Features

What looks like a light agenda for Wednesday night’s Planning Commission meeting—only two action items are listed—may prove anything but. 

That’s because one of the items is the proposed new Creeks Ordinance, a measure that impacts more than 2,000 Berkeley owners and which has proved more than capable of generating heated comments and prolonged debate. 

The commission will look at zoning ordinance amendments that address mandatory setbacks from open creeks and regulations governing the city’s miles of buried creeks. 

The rules also govern rebuilding of existing homes on or near creeks after they’ve been destroyed by natural disasters and fires. 

The second item on the agenda is a hearing on new zoning regulations designed to serve as incentives for businesses on economically troubled Telegraph Avenue—which has been plagued by a growing number of vacancies. 

Among measures being considered are revisions to allow owners to subdivide existing business spaces and increasing the types of business allowed on the avenue. 

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way.