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Planning commissioners and members of the Zoning Adjustments Board will face full agendas this week for their first meetings of the new year. 

Among the items facing the Berkeley Planning Commissioners when they convene Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center are: 

• A discussion of potential revisions to the Creek Preservation Ordinance. 

• Proposed revisions to the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance prepared by city landmarks commissioners. 

• The status of the environmental impact report (EIR) being prepared for the Southside Plan and the possibility for forming a subcommittee to work with city staff and the hired EIR consultants. 

• A public hearing on proposed revisions to non-residential parking requirements recommended by Mayor Tom Bates’s Task Force on Permitting and Development. 

• Another hearing on zoning ordinance amendments relating to home-based occupations. 

Two condominium maps are also on the table Wednesday. The first calls for a proposed 29-unit condo project with three condo commercial storefronts at 1809 Shattuck Ave. The second project, which would be built at 2131 Durant St., would feature 74 dwelling units and three commercial units. 

What could have been the most controversial item on the planners’ agenda, architect Kava Massih’s plans for a new Berkeley Bowl store at 9th Street and Heinz Avenue, was pulled from the agenda at the request of owner Glen Yasuda, who won’t be able to attend. That hearing has been tentatively rescheduled for Jan. 16. 

Thursday night’s ZAB meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at the Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, should be less eventful. 

Board members will be considering two proposals that have already been before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

First is the old Howard Automotive Building at 2140 Durant Ave., built by the owner of the famed race horse Seabiscuit and most recently owned by baseball legend Reggie Jackson. 

The Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Buddhist Churches of America plan to turn the landmarked Art Deco structure into a combination seminary office and study center, and their plans have been undergoing revisions at the request of Landmarks Preservation commissioners—who have said that the latest revisions are very close to winning their imprimatur. 

City Planner Greg Powell has recommended the board adopt a mitigated negative declaration and hold a hearing on the issue of whether to grant a use permit to allow construction of a two-story addition to the southernmost part of the structure. 

The other landmark on ZAB’s agenda is a cottage by architect William Wurster at 1650 La Verada Road. Neighbors who opposed the proposed expansion of the redwood cottage waged a successful battle to win landmark status for the home but lost their battle against the expansion, which landmarks commissioners authorized last month. City Planner Aaron Sage has urged approval of the expansion. 

Developer/realtor James Gordon and architect Jim Novosel will also present their plans for a project at 1952-1956 University Ave. 

Gordon wants to convert seven vacant dwelling units to office use, along with an eighth unit which would be demolished and replaced, while adding more than 3,500 square feet of restaurant and wine service space. 

Richard Schwarzmann will submit revised plans to add five new dwelling units in three buildings at 1414 Harmon St. after ZAB sent him back to the drawing board in December after complaints from project neighbors.