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Council Passes On Hearing for Wright’s Garage

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 15, 2007

The Berkeley City Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday in favor of holding a public hearing on the “Wright’s Garage” project proposed for 2629 Ashby Ave., but no such hearing is currently scheduled. 

In other decisions, the council passed measures to: streamline business permits on Telegraph Avenue, ensure equal opportunity for employment in Berkeley for people re-entering the work force after prison, oppose a reduction in transit funding in the governor’s budget, support the city’s sponsorship of the Solano Stroll, and more. 

 

Wright’s Garage 

Councilmembers Linda Maio, Dona Spring, Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson voted in favor of holding a public hearing on the Wright’s Garage project, which was approved by the Zoning Adjustment Board March 8. Councilmembers Darryl Moore, Betty Olds and Mayor Tom Bates supported the ZAB decision and opposed the public hearing.  

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak was required to recuse himself, having written in February on the Kitchen Democracy website: “I strongly support this project for various reasons.” (Councilmembers who vote on appeals are expected to have open minds on the projects.) Councilmember Laurie Capitelli owns a business within 500 feet of the project and thus was also required to recuse himself. 

Despite the two absences, the city attorney ruled that there had to be five votes in order to hold the public hearing: a majority of the full council, not just a majority of those voting. 

The project, hotly contested by both local merchants and residents, would transform the former Wright’s Garage into a large restaurant/bar and add a health club-dance studio and two to four retail spaces. The developer is John Gordon, one of the city’s primary commercial real estate brokers. 

The 6-3 ZAB approval included allowing the applicant “to exceed the full-service restaurant quota [for the Elmwood Commercial District] by allowing one restaurant for a total of nine restaurants in the district.”  

Speaking to the council for Gordon, Henry Pollack talked about Gordon’s long history of “reuse and restoration” of local properties. “The reuse of Wright’s Garage will be another fine re-use,” he said. 

But Elmwood Neighborhood Association representatives said the project would add vehicles to the already highly trafficked area. 

“ZAB accepted the idea that clients [of the new businesses] would be non-driving clients,” said Madeline Landau, underscoring the already-dangerous traffic situation in the area in which a pedestrian had been hit this year. 

Maio was among the councilmembers arguing in favor of setting a public hearing on the issue. “There are so many questions,” she said. “I’m concerned about traffic and parking and running over quotas, which I considered a respectful process.” 

But Olds countered that there have already been many meetings on the proposed development. “I don’t know how we’d benefit from a public hearing,” she said. 

Councilmembers supporting the public hearing realized they would not have the five votes needed, but Spring encouraged the neighborhood activists: “If you want to have a council that reflects your values, make a change at the ballot box,” she said.  

 

Streamlining Telegraph permits  

Getting permits to open a business on Telegraph got easier Tuesday night with the council voting 6-2 to streamline the permitting process. Councilmembers Linda Maio and Dona Spring voted in opposition, citing specific objections to the motion’s provisions. Councilmember Betty Olds had left the meeting by the time the vote was taken. 

A separate vote to oppose modifying the quota system lost 5-3, with Councilmembers Max Anderson, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington voting in favor of maintaining the current more stringent quotas.  

“We need to loosen things up,” Councilmember Linda Maio admitted. The quota system “has a stranglehold on Telegraph,” she said. 

Making it easier to do business on Telegraph was part of a package of responses to a steady decline of revenue on the Avenue, particularly noted when Cody’s Books on Telegraph went out of business last summer. 

The new rules include: 

• Extending hours of operation of businesses on Telegraph. 

• Making permitting easier for various uses such as video stores, restaurants, banks and other kinds of businesses. 

• Making permitting easier when a business is changed from one use to another. 

• Making it easier to convert existing retail spaces to larger or smaller spaces. 

 

Still no sunshine 

While discussion of a Sunshine Ordinance was on the May 22 meeting agenda, the council adjourned before the item was addressed. However, the ordinance was not put back on the June 12 agenda, as skipped items usually are.