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West Berkeley Zoning Back Before Planners

By Richard Brenneman
Monday March 23, 2009 - 11:44:00 AM

The push to change West Berkeley zoning rules is back before the Planning Commission Wednesday night. 

The session, which begins at 7 p.m., will focus on changes in the city’s master use permit process which developers say are needed to offer the kind of flexibility required by growing companies. 

West Berkeley, which houses the city’s only tracts zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses, is also home to many of the city’s artists and artisans. 

Some members of West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies (WEBAIC) have urged that any revisions be limited to parcels of five or more acres to keep pressures off sites now used for live-work spaces, studios and small manufacturing companies. 

The suggested revisions, prepared by city staff to be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, call for a three-acre minimum site. 

Commissioners are also scheduled to vote on a tentative tract map for a 51-housing-unit condominium project now under construction at 1800 San Pablo Ave. 

The building features three floors of housing over one ground floor commercial condominium space, with attached parking that includes one ground-level floor and one subterranean floor. 

The project is being developed by Said Adeli of Mill Valley and owned by Berkeley Delaware Court LLC. 

The meeting will be held at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.