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Community meetings to discuss the character of future development around
Lake Merritt

Update: Community Meetings Regarding Zoning in the Downtown (Central Business District), including the Western Edge of Lake Merritt

Progress has been made on the Zoning Study for the perimeter of Lake Merritt, initiated last year by City of Oakland Planning Staff at the request of Councilmembers Nancy J. Nadel and Pat Kernighan, to address community concerns regarding future development around the lake. The next steps in this process include community workshops on March 1 and 17, 2008 (see details below) to get your feedback.

You may recall that the Zoning Study was initiated after a community meeting in January 2007, and included a community workshop on April 28, 2007. Information gathered from these two meetings has been considered by Planning Staff in developing preliminary zoning proposals to regulate future development near the lake. This phase of studying zoning proposals for the western edge of Lake Merritt dovetails with the on-going citywide effort to update all of the City of Oakland’s planning and zoning districts to make them consistent with the General Plan.

At this time, the City is seeking community input on proposed zoning regulations regarding height, intensity, density, uses, and other development standards for the City’s downtown area or ‘Central Business District’ (CBD), which includes the western edge of Lake Merritt. The CBD is the area generally bounded by 23rd Street to the north, I-980 and I-880 to the east and south, respectively, and the western edge of Lake Merritt and the Estuary (as outlined in red on the map above).

Please join us at one or both of the community workshops:

Saturday, March 1, 2008 ~ 1 pm to 3:30 pm:

WHAT: Community Meeting # 1 – Central Business District (CBD) Zoning: Height, Intensity and Density of Development.

WHERE: Veterans Memorial Building (Downtown Senior Center), 200 Grand Ave (between Harrison and Bay Place).

WHY: The purpose of this meeting is to present and discuss proposals for height, intensity, and density of development for various areas within the CBD, including the downtown (western) edge of Lake Merritt.

Monday, March 17, 2008 ~ 6:30 to 9 pm:

WHAT: Community Meeting # 2 – Central Business District Zoning (CBD): Uses and Development Standards.
WHERE: Location TBA.
WHY: This meeting will focus on discussing regulations regarding allowed uses and development standards for the proposed zones for the Central Business District, including the downtown (western) edge of Lake Merritt.

Overview: City planning staff has initiated a Zoning Study for the perimeter of Lake Merritt at the request of Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (District 3) and Pat Kernighan (District 2). The purpose of the study is to refine the existing development guidelines for the area around the Lake. General policy guidelines and concepts currently exist in the City’s General Plan and Lake Merritt Master Plan, but the Councilmembers thought that more specificity would be helpful to make sure that future development enhances, rather than detracts from, the unique open space and recreational areas around Lake Merritt.

As we develop updated zoning for our General Plan, we want to learn about and use all of the tools accessible to us to address issues including: access to sunlight, excessive shadows or wind, protection of important views to and from the Lake, compatibility with the visual character of existing neighborhoods surrounding the Lake, and protection of historic resources around the Lake, among other issues. Updated zoning would also provide more certainty to potential developers.

To that end, the Zoning Study so far has included two large community meetings. We are soliciting public input via community meetings as well as written comments that can be emailed to Councilmember Nadel’s Policy Aide, Marisa Arrona, at ArronaM@oaklandnet.com. If you have been, or will be, unable to attend the community meetings, please email your input to Marisa Arrona. City staff will review all public comments and then develop proposed zoning for further community review, and then hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council.

The entire process is anticipated to be complete by June 2008. Below is more detailed information of the process so far, as well as next steps.

Two community meetings have been held to date to solicit feedback from the community and other stakeholders:

o Town Hall Meeting on January 31, 2007. Approximately 150 people attended this town hall meeting. Participants broke into ten small groups and discussed their concerns regarding the impact of future high-rise development around Lake Merritt.

o Community Workshop on April 28, 2007. The focus of this workshop, attended by approximately 100 people, was to present information about the plans and regulations governing development in the vicinity of the Lake and different ways the city can regulate the height and form of buildings, as well as to solicit feedback about future development around the Lake. Specifically, participants were divided into ten groups of 7-8 people to discuss the following questions with the help of a City staff facilitator at each group:

What is your vision of the skyline around the different edges of Lake Merritt?

Where is height appropriate/inappropriate?

What are important views to and from the Lake that should be protected?

What did you think about the regulatory tools presented?

Links to notes, and handouts and other information distributed at these meetings are available below.

o Notes from January 31, 2007 Townhall Meeting.
o Agenda for April 28, 2007 Community Workshop. The Agenda and four handouts were combined into a 9-page *pdf file, as follows:

Agenda – one page.

Planning and Regulatory Framework – four-pages summarizing relevant portions of the General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, Lake Merritt Master Plan, and Land Use Designations.

Summary of General Plan and Zoning in the Vicinity of Lake Merritt – two pages, the first of which is a General Plan Land Use and Zoning Map and the second of which is a Summary of Potential Tools to Regulate Building Height and Form.

Sunlight Access and Shadow Study Map of the Lake Merritt area (taken from the Lake Merritt Master Plan) – one page (map).

Visual Analysis of the Lake Merritt area (important views, viewpoints, and other elements of the visual character of the lake Merritt area) (taken from the Lake Merritt Master Plan) – one page (map).

o Power Point Presentation used at the April 28, 2007 Community Workshop. The power point presentation was approximately 30 minutes long and provided information regarding the goals of the community workshop; background – issues and process; planning and regulatory framework; existing conditions summary; and various tools for regulating building height and form. You can download a *pdf version of the Power Point in either a Single-Slide-Per-Page version (45 pages) or a Four-Slides-Per-Page version (12 pages).

o Oakland Tribune article regarding the April 28, 2007 Community Workshop: “Citizens: Develop Lake Merritt, but regulate building [height],” May 4, 2007, Metro Section, p. 1.

NEXT STEPS
The City will review the feedback received at the April 28, 2007 Community Workshop and then begin drafting alternative proposals to address the issues and concerns raised at the Community Workshop, as well as the Town Hall meeting. Refining those alternatives will be the subject of a community workshop, expected to take place in late summer or early fall. Any proposal emerging from this process must have complied with requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before proceeding to the Planning Commission and then the City Council.

For more information regarding the Lake Merritt Zoning Study, please contact Marisa Arrona, Councilmember Nadel’s Policy Aide, at ArronaM@oaklandnet.com. You may also join the discussion board (Yahoo Group): LakeMerrittTownhallMeeting.