Zoning board asks micro-unit developer to shrink proposal

Proposed micro-unit development at 2701 Shattuck Ave., at Derby Street, in Berkeley. Image: Lowney Architecture

Berkeley zoning board members voted Thursday night to ask developers to reduce the size of a proposed micro-unit project on Shattuck Avenue by either taking units off the upper stories or removing the top story altogether.

The lengthy Zoning Adjustments Board meeting was the panel’s first chance to vote on the project. Throughout the night, the board seemed poised to approve the project as proposed, deny the project altogether or ask for significant changes before moving forward.

At the end of a nearly three-hour discussion, which included comments from more than 20 members of the public, the board voted to affirm the staff recommendation to ask San Francisco-based Axis Development Group to change its designs to make the building fit in better with the neighborhood. Staff had recommended some type of increased “setbacks” — such as a more gradual increase from story to story up to the building’s full height — on the five-story proposal’s upper floors to increase the space between the structure and a nearby single-family home to the east. The zoning board asked mixed-use developer Axis to consider either that approach or a possible reduction to four stories.

The modular-construction 31,000-square-foot proposal, at 2701 Shattuck Avenue (at Derby Street), is currently set to include 70 units, a 2,000-square-foot full-service restaurant, 35 garage parking spaces — 33 via parking lifts — and a rooftop terrace. A community room, space for 61 bike parking spots, and a public mini-park are also part of the plans. As designed, the project could direct $1.4 million into the city’s Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing development. (See the most recent packet about the project from Axis Development Group here.)

A public mini-park has been proposed on the corner of Shattuck and Derby. Image: Axis Development Group — A public mini-park has been proposed at Shattuck and Derby. Image: Axis Development Group

Micro-unit developments have been underway in cities around the nation such as San Francisco, Boston and Seattle — where they’ve been called “aPodments.” (See an example in San Francisco, designed by the same architect involved in Berkeley’s project, here.) Proponents say they give singles, students and young professionals a room of their own where they might not otherwise be able to afford it, often with an environmentally conscious, transit-oriented focus. Detractors say they drive up rents for the rest of the housing market and promote a grim lifestyle due to their cramped quarters.

Thursday night, nearly 20 residents who live near the project spoke about how it’s out of scale with the largely single-family-home neighborhood; would cast shadows on many of the surrounding buildings that would limit residents’ ability to garden and harness solar energy; and would create traffic problems at the already-busy intersection at Shattuck Avenue and Derby Street.

Many said the project does not comply with the city’s zoning code and asked commissioners not to grant a use permit that would effectively allow the building, which they described as “massive,” to rise up to 72 feet (taking into account a trellis and an elevator shaft on the roof).

Advocates for the project, who either spoke or submitted letters on its behalf, include Livable Berkeley, TransForm (an organization that evaluates the transit-oriented elements of proposals with its GreenTRIP certification program), Resources for Community Development, Urban Habitat and the Adeline/Alcatraz Merchants’ Association.

The discussion among commissioners ran the gamut Thursday night, with four of nine zoning board members saying they thought the project was well-designed and nearly ready for approval as it was presented. Other commissioners took the opposite position, saying the project would need a major overhaul and didn’t offer residents enough living space for a positive quality of life. (The studio apartments are set to range in size from 307 to 345 square feet and could cost somewhere between $1,200 and $1,600 a month, the developer said.) Three commissioners voted to reject the project outright, saying it was out of scale with the neighborhood, citing shadow impacts on neighbors, and taking issue with the type and number of units. That motion failed due to lack of support.

The final motion, which won majority approval at about 10:20 p.m., asked for a reduction in unit number or building size to lessen impacts on surrounding neighbors. Commissioners acknowledged that a reduction in units would also result in less money flowing into the Housing Trust Fund.

Commissioners who were more optimistic about the project — including Deborah Matthews, George Williams, Steve Ross (who was sitting in for Robert Allen) and Steven Donaldson — said it would help revitalize a somewhat desolate stretch of Shattuck, have a definite appeal to a certain segment of the market, and help Berkeley in its effort to fulfill regional requirements to support density, particularly along transit corridors.

“There are new beliefs about what is appropriate development in not just Berkeley but throughout the region,” said Ross. “We need to look beyond the immediate neighborhood here.”

Commissioners who took issue with the plans — including Michael Alvarez Cohen and Igor Tregub — described the project as “too big,” “too detrimental” to surrounding residents, and too distant from downtown, BART stations and lively nightlife opportunities.

Commissioner Sophie Hahn, the most vocal critic of the project on the zoning board, said Berkeley shouldn’t be in the business of approving projects with “tiny units” that allow for “the most minimal level of human existence.” Berkeley, she continued, is not the kind of metropolis that needs to support the level of density demanded in more urban areas.

“I know Berkeley likes to think of itself as a city, but we’re just a little town that happens to be dense,” she said. “We are not Seattle. We are not Boston…. We are not a city.”

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Emilie Raguso