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Berkeley’s City Council Monday spurned a Planning Commission proposal to have a city density bonus law in place in the event Proposition 98 passes in the statewide June 3 election. 

Planning Commissioners voted 5-4 last Tuesday to send the council a recommendation that it pass a proposal developed by members of three city commissions so the city would have a measure in place in case the statewide initiative passes. 

The council had passed a staff-recommended counterproposal before the November 2006 election when a similar statewide measure was on the ballot. 

Housing Advisory Commission Chair Jesse Arreguin said Mayor Tom Bates told the other four councilmembers present at Monday’s agenda committee meeting that no ordinance was needed because polls showed that Proposition 98 was likely to fail. 

None of the councilmembers present—Linda Maio, Laurie Capitelli, Max Anderson and Gordon Wozniak—spoke up for the ordinance, so it wasn’t given a place on the agenda for the April 22 council meeting. 

That effectively killed any chance of putting a new measure in place before the election, since passage of an ordinance requires two public hearings, said Arreguin. 

While Proposition 98 ostensibly limits eminent domain actions and would end the last vestiges of rent control in the state, critics say it could effectively end most efforts at regulating development in California. 

The density bonus, mandated by state law, allows developers to expand their projects by 35 percent over local limits in exchange for providing affordable housing to low-income tenants. 

Concerns over the scale of projects prompted Zoning Adjustments Board members form a subcommittee to draft a proposed measure that would given them some control over projects, and the City Council subsequently expanded it to include members of the Housing Advisory and Planning commissions. 

The council’s action doesn’t forestall its direction to the Planning Commission to come up with a city density bonus ordinance, the subject of ongoing discussions by that body. But should Proposition 98 pass, the existing policies criticized by ZAB members would remain in place until the full implications of Proposition 98 become clear, something that may require courtroom action and appeals before the dust finally settles.