Upzoning overhaul near UC Berkeley campus aims to alleviate housing crisis on the Southside

BERKELEY — Roughly three years ago, Councilmember Rigel Robinson and his team conceptualized a vision to legalize 1,000 new residential housing units in the city’s Southside.

“But I didn’t think that that met the severity of the housing crisis or the urgency of the moment,” Rigel said, reflecting on how he wagered that his policy staff could successfully develop even more ambitious zoning changes for his district, which encompasses UC Berkeley’s campus. “And they said, ‘Bet.’”

On Tuesday, the Berkeley City Council approved the subsequent planning overhaul, which may allow an additional 2,650 residential units to be built near Telegraph Avenue — known for decades as the bustling, spiritual hub of Berkeley.

This upzoning plan allows developers to construct up to 12 or more stories in one of the Southside’s busiest, densest neighborhoods — bounded by Bancroft Way, Prospect Street, Dwight Way and Fulton Street.

Building heights along some portions of those streets were capped at 45 and 55 feet, but others were bumped to 85 feet — roughly the distance between bases on a major league baseball diamond.

Projects could even reach 16 stories, depending on how much they take advantage of new state density laws.

The city’s planning codes were also revamped to remove some restrictions on using a building’s ground floor as retail and residential space, as well as reduced requirements for minimum setbacks from the sidewalk and added new minimum density standards.

“I think there’s some parcels where the permissible height will actually outright double, and then you factor in two layers of density bonuses, and it’s an entirely different landscape,” Robinson said. “We have come such a long way from where the conversation has started.”

It’s the latest attempt to chip away at the historic housing shortage that’s hurt East Bay residents and UC Berkeley’s ever-growing student community. The plan simultaneously complies with the broader state-mandated policies that California housing officials have handed down to generate more affordable housing.

In terms of production, Berkeley’s director of planning and development, Jordan Klein, said this is “one of the most important and impactful programs” in the city’s recent housing element update.

The hope is that creating more housing directly next to campus will ease the hours-long commutes, cramped living conditions and daunting debt students face while grappling with the Bay Area’s historic housing shortage.

Those problems are exacerbated by the fact that UC Berkeley houses only 23% of its students — the lowest percentage across all 10 campuses in the UC system.

Despite some concerns that sidewalks along the corridor will be overwhelmed by all the growth, city planners asserted that the new codes are still aligned with the pedestrian-oriented feel of the Telegraph Commercial District, where conversations have ramped up to ban cars completely.

In fact, a student-driven advocacy group convinced the city to consider turning that section of Telegraph into a full-fledged plaza, where dreams of a dedicated bus lane, protected bikeways, widened sidewalks, improved pedestrian crossings and public transit hubs could become “West Coast’s Times Square.”

While projects on these upzoned properties are no longer required to be built off the front property line, Berkeley planning staff said that developers will be incentivized to utilize open space nearest the sidewalk, similar to the outdoor cafe seating or entryway residential amenities that have worked in downtown Oakland and San Francisco, as well as in a recently residential complex built near Ashby and San Pablo avenues.

Councilmember Sophie Hahn was still concerned that the area would be overwhelmed, advocating at Tuesday’s meeting that the city require some developers to include elements like frontage strips and wider sidewalks.

“If we’re going to triple the number of people in this area and expand the areas where very, very dense housing can live, we need wider sidewalks,” Hahn said. “If you go to Telegraph Avenue on busy days, people are already spilling off the sidewalks.”

Councilmember Robinson asked the city manager’s office to explore Hahn’s suggestions for the upzoning plan, which he said he was grateful to see finally come to life; he believes it will help make Berkeley more livable for everyone.

“By making thousands of new units of housing possible right next to campus, we can help struggling students and staff, and alleviate pressure on the rest of the city,” Robinson said, adding that Tuesday’s approval is evidence that the politics of housing in the city is changing. “More and more, people are realizing that we can’t preserve the city in amber if we want to tackle the defining challenges of our time.”