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It has come to this: The North Shattuck Association (NSA), the North Shattuck Plaza Inc. (NSPI) and the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association (LOCCNA) have agreed to appoint representatives to a newly formed committee that will help move the disputed $3.5 million North Shattuck plaza in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto forward. 

The move has given the controversial proposed plaza another chance at life. Only this time with more community input. 

“It’s a lot better,” David Stoloff, chair of NSPI and the Berkeley Planning Commission, told the Planet on Wednesday. “The objective of the committee is to determine where the parties agree and disagree and come up with a process everyone agrees on.” 

After the Berkeley City Council approved a schematic design—by Berkeley-based planning firm Design Community and Environment—in 2001, architects Meyer + Silberberg reworked the proposed parking and pedestrian area in 2006.  

Responses to the proposed park-like area on the east side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose streets were mixed, with some merchants and area residents supporting the idea while others oppose it.  

“The concerns go beyond the plaza and we need to address them separately. Problems such as panhandling and public right of way on sidewalks have to be put on a different level of concern altogether,” Stoloff said. 

Heather Hensley, executive director of NSA, said that the idea was to get the community involved in a public improvement project that would look at street lighting, better bike racks and bus stops and landscaping. 

“The major issues are around parking and panhandling,” she said. “We are currently working with the city to lengthen the meter times from one hour to ninety minutes or even two hours on North Shattuck. You can barely have lunch in an hour as well as buy gifts. We want to create a positive pedestrian shopping experience for everyone.” 

Hensley said that there was talk of converting the meters into loading zones in the morning after which they would function as meters. 

“A lot of cities do this. We are also working with nearby churches and schools as well as Safeway to allow paid parking. If this happens, then employees will no longer have to park on the streets and take spots away from customers.” 

Hensley added that Mayor Bates would be giving the City Council what she called a referendum on street behavior issues Tuesday. 

“This is a sensitive topic but there is some aggressive behavior on the streets we would like to discuss. Cities such as Santa Cruz regulate street behavior more closely than Berkeley and we need to enforce that.” 

NSA has yet to announce the names of its representatives. Tom Ford from Design Community and Environment is the facilitator for the new coordinating committee which could have its first meeting next week. 

Mim Hawley, one of the representatives of NSPI and a former city councilmember, told the Planet she was hopeful the new committee would dispel a lot of the misapprehensions about the project. 

“There’s been a lot of worry that we have been trying to ramp up something without public approval but that is not the case,” she said. “Everybody on the committee needs to make a few adjustments and efforts to make this idea work. In the end, it will make businesses prosper.” 

Some area merchants however are not too sure about that. John Coleman, bookkeeper at the high-end clothing store Earthly Goods on North Shattuck, said their position on the proposed plaza hasn’t changed. 

“We have 30 merchants who have signed our petition saying they don’t want to see any changes,” he said. “The merchants were never consulted to begin with. There has been meeting after meeting but no one seems to be getting the message.” 

Bob Brown, co-owner of Black Oak Books on Shattuck Avenue, said that the six to nine months of construction for the proposed plaza would destroy their business. 

“Changing the parking would be disastrous for us,” he said. “People come in all the time to sell books and if they can’t find parking spots it would have a negative economic impact on us.” 

Black Oak announced they were up for sale in January. Brown’s partner Don Pretari said that the bookstore was doing “okay” at the moment. 

“It’s not like a panic situation for us. We wanted to see if anyone had a long term interest in the store if we retired. But we are pondering and will for a while whether it’s worth going on with the bookstore,” he said. 

Fred Dodsworth, one of the three representative of LOCCHNA, called the proposed plaza an attractive nuisance. 

“Some people would like to see a plaza,” he said. “Some people would like to see nothing. I am trying to create a middle way. Personally I think a flat one-level parking structure near Bel Forno at Rose Street is a good idea. We are talking about spending a huge amount of money for decoration. We have to see that it’s safe, aesthetic and creates spaces for everyone to enjoy.”