Temescal neighbors vs. the developers

TEMESCAL STANDS TALL AGAINST TOWER
----Opponents say 44-unit condominium project will overshadow their homes

By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER, Oakland Tribune
April 6, 2007


OAKLAND — In what has become an expected response, a group of Temescal residents has vowed to appeal the latest market-rate condominium development approved this week by Oakland's Planning Commission.

The Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a five-story, 44-unit condominium project at 48th Street and Shattuck Avenue by the development team of Roy Alper and Ron Kriss.

It is the fifth such project by the development team to merit the commission's approval. And although many neighbors welcome new higher-density development, others complain that Alper and Kriss are changing the character of the Temescal neighborhood by building too tall, too dense and too fast.

Two nearby projects — Gate 48 on 48th Street, and Temescal Place at 48th and Telegraph Avenue — are complete, but construction has not yet started on the Civiq project at 51st and Telegraph or the Centrada project at 47th and Telegraph.

The team also has a pending application for a project on the site of the Kingfish Cafe and Pub on Claremont Avenue, near the Telegraph Avenue split.

Opponents say new five- and six-story developments loom over the typical one- to two-story homes and commercial structures that characterize the Temescal neighborhood. They also don't like the fact that this project, as well as Centrada, requires the demolition of several cottages and small apartment buildings that provide affordable rentals for Temescal residents.

"We've always been for development," said Virginia Browning, a member of the newly formed Standing Together for Accountable Development." We want density, we just don't want over-density. ... I like the style of the building; (it belongs) downtown, it doesn't go here."

Bob Brokl, a member of STAND, urged the commission to consider the cumulative impacts of all the projects.

"Once this developer is done with all his projects ... there will not be a single (older) building left in Temescal (that isn't historically significant)," Brokl said.

But a competing group, ULTRA (Urbanists for a Livable Temescal Rockridge Area), think the Temescal and Shattuck transit corridors are the perfect spot for such high-density projects.

"We support this project. ... We're saddened to lose a few houses but we're getting 44 new (homes) in exchange," said John Gatewood, a member of ULTRA. "These condos will (sell for) $200,000 to $300,000 less than houses for sale in Temescal."

The commission did go along with the planning staff's recommendation — over the developer's objections — to lower the building's height to four stories where it abuts the Gate 48 condominiums. The developers must also make a good-faith effort to relocate a potentially historic building on 48th Street before any demolition permits are issued.

The commission did not require that the project include commercial space on Shattuck Avenue because of concerns that it would be too difficult to lease the space and it would sit empty.

Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner (North Oakland), said Thursday that she expected the residents to file an appeal. She launched an effort last year to draft design review guidelines for the Temescal area in response to community concerns over the proliferation of new taller, denser residential projects.

She said Thursday that she had hoped that Alper and Kriss would wait until that effort was completed before the team submitted applications for new projects, or that they would at least wait until construction had started on their other projects.

"The projects are changing the look of the whole area within a very short period without letting anyone get used to it," Brunner said. "That's why we started this whole design review team."

Brunner said she wanted to take a look at the height of the surrounding buildings, especially on the other side of 48th Street to make sure the project fit in. At this point, there will be a solid wall of tall buildings from the dead end of 48th Street to Telegraph Avenue.

"It's one thing to develop the (Telegraph and Shattuck) corridors, but now we're into the side streets," she said. "I support smart growth but you have to work with the community so ... they are acceptable to it and so that different blocks do different things and they are not all the same."

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_5607608


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BELOW ARE TWO COMMENTS

I live in Temescal and approve of these projects. More housing is great. Higher density housing along urban transportation corridors is one of the answers to global warming.
JEN | 04.06.07 - 3:12 pm | #
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Do you mean you welcome gentrification? Where are the non yuppies suppose live? Anywhere but Oakland? Global Warming? It's about MONEY not the environment. Go to a city planning meeting some time, those businessmen are there to make a big profit, they never talk about global warming.
STANLEY HARWOOD | 04.06.07 - 6:21 pm | #

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BELOW IS FROM THE TEMESCAL NEIGHBORS GROUP
--STAND — Standing Together for Accountable Neighborhood Development


STAND MISSION STATEMENT

STAND — Standing Together for Accountable Neighborhood Development — is an alliance of community groups, residents and merchants that formed in response to the recent surge of high-density condo development proposals for Temescal, Rockridge, and other North Oakland neighborhoods. While STAND supports new development and recognizes the benefits of sustainable, equitable, and responsible growth, our mission is to provide a voice for the thousands of citizens alarmed by the number, size, density, and impacts of these projects and to hold the City of Oakland accountable in identifying the full range of project impacts on traffic, pedestrian safety, parking, air quality, public infrastructure and services, and neighborhood character and diversity.

STAND also seeks to influence the design of new projects by working early in the planning stages with developers and the City to allow greater density while maintaining the unique character, human scale, diversity, affordability, and livability of our neighborhoods through height, bulk, and density controls and by preserving existing rental stock, historic residences and commercial buildings.

For more information about STAND— Standing Together for Accountable Neighborhood Development
http://www.intergate.com/~daniel41/2007/02/stand-mission-statement.html