has<\/a> an action fund to raise money for a potential referendum if the city council approves the measure.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Corridors Zoning Update (CZU) is therefore not just about the number of units Berkeley needs, but the actions we need to take to ensure geographic equity, and thereby live up to our values of fairness and inclusion,\u201d wrote District 8 Councilmember Mark Humbert in a newsletter about the commission\u2019s decision. \u201cWe can\u2019t say immigrants are welcome here, but then turn around and say \u2018but not on the opportunity sites in our neighborhood.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the proposed upzoning changes, business owners such as Claudia Hunka of Your Basic Bird, David Salk of Focal Point Opticians and Ky Boyd of Rialto Cinemas joined Save Berkeley Shops to organize against the proposal.<\/p>\n
Falk worried that \u201call it takes is one construction project\u201d to reduce foot traffic to adjacent businesses, limit parking nearby and lead to customers changing their shopping habits. Hunka expressed concerns that independent businesses would be unable to afford rent if new construction occurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this commercial district in Elmwood \u2026 the majority of the businesses are owned by women and minorities,\u201d Hunka said. \u201cThese are the people that you\u2019re going to be affecting, and you\u2019re going to be putting out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Berkeley Planning Commission voted 6-2 to adopt upzoning on criteria-based sites, meaning locations that meet specific requirements, such as being located on a street corner or not being historical sites. The commission also amended the proposal to add an additional story to the maximum building height and remove certain requirements for building setbacks.<\/p>\n
Hunka believes the upzoning plan could be positive for the community if it includes affordable housing. According to a city staff presentation to the Planning Commission, approximately 10% of units are expected to sell at below-market affordable rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis change exempts almost all of the parcels containing small, local businesses from the change in zoning, while preserving most of the realistic potential for new housing,\u201d wrote District 5 Councilmember Shoshana O\u2019Keefe in an email. \u201cI see it as an extremely reasonable (compromise) that should deliver nearly as much housing as the original plan while addressing one of the largest and most common fears raised by those I spoke to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunka and Boyd emphasized that Downtown Berkeley has several stalled housing developments. Hunka said the city should focus on finishing existing construction first.<\/p>\n
Falk proposed alternatives, including building housing adjacent to small shopping districts, which would increase the attractiveness of new housing because of its proximity to walkable commercial corridors and support for small businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cDowntown is a mess because of what has happened with unregulated development,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t want that to happen to the Elmwood district.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunka, Falk and Boyd worried that the additional story approved by the Planning Commission could be combined with density bonuses, which can allow multiple stories above zoning standards for buildings with higher percentages of affordable units, resulting in further upward development. This could create buildings of \u201ceight to 10 to 12\u201d stories in upzoned lots, according to Hunka.<\/p>\n
While city staff recommended broader upzoning changes, the Planning Commission\u2019s targeted approach is closer to what Humbert proposed in November 2025. Councilmember O\u2019Keefe expressed her support for this targeted approach in an email to The Daily Californian, while District 4 Councilmember Igor Tregub wrote to the Daily Cal that he would \u201cmaintain an open mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall businesses have had to deal with big box retail. We\u2019ve had to deal with Amazon, with all the online shopping. We\u2019ve had to deal with tariffs. We had to deal with a pandemic,\u201d Falk said. \u201cAnd I think, from my perspective, it\u2019s time for our city government to stand up and say, we\u2019re going to do everything we can to both grow housing and protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owners remain concerned about their ability to stay in their neighborhoods after the Berkeley Planning Commission voted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[8487,33481,78327,30530,28540,2633,29028,28541,9529,14328,109698,12500,12493,143,145,144,134678,30532,7987,23221,134677,78328],"class_list":["post-323304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-amazon","tag-berkeley-planning-commission","tag-claudia-hunka","tag-corridors-zoning-update","tag-david-salk","tag-downtown-berkeley","tag-elmwood","tag-focal-point-opticians","tag-housing-element","tag-igor-tregub","tag-ky-boyd","tag-mark-humbert","tag-north-shattuck","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-rialto-cinemas","tag-save-berkeley-shops","tag-shoshana-okeefe","tag-the-daily-californian","tag-upper-solano","tag-your-basic-bird"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323304","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=323304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}