Amoeba Music on Telegraph Avenue is one step closer to building seven stories of housing units above where the record store now stands, after Berkeley\u2019s Zoning Adjustments Board approved a use permit for renovation Thursday.<\/p>\n
The project proposal would add 68 units of housing, including 300 bedrooms and seven units designated as \u201cVery Low Income.\u201d It would also renovate the existing Amoeba Music store while demolishing a neighboring building.<\/p>\n
A People\u2019s History of Telegraph Avenue, a sprawling mural painted in 1976 on Amoeba Music\u2019s facade, would be preserved and restored as part of the project. It has been designated as a Berkeley landmark and depicts the Free Speech Movement, People\u2019s Park protests and other social justice struggles in Berkeley during the 1960s.<\/p>\n
Amoeba Music\u2019s iconic storefront facade \u2014 featuring a rainbow arch and psychedelic designs \u2014 would also be maintained.<\/p>\n
David Prinz, who co-founded Amoeba Music in Berkeley in 1990, submitted a preliminary application for the permit last October. Prior to ZAB approval, it passed preliminary review by the Landmarks Preservation and Civic Arts commissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think this project is a good one, and we advocate for it,\u201d said Zachary Russ, the East Bay leader with nonprofit YIMBY Action. \u201cIt is largely targeted at students, and we think it\u2019s going to be very helpful because a similar project that just finished up, Panoramic Northside \u2026 was pretty much almost fully rented out within a couple months of them finishing up. So there is a huge amount of demand for student housing still.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russ said the project has been streamlined by Senate Bill 330, a 2019 California state law that limits the number of public hearings required for certain housing development projects.<\/p>\n
The project qualifies for a density bonus due to its designated low-income units, allowing waivers from various municipal requirements. ZAB also found that it is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires projects to have an environmental impact review.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the approvals that it has obtained, and that it would be expected to obtain going forward, are emblematic of the City Council and the commissions recognizing that there is a housing crisis and smoothing the way for new construction to occur,\u201d Russ said.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the project have until Sept. 28 to appeal the ZAB decision. Additionally, the project still has to go through a final review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and requires a building permit before beginning with initial construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to be moving forward and will be sharing more news on this project soon,\u201d said Elisabeth Jewel, a spokesperson for the project, in an email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amoeba Music on Telegraph Avenue is one step closer to building seven stories of housing units above where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[182937,93437,13997,176278,182938,33484,182941,17674,182939,143,145,144,11650,23196,13774,182940,182936],"class_list":["post-464509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-a-peoples-history-of-telegraph-avenue","tag-amoeba-music","tag-california-environmental-quality-act","tag-civic-arts-commission","tag-david-prinz","tag-east-bay-yimby","tag-elisabeth-jewel","tag-free-speech-movement","tag-landmarks-preservation-committee","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-peoples-park","tag-sb-330","tag-telegraph-avenue","tag-zachary-russ","tag-zoning-adjustment-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464509","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=464509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}