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Neighborhood controversy over a proposed three-unit townhome development in north Berkeley is reaching a critical point as city officials prepare for an appeal hearing of the project. 

Residents near the proposed development at 2025 Rose St. say that it will create a parking nightmare in their neighborhood and that it is simply too big. 

“These townhouses will sell for a fortune, [the developer] is going to make a ton of money and no one cares about the neighborhood,” said Fari Sabetimani, who owns the property next door.  

However, project developer Bob Richerson said the three units of three-bedroom townhomes on the corner of Rose and Henry streets fulfill a community need for slightly larger units conducive to families and not students. He is also miffed by the parking concerns. 

“The parking and traffic concerns have always been a mystery to me,” he said. “It’s unchanged from what the property was before. It remains unchanged.” 

Richerson said the 5,509 square foot development with an 810 foot garage complies with all city codes.  

“There is no legal detriment ... to the neighborhood,” he said. “It complies to all the outlines of zones and we are not asking for any exceptions to the rules.” 

Sabetimani is leading a group of 147 residents who are appealing the City Council to overturn a default approval by Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board in March.  

The property is currently home to a parking lot for a nine-unit office building next door. By eclipsing the lot, neighbors say the new residents will have no choice but to park on the streets.  

“The parking is going to be too small,” Sabetimani said. “They will be pushing all the parking to face our windows next to our property.” 

The Berkeley planning staff is recommending that the City Council approve the project, according to Vivian Kahn, interim deputy director for the Department of Planning and Development.  

The project has a complicated history. In 1997, ZAB approved an addition to the adjacent office building and the construction of a new four unit multi-family development on the parking lot to the north of the office building.  

At the time, Sabetimani said the neighbors accepted a compromise that would decrease the size of the residential development in exchange for dropping opposition to the commercial expansion.  

Since then, Richerson purchased the property and revised the plans to increase the residential development’s floor area from 3,339-square feet to its current proposed size. The new plans include 13 parking spaces — including three garaged spaces — instead of 14 as originally proposed. There will be 1,200-square-feet of decks, patios and an open yard area. And even though Richerson said he has met with the neighbors to allay their concerns about the change, Sabetimani said she still doesn’t like the project. 

“In 1997, they agreed to make one of the building’s smaller. The new building is something larger than what the original owner had,” she said. “How can people trust him anymore?” 

ZAB discussed the project at five meetings but did not have enough votes to either approve or deny the project. A motion to deny the project received a 3-3-1 vote and a motion to approve the project received a 3-3-1 vote.  

Because there was no official action, Kahn said the project was approved by an operation of law under the state permit streamlining act. The city attorney determined that the residents still have the right to appeal the action to the city council. 

The City Council will hear the appeal at its 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 23 meeting at the old city hall building.