Berkeley Considers Upzoning in High-End Neighborhoods

The City of Berkeley could upzone some of the wealthiest parts of town in an effort to meet housing demand.

The East Bay enclave is considering expanding building heights under current zoning regulations by two to three stories in three key corridors, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Shattuck Avenue in the North Shattuck neighborhood, College Avenue and Solano Avenue are under review for possibly taller buildings.

Berkeley’s upzoning push is part of the city’s endeavor to increase “middle housing” such as duplexes, fourplexes and courtyard apartments in high-resource neighborhoods. The city is prioritizing these transit corridors in hopes of “affirmatively furthering fair housing,” said Jordan Klein, director of the city’s Department of Planning and Development, per the Business Times.

Solano and College Avenues are currently zoned at maximum heights of two stories, while buildings in North Shattuck are capped at three stories, making them some of the shortest-zoned areas of the city. The city is considering two upzoning proposals at the moment, though they could change pending feedback from the Berkeley City Council, Planning Commission and members of the local community.

The first option calls for two-story increases at Solano Avenue and North Shattuck and a one-story increase at College Avenue. The second option would seek three-story increases at Solano and North Shattuck and a two-story increase at College Avenue.

Under state density bonus laws, new buildings on sites zoned with three-story maximums could actually reach between six to eight stories. Almost all of the mid-rise projects moving forward in Berkeley take advantage of the state density bonus program, Klein said, per the Business Times.

In total, city staff estimate that option one could create between 1,100 and 1,600 new housing units, while option two could create 1,300 to 1,780 units across all three areas.

This would align with the city’s state-mandated Housing Element, according to Klein. The East Bay city is on the hook to build 8,934 new residential units by 2031.

In June, the Berkeley City Council approved what will be the city’s tallest building: a 28-story residential tower at 1950-1998 Shattuck Avenue. That same month, the council voted unanimously to overturn a single-family zoning policy dating back to 1916, allowing three-story buildings with up to eight units to be built on a typical 5,000-square-foot lot. — Chris Malone Méndez