![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/large-IMG_8733.jpg\")
Workers at a downtown Berkeley construction site. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\nWorkers at a downtown Berkeley construction site. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n
The Berkeley City Council reluctantly signed off Monday night on two proposed high-rise developments that use a state housing law to sidestep local labor standards.<\/p>\n
Two labor groups had called for Berkeley leaders to approve the projects but reject their developers\u2019 attempts to use California\u2019s \u201cdensity bonus\u201d law to dodge a union-backed ordinance<\/a> Berkeley adopted in 2023 mandating that builders of large projects provide health care coverage for workers<\/a> and apprenticeship programs. The state law requires cities to give builders exemptions from certain local regulations if their projects include affordable housing.<\/p>\n Developers Collab Home and Laconia Development say abiding by the ordinance would cost millions of dollars and mean they might never actually build the projects, a 20-story complex on Durant Avenue in the Southside neighborhood and a 23-story building on University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. Attorneys for the developers told the City Council that the state law grants them broad authority to bypass Berkeley\u2019s mandates, and the city doesn\u2019t have the power<\/a> to block their use of it.<\/p>\n Council members, some of whom voted to approve the health care and apprenticeship requirements, said they were sympathetic to the appeal from the labor groups.<\/p>\n But several members agreed that the state law meant they couldn\u2019t force the developers to follow the requirements, and were wary the companies could take the city to court if they tried to do so. At a time when Berkeley faces a budget deficit estimated at $30 million, the council wasn\u2019t interested in picking that potentially costly fight.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the legal justification is there to deny the concessions,\u201d Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani said. \u201cThe city is not in a position to take on the cost of expensive litigation, when we know at the outset that we are likely to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n Affordable housing lets developers dodge mandates<\/p>\n The debate Monday night centered on a 169-unit project at 2425 Durant Ave.<\/a> from Berkeley-based Collab Home, and a project at 2029 University Ave.<\/a> from Laconia, a Walnut Creek firm that proposed two versions of the project. One would include 240 units and have more studio and one-bedroom apartments; the other, with larger apartments, would have 160 total units.<\/p>\n A third project that also sought exemptions from the labor standards, at 2298 Durant Ave., was scheduled to be discussed Monday night but has been withdrawn by developer Valiance Capital, Mayor Adena Ishii said.<\/p>\n Plans for the 2425 Durant Ave. project call for including 32 units that would have below market rate rents, while the University Avenue project would have either 24 or 36 affordable units depending on which version of it is built.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those affordable units allowed the projects to claim an array of deal-sweeteners under the density bonus law<\/a>. Each requested exemptions from the health care and apprenticeship ordinance, known by the acronym \u201cHARD HATS,\u201d or Helping Achieve Responsible Development with Healthcare and Apprenticeship Training Standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Durant Avenue project also sought to disregard another requirement supported by construction unions that projects in the Southside neighborhood pay workers prevailing wage<\/a>. And the University Avenue project claimed an exemption from a mandate to use glass that is designed to prevent birds from flying into windows<\/a>.<\/p>\n Laconia has said the requirements would add more than $5 million to the cost of its University Avenue project. And development consultant Mark Rhoades told the council Berkeley\u2019s mandates would add $16.6 million in costs to the Durant Avenue project, including nearly $13 million from the prevailing wage requirement alone.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an extreme, up-front cost that is difficult \u2014 impossible \u2014 to commit to,\u201d Rhoades said.<\/p>\n Each project was approved by Berkeley\u2019s Zoning Adjustments Board, but those decisions were appealed by the Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County and the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council. The groups argued Laconia and Collab Home were abusing the density bonus law, which they said was meant to apply to physical limitations on development, not labor standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unions staged protests for weeks before vote In the weeks leading up to Monday\u2019s meeting, union members protested outside City Hall and the downtown offices of Rhoades\u2019 firm, holding signs and handing out fliers accusing the developers of seeking to exploit workers. Union members and officials in work vests attended the meeting, telling the council that Berkeley\u2019s labor standards would ensure workers get quality training and have coverage if they\u2019re injured on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can afford to live in Berkeley, [which] I love, because I\u2019ve been given these opportunities through apprenticeships, through a living wage, through health care,\u201d carpenter Stephanie Lind said.<\/p>\n The Durant and University projects are some of the first that would be subjected to the HARD HATS ordinance, which applies to projects submitted since 2024, and union leaders fear other developers will follow their strategy of using the state law to nullify Berkeley\u2019s mandate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe original legislative intent of the density bonus law was to allow developers to build more affordable units as a social good,\u201d attorney Jolene Kramer, who represented the carpenters\u2019 union, said Monday. \u201cAllowing a developer to avoid a labor standards requirement will do the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n The developers\u2019 attorneys said the density bonus was written with intentionally sweeping language that lets builders exempt themselves from costly mandates that would otherwise stifle housing production.<\/p>\n \u201cApproval, in this instance, is mandatory,\u201d attorney Todd Williams told the council.<\/p>\n Council calls for legislation to address \u2018loophole\u2019<\/p>\n Even if they couldn\u2019t compel the developers to follow Berkeley\u2019s mandates, some council members said they still weren\u2019t willing to vote in favor of the projects.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all have red lines, this is mine \u2014 I cannot in good conscience support housing that will be built on the backs of the workforce,\u201d said Councilmember Igor Tregub.\u00a0<\/p>\n He and others said state lawmakers should pass new legislation to rein in how developers use the density bonus law and prevent future projects like the ones on Durant and University avenues.<\/p>\n State Sen. Jesse Arregu\u00edn, who as mayor of Berkeley led the push to pass<\/a> the HARD HATS ordinance and drew on support from unions<\/a> in the building trades during his run for Sacramento, backed the effort to force the projects to comply with the ordinance. In a statement provided by a spokesperson Tuesday, Arregu\u00edn wrote that he was disappointed by the council\u2019s decision and is \u201cconsidering introducing legislation to amend the state density bonus law to close this loophole.\u201d<\/p>\n The council\u2019s opposition to the projects proved only symbolic. The Durant Avenue project was approved with five votes in favor, from Ishii, Kesarwani, Brent Blackaby, Mark Humbert and Cecilia Lunaparra; Tregub joined Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett and Shoshana O\u2019Keefe in abstaining from the vote.<\/p>\n When the University Avenue project came up for a vote, five council members \u2014 Taplin, Bartlett, Tregub, O\u2019Keefe and Blackaby \u2014 abstained, while Kesarwani, Lunaparra, Humbert and Ishii voted yes. Because the vote failed and the council officially took no action, the zoning board\u2019s decision to approve the project with the concessions stands, and the development can move forward.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers at a downtown Berkeley construction site. Credit: Kelly Sullivan for Berkeleyside The Berkeley City Council reluctantly signed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[7981,2633,2465,2466,1011,36193,143,145,144,5293],"class_list":{"0":"post-192957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-berkeley-city-council","9":"tag-downtown-berkeley","10":"tag-home-highlight","11":"tag-home-lead","12":"tag-housing","13":"tag-jesse-arreguin","14":"tag-oakland","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-southside"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772019728_800_Screenshot-2025-11-13-at-10.16.54-AM.png\")
An architect\u2019s rendering of a 23-story housing development proposed approved at 2029 University Ave. Credit: Stackhouse De La Pe\u00f1a Trachtenberg Architects<\/p>\n
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1137-2560x1920.jpeg\")
Construction unions staged pickets outside Berkeley City Hall and the downtown office of Rhoades Planning Group in the weeks leading up to Monday\u2019s council meeting. Credit: Nico Savidge\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\n