Take Action!

February 8 at 6pm: CAG Community Meeting #2

Our neighbors and members of the CAG need to know that there is enthusiastic support for lots of new neighbors in North Berkeley. Stay tuned for talking points and a letter to send.

Coming soon! BART + CEQA at the Planning Commission

Email the Planning Commission today! New meeting date to come

Berkeley is studying the environmental impact of up to 1200 homes at each of the North Berkeley and Ashby BART stations. Get your thoughts on environmental impacts of transit-oriented development in front of the planning commissioners by emailing apearson@cityofberkeley.info

Here’s the relevant item in full: PC Item 9

If you have more technical thoughts and questions about this study, send an email to the principal planner at ashen@cityofberkeley.info.


Rescheduled! Parking requirements at City Council

NOW IT'S A SPECIAL MEETING--> January 26, 2020 at 4pm

Good news Berkeley City Council is going to consider removing parking minimums. Overproviding parking drives up housing costs, encourages driving, and is a waste of valuable land. Not only that but analysis of on- and off-street parking capacity of multi-unit buildings (conducted pre-pandemic and while school was in session) shows plenty of empty spaces in Berkeley. Especially given Berkeley’s own climate goals, it is imperative that dense transit-accessible projects are not weighed down by old-fashioned minimum parking requirements.

Here’s what you can do:

Sample email below (feel free to copy and paste or ad lib):

Dear Mayor and City Council:

Please support the Planning Commission's proposed parking reform which was passed unanimously and enthusiastically. This reform is essential to making all districts in our city better able to provide the housing that we so desperately need. Please prioritize housing for people over space for more cars. The distinction in the Planning Commission's Option A is critically important as it includes all new residential housing not just the larger projects of 10 or more units and those in commercial areas. Option A is a better, more consistent planning policy, and it will improve the ability of smaller property owners to build more housing on the smaller residential lots. New homes in these districts will provide much needed smaller in-fill housing which would add many new units without much of an impact on the neighborhood character of the lower density districts.

Thank you for your support of this measure.

Sincerely,


Resident of Berkeley