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Believe it or not, Berkeley is really putting it to retail stores. Build apartments ABOVE your store or you will not be able to build anything.
"The presence of housing upstairs was a key contingency/bargaining chip in the building of a Trader Joe's in Berkeley as well." See story about this here.
This is what totalitarian government, able to use AB 32 and SB 375 can do to private business. ""There will be people at this hearing who will ask the ZAB to deny Safeway's expansion plan. They prefer [that] nothing change at all if Safeway does not put housing on top of the store. It is important to know that the expansion plan will not structurally support the weight of housing. Even without the structural considerations, adding housing would further compound parking shortages, block sunlight, and worsen traffic for the Henry Street neighbors.
"When Safeway started this project several years ago, many options were analyzed, including completely demolishing and rebuilding the store from the ground up. A complete rebuild of the store was the only way housing could be accomplished. Rebuilding meant closing the store for well over a year, significantly impacting shoppers and also the entire shopping district. Expanding keeps the store open for business during construction and minimizes impacts. Ultimately, after taking all factors into consideration, Safeway was left with only two options: do nothing or perform a much-needed expansion. Based on the company¹s commitment to upgrading aging stores, Safeway chose to pursue the expansion. Please join us to help convince the ZAB that expanding is a better option for Berkeley than doing nothing. .."
Trader Joes and Safeway are grocery stores, not residential builders. Berkeley, in order to get higher density (like Chicago and New York) is forcing these companies to either become housing developers.
My hope is that they close down. This is extortion by government. It looks like the marijuana has gotten to the brains of the Berkeley officials--or maybe stronger drugs.
More...
"The presence of housing upstairs was a key contingency/bargaining chip in the building of a Trader Joe's in Berkeley as well." See story about this here.
This is what totalitarian government, able to use AB 32 and SB 375 can do to private business. ""There will be people at this hearing who will ask the ZAB to deny Safeway's expansion plan. They prefer [that] nothing change at all if Safeway does not put housing on top of the store. It is important to know that the expansion plan will not structurally support the weight of housing. Even without the structural considerations, adding housing would further compound parking shortages, block sunlight, and worsen traffic for the Henry Street neighbors.
"When Safeway started this project several years ago, many options were analyzed, including completely demolishing and rebuilding the store from the ground up. A complete rebuild of the store was the only way housing could be accomplished. Rebuilding meant closing the store for well over a year, significantly impacting shoppers and also the entire shopping district. Expanding keeps the store open for business during construction and minimizes impacts. Ultimately, after taking all factors into consideration, Safeway was left with only two options: do nothing or perform a much-needed expansion. Based on the company¹s commitment to upgrading aging stores, Safeway chose to pursue the expansion. Please join us to help convince the ZAB that expanding is a better option for Berkeley than doing nothing. .."
Trader Joes and Safeway are grocery stores, not residential builders. Berkeley, in order to get higher density (like Chicago and New York) is forcing these companies to either become housing developers.
My hope is that they close down. This is extortion by government. It looks like the marijuana has gotten to the brains of the Berkeley officials--or maybe stronger drugs.
More...