Residential Housing Projects May be Put on Hold in Emeryville
Starting Immediately
The Emeryville City Council voted unanimously last night to direct the city staff to craft language to hand down a city-wide residential building moratorium for at least 45 days with provisions to extend that time. The proposal was initiated by Councilwoman Jac Asher who cited recent resident exasperation at the rapid pace of apartment building in town, saying of the action, "We need to hit the pause button."
The moratorium is being pursued for all aspects of all residential development proposals in the approval process. Ms Asher said the areas of concern that residents have been vocal about include unit mix, family friendliness, ownership vs rental and out-of-date 'density bonuses' granted to developers that are encoded at City Hall. The Councilwoman also noted the scale and the speed at which new projects are coming at the Council combined with the sense that the community feels the last parcels of fallow land should be more carefully considered contributed to her decision to call for a moratorium, "If we have anything on our side, it's time" and "People want us to do better" she added. Mayor Ruth Atkin agreed, postulating, "We're seeing these large projects not meet community needs."
City Attorney Mike Biddle said after 45 days an extension to the moratorium could be granted if certain findings could be made and he said building moratoriums can be extended up to two years maximum.
The Council agreed to vote on the moratorium at a special meeting to be convened on February 13th at 5:00.
This is a big story. Think it's being buried by the police shooting story?
ReplyDeleteThank You Jac. I am so thankful that some thought is being put into this. It is such an important first step in reclaiming the city for the people who actually want to live and create a life here long term. The shortsightedness of building expensive housing for the "young and single" is not sustainable.
ReplyDeleteThis might be the stupidest idea I have ever seen put forth by one of the smaller bay area city governments, and that is saying something. You think housing is expensive now? Enact a moratorium and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteAnother republican putting forth the idea that government is impotent and incompetent. We have to leave it up to the free market, is that it? Wait for it to trickle down? Citizens can't have anything nice in their town because we have to constantly bow down to the "government is bad" god? A people planning their town is not something that can be abided because....why? Because hosannas must be sung to the free market. Planning is anathema to the free market. Is that it?
Deleteheavens! such foul invective! A republican! Will there be an angry lynch mob outside my home when I leave this AM?
DeleteThanks for the good laugh.. Only in the bay area is the response to a scarcity to force my scarcity by law. I wouldnt say that encoding into law that no housing may be built would be considered planning, but hey we are all allowed our own delusions.
'Republican' is an invective? Are you sure? I think you ought to check out that political party more closely. I think you'll find a lot there you'll like. For instance the idea that a municipality should be able to have any effect on private property rights. You'll note their ideas dovetail nicely with yours. However you should be forewarned; republicans are hypocrites on private property rights and the rights of municipalities. Try to build the house you want in a republican enclave such as Danville or Blackhawk (presuming it's different than every other house). See what happens. You'll note there are two branches of the same party, the 'libertarian' and the 'authoritarian' and both branches exist within each republican. They bring one or the other out, depending on how it can be used in a particular moment. You might want to consider settling on the libertarian one and staying put. That would make you an outlier among republicans.
DeleteOh, and by the way; 'planning' means just that; planning. That means saying 'don't build here' and 'you can't build that there' and 'you can't build that now'. It's called 'planning'. It's really cool. All the hippest cities are doing it. There's nothing delusional about it. It's fun! And it also means people get the city they want rather than the city the developers want.
DeleteSo who builds housing other than a developer? Do you think someone other than a developer built the housing that you currently occupy?
ReplyDeleteSo really its the developers of housing for newcomers that you have a problem with.
Burying your head in the sand and pretending that people will stop coming because you outlaw all new construction will not make things better. People will continue to come, and your already scarce resource will become more scarce and more expensive, further enhancing the effects of gentrification.By all means continue in your quest to turn emeryville into a xenophobic gated community wherein only those who are welcome, are those who already live there.
We don't have a choice in the matter. Our future in Emeryville is set; we have to do what the developers want. If we do something we want, all will be lost. Other towns can do it, just not Emeryville.
DeleteYour comment is filled with straw men. It's not developers of housing for newcomers I have a problem with it's bad development I have a problem with. As a result of a game-changing election, we in Emeryville are regrouping and reconsidering what kind of residential development we want after 2 generations of letting developers call the shots and we're not constrained by anything other than the law. The idea that we can't make the town how we see fit, that elections don't matter and we have to continue on putting the developers in the drivers seat because to not do so doesn't comport with some irrational and false right wing ideology is delusional.
I loathe finding really important discussions online with the author of posts going undercover as 'anonymous'. it's just bad integrity. period.
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