violates Berkeley Zoning Ordinance regulations and ethical standards on five counts: 

1.  The restaurant/bar -- open every day from early morning until late at night -- would exacerbate traffic, parking, health, and safety problems in the District.

2.  The bar would violate the regulation governing alcohol consumption.

3.  The restaurant/bar would exceed the official quota for restaurants in the Elmwood District.

4.  The proposal goes against California Environmental Act (CEQA) guidelines governing  environmental impacts.

5.  The developer is asking for approval of his application prior to stating in detail which kinds of retail businesses he will lease to.

      Name (write clearly please)        Street Address                                                                         Email (optional)                                             

 

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Explanation of five ways in which the developer’s proposal violates Berkeley Zoning Ordinance regulations and ethical standards

1.       Traffic, Parking, Health, and Safety problems.  Section 23E.44.090 specifies that a proposal must not "Generate traffic and parking demand beyond the capacity of the commercial District or significantly increase impacts on adjacent residential neighborhoods." Thee application clearly fails to satisfy this requirement.  Traffic on both Ashby and College already backs up for blocks, and parking – for Elmwood Theater goers as well as for shoppers – is difficult to find.  Drivers roam residential side streets to locate an available space.  Residents routinely find it impossible to park in the vicinity of their own homes.  As might be expected, traffic collisions have taken a toll in this neighborhood. Making this situation worse will be detrimental to quality of life and safety in the District. 

This residential neighborhood was not designed for, and cannot now be feasibly transformed to handle, the intense commercial demands that developers propose to place upon it.  Many families and their children live in the neighborhood, which hosts four schools (including two pre-schools) and a youth-serving library that is less than a block away from the developer’s proposed traffic-intensive businesses.  Providing access to the restaurant for trucks delivering food and supplies or removing waste would be Ashby Avenue, which is already the most congested street in Berkeley; access to the back of the restaurant via Russell Street would be equally impractical.  Workers as well as patrons of the restaurant/bar will exacerbate the existing traffic gridlock and parking problems.

2.       Alcohol Consumption.  Section 23E.44.060 specifies that “On premise service or consumption of alcoholic beverages shall be permitted only as incidental consumption with meals in food service establishments.”  Violating this condition, the developer proposes to install a bar, where drinks can be purchased apart from – and notoriously NOT necessarily incidental to – a meal. 

Moreover the bar would be open every day until late at night, contributing to drunkenness, rowdiness, and noise.  There is another restaurant/bar, Shen Hua, on College near Ashby, but it is not open as late as the restaurant proposed by the developer will be.  The Berkeley Police Department has stated that it is willing to support the use permit only on the condition that “The current hours of operation shall be in line with other similar businesses in the area and not be extended without requesting additional Police input.”  The developer’s proposal does not heed this recommendation.  Whereas alcohol sales amount to 15% of Shen Hua's gross sales revenue, the new restaurant, with a separate hard-liquor serving bar,  will be permitted to receive up to 50% of its income from alcohol. 

3.       Restaurant Quota Exceeded. The proposal for a full-scale, 5000 sq. ft. restaurant at 2629-2635 Ashby exceeds the official quota, specified in Section 23E.44.040, that governs the number of full-scale restaurants (7) permitted in the Elmwood commercial district.  There is already one more restaurant in this district than the quota allows.  The developer now wants to add another.  But Section 23E.44.090 specifies that in order “for an exception to exceed a numerical limitation … to be granted the following finding must be made: The exception shall result in the positive enhancement of the purposes of the District, as evidenced by neighborhood resident and merchant support and marketing surveys or other information indicating probable substantial patronage by surrounding residents.”  No evidence has been provided to the public that these conditions have been satisfied. 

4.       Environmental Impacts.  Going against the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines, the proposed 5000 sq. ft. restaurant/bar would contribute substantially to the cumulative pollution of the neighborhood by airborne particulate matter from restaurant emissions and from increased traffic congestion, including truck delivery of food and supplies to the restaurant.  The Planning Department has stated that the developer’s proposal is automatically exempt from CEQA regulation “pursuant to Section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines.”  However, on any plausible reading of this CEQA section, this exemption is not warranted.

5.       Unknown Retail Businesses.  The developer is asking for approval of this application prior to stating in detail which kinds of retail businesses will lease to. This in effect cedes to the developer control over the character of these businesses and their impacts on the neighborhood – a concession that would be highly irregular in the history of the city’s application approvals.  (Once a use permit is granted for a restaurant, for example, it is extremely difficult to revoke that permit, regardless of the restaurant’s policies, type of food served, etc.)  Developers sometimes argue that it takes too long to obtain a use permit in Berkeley.  Point well taken, but the solution is to expedite the process, not to suspend scrutiny of proposals that will profoundly affect Berkeley neighborhoods.