Public Comment

Berkeley's 2010 Measure R calls for meeting "Berkeley's climate action goals by concentrating housing, jobs and cultural destinations near transit, shops, and amenities, preserving historic resources, enhancing open space, promoting green buildings; and allowing for 2 residential buildings and 1 hotel no higher than our existing 180 foot [sic] buildings."

The 2211 Harold Way project fails to meet several of the Measure R requirements. It is at least ten feet taller than our existing tall buildings. It endangers a landmarked historic resource. Demolition of the very successful cultural destination the Shattuck Cinemas is a huge detriment that would not be successfully mitigated by the developer's new proposal to include ten screening rooms in the project.

The Berkeley Downtown Area Plan requires that taller exceptions to height limits must contribute significant community benefits.

The mitigation of an extreme detriment, demolition of Berkeley's highly-valued cultural and economic resource the Shattuck Cinemas, and its inadequate replacement cannot be claimed as a Significant Community Benefit. 

First, it is quite likely that a rigorous geological assessment of this landmarked block, which should be protected from inappropriate development, will not allow for building beneath the Shattuck Hotel. This is Strawberry Creek floodplain, likely susceptible to liquifaction during an earthquake and unsuitable for the 194-foot proposed building, let alone excavation beneath the foundation and basement of the landmarked hotel. This is no way to preserve a historic resource. 

Second, to demolish and replace the existing ten street level theaters—enhanced by hand-painted interiors to recall the ornate Egyptian and middle-eastern decor of 1920s movie palaces—with screening rooms some of which are deep underground is not even an adequate mitigation of detriment and certainly not a new community benefit. 

Third, there is no effort to mitigate the loss of this cultural destination during the years of construction of the project: the developer has failed to provide a temporary space for the ten-screen cinemas during the construction period, putting out of work 26 employees and depriving the several hundred thousand people who attend the Shattuck Cinemas every year of this significant cultural resource for the three-year construction period, with no guarantee of new theaters unless a geologist's assessment finds the site suitable for deep excavation. 

As my previous comment documented, our existing tall buildings are ten feet or more shorter than 180 feet, so the error in the Measure R language needs correction before this or any other project that requires a zoning exception is approved by the city. 

It is incredible that the developer Joseph Penner and consultant Mark Rhoades have the audacity to propose, after hearing the outrage of many Berkeleyans and the East Bay community over their plan to demolish the Cinemas, that including ten screening rooms in their huge development project should be their major Significant Community Benefit. 

They are required by Berkeley's Measure R to provide the city with a previously lacking benefit, not to destroy a cultural and economic benefit and then claim its utterly inadequate restoration as a benefit. This is absurd and it fails to respect the clear intent of the requirement. Devised as a reaction to the hostility to this project on the part of many of the several hundred thousand annual attendees of the theaters, it exposes the failure of the developer and Mr. Rhoades to address the intent of Measure R's requirement. Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, they have put forth this mitigation and want it to be accepted as a significant benefit.  

A serious proposal for a significant community benefit might be restoration of Old City Hall or the Veterans Building and its fine auditorium. Or the repair of Berkeley's now-closed pier. Or a berm to protect Aquatic Park from the noise and pollution of the freeway. Or establishing a low-interest revolving fund to put solar panels on homes and schools in Berkeley. But demolishing our theaters and then claiming inclusion of theater spaces in this totally ill-sited project as a significant community benefit is an insult to the community.