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Dismissing the alternative of a reduced size store that would reduce the impacts on the neighborhood, the West Bowl EIR currently before the planning commission states that a store smaller than the proposed 91,060-square-foot megastore (54,735 square feet of groceries, 28,805 square feet of storage, 4,120 square feet of office space) would not fulfill the applicant’s intent of “a full service supermarket,” and that the applicant’s original proposal of a 65,815-square-foot development consisting of a 26,625-square-foot marketplace, 5,330-square-foot corner store, 5,050-square-foot office, and 28,810-square-foot warehouse “was not intended to be a full service supermarket” (Page VI-17). By that standard, there are no “full service supermarkets” in Berkeley. The average of all existing Berkeley supermarkets is 30,297 square feet (including storage and office). The Andronico’s on University Avenue is 26,000 square feet; the Safeway on Shattuck and Rose is 28,763 square feet; the Andronico’s on Solano is 23,200 square feet; the Andronico’s on Shattuck and Cedar is 36,200 square feet; Whole Foods on Telegraph and Ashby is 28,000 square feet; the Andronico’s on Telegraph is 27,700 square feet; the existing Berkeley Bowl is 42,150 square feet, the largest supermarket in Berkeley. But the applicant claims that anything less than his proposed megastore is not “a full service supermarket,” and the EIR blithely supports this absurdity. This is but one example of the attitude that infuses every page of the EIR. The distinguished experts seem to think that their job is not to present an impartial analysis, but to spin cherry-picked nuggets of data to reach foregone conclusions in support of a project that is consistent with neither the General Plan nor the West Berkeley Plan. I will leave it for others to detail the numerous inadequacies and tendentious excesses of the document. 

I urge Berkeleyans to not be blinded by the thick reams of verbiage and spinning statistics. Instead, I urge you to go to the site yourselves and visualize the impacts that 50,000 cars per week will have on the neighborhood. Believe your own eyes. 

Look at the larger picture, and take it into consideration. The West Bowl is not a stand-alone project, but an anchor in an attempt to change the entire west Ashby corridor to retail. The very fact that the applicant is asking for a zoning change rather than a variance is tied to his knowledge that the mayor is pushing to dismantle the industrial zones on Ashby and Gilman. 

The precedent of zoning changes to accommodate this project will have far-reaching effects, and encourage further rezoning.  

Rezoning industrial land to commercial undercuts the West Berkeley Plan. One of the Plan’s central policies is to maintain the integrity of the industrial zones, because industries provide numerous unique benefits to the entire city. The stability of all of West Berkeley hinges on the industrial zones. Without industrial zoning protections, industries, artisans, artists, industrial suppliers, and lower-income residents would be pushed out of the area by retail, office and upscale housing, which generate greater rents and profits. 

West Berkeley plays a key role in maintaining diversity in the city. Rezoning the industrial zones to commercial will take the lid off rental values. It will diminish the ethnic and economic diversity in all the adjoining residential districts. Drive industry, artisans and working artists out of West Berkeley and they are driven out of the city. There is no other place for them to go. Drive lower income residents out of West Berkeley, and they are driven out of the city. Does Berkeley want to stop being a real city, and become just an oversized college bedroom town? Berkeley has a history of fighting for social justice, not pushing diversity beyond city limits. 

The plan recognizes that West Berkeley is not a blighted area, but a successful and unique community. While other cities were dismantling their industrial zones over the last two decades, Berkeley held fast to ours, and thus maintained economic stability while other cities’ economies staggered when the dot-com bubble burst. Now much of America is starting to become aware of the long-term consequences of becoming a nation that manufactures nothing. We are already far out of balance. America’s largest manufacturing export today is weaponry. The continuing export and globalization of American manufacturing is leading to an unsustainable society, with an increasingly marginalized and impoverished working and middle class. 

But Berkeley is still doing a lot better than much of the country, because we still have industries here. As the American people become aware of this growing crisis, Berkeley has a unique opportunity to be in the forefront of the greening and renewal of American industry. 

The West Berkeley Plan was written with the participation and unanimous approval of the stakeholders, the people in the affected area. It represents their voice. So when the mayor said, “The West Berkeley Plan took 10 years, and I don’t have time for another West Berkeley Plan,” what he was really saying was that he doesn’t want to hear the voices of the affected people, because he is afraid they will be saying something that conflicts with his ambitions.  

While the distinguished experts in the EIR insist that the proposed West Bowl “would not result in any significant or unavoidable impacts,” an unbiased study would conclude the opposite. The West Berkeley Plan prioritizes the maintenance of industry and clearly states that development in West Berkeley should take place on a scale and in a manner that will not have serious harmful impacts on other existing uses. The West Bowl as proposed does not meet that criteria. Let Emeryville and Albany keep their shopping malls. We should treat our industrial zone as an irreplaceable environment that we plan to pass on to our grandchildren.  

I urge the planning commissioners, city council and city staff to refuse to do the developers’ bidding, to refuse to lead the charge to dismantle the industrial zones. I urge you instead to protect the quality of life of our entire city by supporting the integrity, maintenance, and improvement of the West Berkeley industrial zones. I urge the planning commission to expose the EIR for what it really is, to deny the zoning change, and send the applicant to ZAB to request a variance. 

John Curl has owned a West Berkeley woodworking business since 1973. He is a former member of the original West Berkeley Plan Committee and a former member of the Berkeley Planning Commission. 

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