Page One

The Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force’s final public input session Wednesday focused on the project’s likely impact on the downtown business community. 

During the nearly three-hour long session, the Berkeley Convention and Visitors Bureau, a city official, the Downtown Berkeley Association, the chair of the Civic Arts Commission and a BART planner sang the praises of the massive complex. 

The towering new hotel, a collection of museums and a hotel parking lot proposed by the University of California would occupy most of the two-block area bounded by Shattuck Avenue, Oxford Street, University Avenue and Center Street. 

The task force now heads into its final two sessions on April 13 and 27, where members will hash out the slate of recommendations they’ll present to city officials who have the final say on the controversial project. 

Convention and Visitors Bureau President Barbara Hillman led off with high praise for the project, which she said will recapture business lost to Emeryville and Oakland, attract new businesses to the city, and generate significant revenues for cash-strapped city coffers. 

Ted Burton, project coordinator for the city’s Office of Economic Development, said a 200-room hotel and conference center should bring the city at least $1 million a year from the 12 percent transient occupancy tax paid by guests. Property taxes should bring in another $100,000 a year, with more revenues coming from license fees and the facility users tax. 

The money guests would spend with city merchants would generate more tax revenues and provide the economic stimulus to revitalize the downtown business community, he said. 

Burton cautioned that the city hasn’t yet estimated the additional costs the complex could impose on the city, including the need for additional emergency services and the possible need for a larger sewer line to serve the site. 

Planning Commission and task force chair Rob Wrenn allayed concerns expressed at earlier meetings with his announcement that state and university employees who stay at the hotel will be charged the full occupancy tax. 

Derek Miller, chair of the Downtown Berkeley Association Economic Development Committee, said the new complex will finally make Berkeley a destination city, a place for travelers to stay as well as visit. 

One downtown merchant sponsors a major comic book fan convention, but the lack of hotel and meeting space forced them to hold it out of town, Miller said, “but they could have it in Berkeley if the hotel is built.” 

David Snippen, chair of the Civic Arts Commission, said the facility will provide a major boost for the local arts community, “the fourth largest industry in the city. The arts have led the revitalization of cities across the country, and Berkeley has some of the highest numbers of artists. There are over 300 nonprofit arts and cultural organization.” 

Hillman said the recent and pending closings of Eddie Bauer, Gateway Computers and See’s Candy make the arts community even more important to the revitalization of the downtown commercial core. 

“We think the hotel is a really valuable resource for the business community,” said Deborah Badhia, Executive Director of the Downtown Berkeley Association. “People favor that this should be a beautiful hotel that will really serve the community and be an environmental showcase.” 

Panelist and Planning Commissioner Zelda Bronstein urged that any renovations to the downtown sewer system be accomplished quickly. “Replacing the sewers on lower Solano (Avenue) forced some businesses to shut down for a couple of months, and some of them were forced to close because they couldn’t afford the loss of revenues,” she said. 

“Is there anyone here who’s against the hotel?” asked Badhia. 

“No member of this task force has ever said anything to the effect that we shouldn’t have the hotel,” Wrenn answered. 

“We are concerned that there are substantial costs to the city in terms of infrastructure, and we’d like to hear more about them,” said panelist Juliette Lamont, environmental consultant and a member of the Urban Creeks Council. 

“It depends if it’s a distinguished building,” added Peter Selz, a UC professor emeritus and the founder of the university’s art museum. “So far we haven’t heard anything about the architecture.” 

“Some of us have expressed reservations about the location,” said planner and task force member John English. “Some of us might prefer it to be built on university land.” 

“We haven’t heard anything about the cost of daylighting the creek,” said Barbara Gilbert, an activist not on the panel who has faithfully attended the meetings. Uncovering and restoring Strawberry Creek down the middle of Center Street has been urged by many of the panelists. 

Answered Wrenn, “It’s reasonable that this task force should make financial recommendations about who should be paying for what.” 

“Everyone at BART is excited about the project,” said Nashua Kalil, a senior planner for transportation agency. She cautioned that daylighting the creek could have implications for the light rail line beneath Shattuck Avenue, and recommended a preliminary study, which could cost the city about $50,000. 

Kalil also suggested that the hotel developers might be eager to have an underground tunnel under Shattuck to provide direct access to the downtown BART station. 

When one of the panelists suggested adding another track to provide more service, Kalil responded with a sobering cost estimate—$14 billion—effectively closing the issue. 

Daylighting Strawberry Creek and ending vehicular traffic on a block-long section of Center Street could have significant implications for both pedestrian and vehicular movement downtown, and Wrenn and other task force members spent three days in March monitoring both. 

Center and Telegraph Avenue are the city streets most heavily used by pedestrians, while Shattuck is a magnet for bus traffic. 

Wrenn said the single biggest car attractor on Center is the Bank of America at the northeast corner of the Shattuck Avenue intersection—the site of the planned 12-story hotel—which draws a constant stream of cars to the bank parking lot. 

Wrenn asked all panel members to prepare their lists of recommendations prior to the final two sessions, when the final list will be hammered out. 

“We should always strive for consensus” when it comes to which proposals to adopt,” Wrenn said. “I expect there will be a few instances when we will have to vote on particular issues, but I hope that, to a great extent, we be able to arrive at a consensus.” Once the proposals are accepted, Wrenn added, “we need two or three people to serve on a drafting committee” to prepare a final report for presentation to the City Council in early June on “what we want them to be considering and thinking about when they work out the final terms.”