Council Majority Gives Tallest Finger to City’s General Plan Committee and Residents; Grants Developer Unlimited Building Height
by Brian Donahue, Marc Albert, and Tracy Schroth
Profound changes are ahead in Emeryville after the City Council majority gave initial approval last Tuesday to a new General Plan, taking just a few seconds to dismantle five years of effort that included input from hundreds of citizens.
The 3-2 vote was among the most shameless displays of the Council’s eagerness to grant lucrative exceptions to certain developers. John Nady, founder/CEO of audio supplier Nady Systems, Inc. in Emeryville, wants to build a mixed-use development on a large parcel of land at the extreme northwest corner of the city (west of Shellmound, directly south of the Ashby interchange). He complained to Council members that building height restriction in that area of the City, designated by the new General Plan (to a maximum of 75 feet), was too low for him to make a profit on his planned development. The Council majority, obviously touched by Nady’s plight, voted 3-2 (with Ruth Atkin and John Fricke dissenting) to cast aside the new building heights and allow Nady to build as high as he wants.
The General Plan Committee, which spent five years redrafting the City’s General Plan, and held more than 50 public meetings, had finally settled on an Urban Design Policy which stipulates the following: a “central core†of tall development (100 feet+), stepping down to mid-rise, then smaller buildings as they radiate away from the central core. After much debate and consideration, the General Plan Committee voted to restrict mid-rise buildings to a maximum of 55 feet with a bonus height of up to 75 feet under certain conditions. Currently, the maximum height in the area where Nady’s parcel is located is 40 feet, up to 55 feet with a use permit, according to Council Member John Fricke.
The General Plan Committee spent hundreds of hours debating the merits of creating a “central core.†City Planning Director Charlie Bryant said at Tuesday’s meeting that there was some disagreement within the Committee about what the allowable heights should be.
“There was a sizable minority of Committee members who wanted to see taller buildings” in the area outside the central core, Bryant said. But, he added, that during a joint meeting of the City Council and General Plan Committee, the only votes for taller building allowances came from the three Council members attending (Mayor Dick Kassis, and Council Members Nora Davis and Ken Bukowski).â€
After Tuesday’s vote, Council Member Fricke said his colleagues once again chose the interests of one developer seeking profits over the interests of Emeryville residents, disregarding the five years of hard work and struggle that went into formulating a General Plan.
“In the blink of an eye, the City Council conferred upon this developer and property owner an increase of millions of dollars in value, giving nothing to the residents in return,” Fricke said.
The Council’s vote prompted Planning Director Bryant to remind Council members that an unlimited building height allowance necessitates a change to the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The FAR describes what percentage of a land parcel’s total area can be covered by a building. Council Member (and Vice Mayor) Ken Bukowski replied that the FAR should be whatever the developer needs it to be to accommodate the development proposal.
A day after Tuesday’s meeting, Bryant sent a notice to members of the General Plan Committee and City Council stating that “various citizens sent letters of support for the 75-foot maximum building height” in the area where Nady’s parcel is located.
The Council’s vote Tuesday is preliminary. A final vote is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
How does limiting the allowed building height on this particular parcel serve the "interests of Emeryville residents?" That is not addressed in the blog entry.
Corrupt
How does limiting building height serve the "interests of residents"? That's quite a thick comment, Jason. I guess wishes expressed in five years worth of public meetings were worthless. I guess it's not in anyone's interest to preserve light, air and views for ordinary people. After all, a property owner has the potential to make a fortune, why should the a bunch of nobody residents be allowed to stand in the way? Nora Davis should call in the National Guard and have Brian Donahue, Marc Albert and Tracy Shroth arrested and sent to Guantanimo.
Who's Jason?
I was posing the question because the article did not address that. Is preserving light, air and views the issue? Will the project be detrimental to those? I'm not sure we know at this point.
Holy s***!
Mr Not Jason thinks the collective will of the people of Emeryville as expressed by the General Plan Upate Committee, hand picked by the Council I might add, and sanctified by over 50 public meetings means nothing. Mr Not Jason, why aren't you on the Emeryville City Council (maybe you are)? You distaste of democracy is well suited to your would be colleagues there.
How can it be any clearer? The people of Emeryville wants the Nady parcel to be zoned NO TALLER THAT 75 FEET. That's what they said over and over and over! This new General Plan has been shopped around all over town and the public had more than enough opportunity to change the zoning if they had wanted….BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY WANT.
For you to now imply the Council has done right by the residents by this outlandish give away is beyond the pale.
WTF?
I don't think it's in the interests of Emeryville residents to have concessions granted for unlimited building heights. Presumably, the council is working in the resident's interests. How did they get the idea that it's in their interests to have unlimited building heights allowed? It's easy to see how the developer's interests are served here, but how are the residents served?
And then there is the impression of corruption. The idea that one guy can come in at the last minute and get five years of work by so many residents, just overturned so flippantly is really insulting. I still can't figure out why the council did this. It seems like they are party to something else they're not telling us. I'm just sort of shocked they did this so blatently. It seems like they thought nobody was watching.
Profit is not a dirty word, however it should be earned fairly. This walking all over the resident's concerns and short sheeting the planning process just to augment one guy's bottom line isn't right. What about the resident's "profit"?
Why even have a committee if the council is going to overturn their desicions so recklessly? I think the committee exists just to give the impression to people who aren't paying attention, that the process is fair and reasonable.
We need to be mindful as to which council candidates now running, would be willing to engage in these sort of wholesale undemocratic tactics, and make sure they don't get elected. I'm so tired of this council majority and their hubris.
Thanks to the Secret News for alerting us to this.
Poster at 6:55pm on 10/9:
Thank you. That answers my question. That is what I was looking for.
Poster at 6:05pm on 10/9:
WTF, right back at ya.
I'm not implying anything. I was simply asking a question that was not addressed in the article. You are putting words in my mouth that are completely inaccurate. I'm just trying to put information together and ascertain what the issue is here. You are never going to convince me of your position with a tone like that.
The comment by the Vice Mayor about the Floor Area Ratio at the end of the article is one of the more outragous things I've ever heard a politician say. This comment of his basically sums up the whole game at the Emeryville City Hall, and that is there's nothing public about public policy. The Secret News or somebody needs to check on graft. It's probable these council members are not giving away the public's rights for free. It's too valuable for them to be guided by ideology alone.
Here now people!
Let's cut the bombast and WTF's flying around. I think most people agree that this action by the council majority was wrong but that's no excuse to fire off on each other like this. Please, let's stay focused here. For this to stay informative, we need a greater level of civility.
I think we need to increase development in town to provide jobs, but I don't like how the city is sneaky about putting it in. They should be more honest and tell us right out. I don't like that they are giving certain developers so much. It seems like corruption.
They had the follow-up finale meeting for this on Tuesday night. I hope you guys do the story. It sounds like it was the mother of all government give a ways. Wareham Development Corporation heard about the give a way to Nady Systems and realized they want some concesstions from the council also. The council was so hot to give a way the store they could hardly contain themselves.
Break out the vaseline and bend over residents…it's time to take another one.
How about a give a way to the residents?