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To build or not to build is the question North Shattuck residents and business owners find themselves asking about the proposed $3.5 million dollar plaza that would transform Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto to streetscape by closing off Shattuck Avenue between Vine and Rose street. The pedestrian plaza will be constructed on what is now a paved service road adjacent to the existing shops on the east side of Shattuck Avenue between Vine and Rose Streets.  

Members of North Shattuck Plaza, Inc., (NSP) and the North Shattuck Association (NSA), will be organizing the first in a series of community workshops on Feb. 7, which they say will be an attempt to engage the community in a dialogue about how to improve the proposed plan. 

“The workshop will give us an opportunity to start from scratch,” said David Stoloff, NSP chair, who committed himself to the project more than a year ago. 

“We need to find the points of agreement and back off the controversy,” he said. “I want everyone to come to this meeting with an open mind. I am looking for suggestions from community members and the merchants.” 

Stoloff said that the NSP wants to improve the North Shattuck Business district and make it a model for other cities. Support from merchants is crucial because it will be funded partly by fundraising, he said. 

The NSA and the business improvement district—made up of neighborhood businesses and property owners—entered into a partnership with the non-profit NSP Inc. to raise the required funds and oversee the plaza’s final design, construction and operation. 

Business owners on North Shattuck have circulated a petition among neighbors and merchants opposing the proposed alteration of roads, parking and pedestrian courses that presently exist along Shattuck Avenue. 

The petitioners include Earthly Goods, Masse’s Pastries, Bing Wong Laundry, Peet’s and other area stores. 

“The project will kill businesses,” said Allen Connolly, owner of Earthly Goods—a high-end clothing store in North Berkeley—who initiated the petition. 

Connolly, who has been in the retail business in the neighborhood for 20 years, told the Planet that the project would negatively impact struggling independent businesses in the area. 

Independent bookstore Black Oak Books, which has operated on Shattuck for over two decades, recently announced that it was up for sale citing low sales and competition from the Internet. 

“Unlike other parts of Berkeley, this area is in good condition. The idea of redeveloping it is frivolous. The millions of dollars and nine months of tearing up the area will affect our deliveries and parking,” Connolly said. 

The proposed plan would replace the current angle parking and access lane along the eastern side of the avenue with a 50-foot-wide pedestrian walkway with landscaped plantings, two rows of trees and benches. 

Connolly and other area business owners oppose the reconfiguration of the store front parking along Shattuck Avenue which would be replaced by a concentrated satellite parking lot near Rose Street. Stoloff told the Planet that the project would keep the parking neutral—that is, the number of parking spaces would neither increase nor decrease.  

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, in whose district the proposed plaza is located, said that the current plan of the North Shattuck Plaza plan was a revised version of part of the North Shattuck Urban Design and Circulation Report that had been adopted by the city six years ago. 

“There didn’t seem to be any opposition back then. So why now?” Capitelli asked.  

“The current plan has the potential for a wonderful public space where people can gather. North Shattuck has nothing like that at present,” he said, adding that the workshop would be a chance to go back to a blank palette and address community needs.  

Art Goldberg, who has been living in the neighborhood for 20 years, told the Planet that there was a lot of distrust between the merchants and the members of NSP. 

“The group that put together the plan for the North Shattuck Plaza did not consult with the neighbors. As a result we held our own meeting at the Live Oak Park in January where there was pretty strong opposition for the project,” Goldberg said. 

“One of the things we don’t want in the plan is a ‘pedestrian-friendly’ promenade with benches. This will worsen panhandling and homeless issues. We will be going to the Feb. 7 meeting because they have said they will listen to us this time,” he added. 

Former Berkeley councilmember Mim Hawley told the Planet that the proposed plaza would be a model for environmental sustainability in an urban shopping area. 

“It will have features that protect water quality, replace asphalt and concrete with permeable surfaces, and help manage storm water runoff. Dozens of healthy trees, sidewalk extensions with native plantings and space for kids to play will provide a welcoming everyday connection with nature,” Hawley said. 

John Steere, boardmember for Livable Berkeley and Berkeley Partners for Parks, told the Planet that although the two organizations had not taken a formal stand on the project, he thought the city would benefit greatly from it environmentally. 

Connolly said that the proposed trees and public restrooms in the plaza would be difficult to maintain. 

“Yes, the plan would add more trees but who is going to take care of them?” he asked.  

“The city definitely won’t. It’s just going to turn out like People’s Park north. The only way merchants would support the project is if the planners don’t remove any of the parking and the roads in the area but just add new parking. We would contribute to that.”