Features

Zoning Problems Force Revisions in Bowl Plans By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday February 18, 2005

Plans for a new Berkeley Bowl at Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue hit a stumbling block at the last Planning Commission meeting and have forced the developer to submit a revised project application. 

Senior Planner Allen Gatzke declined to comment Thursday on the reasons for the amended proposal—because planning commissioners had yet to see a copy—but the Daily Planet has learned that a zoning conflict is responsible. 

During a Feb. 9 planning commission hearing and workshop on the project, a project critic noted that Bowl owner Glen Yasuda’s plan called for demolition of a working warehouse on the site. 

According to existing city codes, any functioning warehouse space demolished on West Berkeley land zoned for manufacturing and light industrial (MU-LI) use must be replaced somewhere else within that zone, a provision not provided for in Yasuda’s application. 

But an even more serious glitch was acknowledged by Planning Director Dan Marks. 

To build the new supermarket, planning commissioners must first rezone the site from MU-LI to commercial—and therein lies the rub. 

City zoning codes prohibit warehouse construction on commercially owned property, and Yasuda wants to use the facility to store food for both the new store and the existing Bowl on Shattuck Avenue. 

“A warehouse is not allowed in CW (commercial) zoning,” Marks observed. 

Planners and the public can see how the developer and city staff resolve the momentary crisis when the new application is released this morning (Friday). 

The application goes to the planning commission Wednesday night, where another hearing/workshop had been scheduled on the earlier proposal. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.