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Editor: 

The City Council will be holding a Public Hearing on the downzoning of a portion of the 1100 block of Hearst Avenue (between San Pablo and Curtis) on Feb. 19. This is the last chance to oppose this short- sighted and illegal attempt to stop our development of a 14- unit residential apartment complex in this block. Which is more important? The creation of critically needed new housing on privately owned land which is appropriately zoned or the emotional appeals of well-organized neighbors. The neighborhood activists say that this block is an “anomaly” because there is lower density housing behind Hearst on Delaware Street and therefore our block should be downzoned to match. This is a dangerous assumption because many properties in Berkeley are zoned higher than their neighbors usually because of proximity to major transit corridors.  

If this reclassification is approved it opens the door for neighborhood groups to use reclassification as a weapon against future development. It will create a disincentive for anyone to invest in rental housing in Berkeley since the zoning at purchase may be reclassified therefore reducing the value of the property. Downzoning will reduce the potential for more affordable housing since the new zoning will make it economically unfeasible to build “inclusionary units” (low- income units). Only small projects with less than five units will be built since then they won’t have to comply with the affordable housing requirement. How can the city of Berkeley say that the creation of housing is a high priority while reducing the potential for new housing by downzoning? No wonder we have between 1,000 and 2,000 homeless people in Berkeley and no way to house many of the families on the Section 8 housing list. 

Please e-mail for more information. 

Lynda Hart 

Berkeley