The Berkeley City Council will vote on a “missing middle” housing ordinance later this fall.
A drone view of the UC Berkeley campus seen from Oakland Calif., on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. In 1916, the city swiftly embraced segregated neighborhood maps and byzantine zoning regulations to help protect the “public health, comfort and convenience” of its white, wealthy residents — single-family zoning laws pioneered by influential property owners and planning officials who directly lobbied state legislators for this governing authority less than a year prior.
Hundreds of public comments and lengthy council discussion during the five-hour meeting Tuesday centered around one, multifaceted question: what is the best way to rezone Berkeley that can realistically stimulate construction of affordable, “missing middle” homes, without simultaneously exacerbating hillside wildfire hazards, gentrification of poorer neighborhoods in the flatlands and displacement of non-white residents?and vowed to end exclusionary zoning in favor of equitable housing policies...
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín said the goal is to thread the needle that facilitates “missing middle” housing projects on paper, without losing sight of public safety or financial pitfalls that frequently threaten the feasibility that these projects will actually get built. “This is one of the most ambitious rezoning efforts of any city in the United States, and I think it’s appropriate that it starts here in Berkeley,” Arreguín said Tuesday night, explaining how he hopes their actions will provide a model for cities across California to follow. “That being said, we want to do it right.”
This trickle of projects illustrates the challenges developers face to make these multifamily projects pencil in today’s market, according to a
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