Developer Goes Over City Council - City's Authority Stripped By New State Housing Law

47th Street Homes Project Ushers In New 'Upzone' Housing Boom In East Emeryville Neighborhoods

First Developer to Invoke New California Law to Override City Council

Flood of Housing Projects Will Bring More White People 

News Analysis

The desire of the people of Emeryville to plan their town as they see fit ran hard up against the power of the State Tuesday when the City Council, yielding to a new anti-planning state law that takes away local housing control, voted to allow a developer to tear down four affordable rental homes to be replaced with expensive rental townhomes.  Emeryville thus becomes one of the first Bay Area towns to test the new law, SB 330; a developer backed decree that seeks to increase housing density across California at the expense of citizen empowerment in their own city planning.

Emeryville residents watched in shock Tuesday night as the City Council voted unanimously to grant an out-of-town developer freedom to evict his multi-generational low income minority tenants in four contiguous homes he owns in order to demolish them and build unaffordable townhouses.  The net effect on 47th Street (and elsewhere after this precedent setting law begins to take effect) will be to make the neighborhood whiter, richer, less blue collar and generally less diverse.  It was shocking because neither the City Council or the Planning Commission wanted this to happen.  Shocking because the City Council is now seen as powerless to stop what will likely become a torrent of development, developers seeking their fortunes gentrifying the Triangle Neighborhood and North Emeryville, the last bastions of affordable genuine family housing left in our town.

SB 330, authored by our own local Assembly member Nancy Skinner, was advertised to overturn what was characterized by her as a state-wide culture of ‘NIMBYism’ that had contributed to California’s legendary status of being an epicenter of unaffordable housing.  Before it became law in January, SB 330 saw a powerful consortium of developer/lobbyists who glommed onto the legislation that sought to strip cities of their general plans, forcing them to approve virtually any housing project that would increase density.  Early on, some environmental groups signed onto the law (which would theoretically lessen pressure for cities to sprawl), an ‘eco’ seal of approval that lowered what would have normally been robust citizen involvement, adding to SB 330’s remarkably rapid legislative confirmation. 

Berkeley resident Assembly Member Nancy Skinner
(with mic) obtained Governor Gavin Newsome's
help in signing SB 330, the 'Housing Crisis
Act of 2019'.

Emeryville Is Not Guilty

Within SB 330’s pro-density zealotry, is a lack of recognition for towns that have behaved responsibly with their housing planning and building.  SB 330 lumps in towns that are not driven by housing NIMBYism with towns that have engaged NIMBYism that clearly do need to be reined in for the sake of the greater good.  It was against those irresponsible municipalities that Assembly member Skinner raised the specter of echelons of privileged and connected upper middle class town folk protecting their property values by stopping (lower income) development in a State that has seen property values skyrocket.  This kind of NIMBYism is a stereotype that certainly has a basis in fact when one looks to Bay Area towns like Piedmont, Tiberon or Atherton.  But SB 330 uses a sledgehammer to do its work and unnecessarily removes the people’s rights to plan their cities in areas that don’t need mandates from Sacramento - cities like Emeryville. 

Emeryville has shown itself to be a city not in need of SB 330.  NIMBYism, when it comes to housing, has not been in effect here.  Over the last 20 years, Emeryville has surpassed its market rate housing goals by triple digits as reported by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).  With housing numbers like Emeryville’s, no plausible argument can be made for City Hall needing to hand over its Planning Department to Sacramento.

SB 330 simply sets to increase the density of California cities.  It doesn’t speak to affordability, except by use of a trickle down nostrum, invoking a facile supply and demand panacea that incidentally has many critics.  Emeryville serves as a convenient case study.  As the town has doubled its population and then doubled it again, housing prices here continue skyrocketing upward, unabated, far outpacing general cost of living increases.

Slumlords Love the New Law

The 47th Street Homes Project is a particularly egregious example of gentrification.  The development corporation, FE Forbes has operated as a landlord for many years in the Triangle neighborhood, acting in a classic slumlord modus operandi according to the tenants.  The City Council was particularly incensed after it was revealed that Forbes hadn’t even fixed a heater in one of the 47th Street houses it owns, forcing the tenant, a grandmother with children living with her, to go without heat for ten years.  Forbes CEO, Mark Forbes, before invoking SB 330, argued the City should disregard the City’s ‘Areas of Stability’ clause in the General Plan because he hadn’t maintained the homes over the years and the resultant state of disrepair should serve as reason enough to grant permission to evict all the tenants and raze the four craftsman homes.  He failed to mention he would make a lot more money in rents with the new townhomes it should be noted.

The City Council (and the Planning Commission) voted NO to FE Forbes' demolition request in January, the first time a home teardown developer had been rejected by the City of Emeryville.  Thus, SB 330 now curtails what might have been a budding Council ethos, looking to protect its existing affordable family housing stock. 

The fate, decided by Sacramento, of Emeryville’s existing (affordable) 47th Street homes becoming the fabulous 47th Street Homes will serve as a dinner bell to developers.  The eastern residential part of Emeryville that Emeryvillians sought to protect in the General Plan is now on the menu for developers far and wide.  So long as the market prices hold out and barring a large economic turndown, the last stock of detached single family houses in Emeryville, demonstrably the most family friendly housing, will be under greater and greater pressure to fall to the wreaking ball.  Sacramento has seen to it that what little planning Emeryville may have had over the years is now going to be relegated to the dustbin of history.  SB 330 promises Emeryville and other Bay Area cities will descend into a new wild west anti-planning period of unregulated housing development, the will of the people be damned. 

Here come the techie yuppies!
Emeryville to become whiter, richer, less blue collar and fewer families.
A scene that will become increasingly common
in the East Emeryville neighborhoods with the passage of SB 330.

Breaking News: Council OKs Demolition of 47th Street Homes

 Tonight the City Council voted to grant the developer FE Forbes permission to tear down four contiguous 100 year old craftsman homes known as the 47th Street Homes Project, to built townhome replacements citing a new developer friendly California law that attempts to stop municipalities from saying NO to development that increases housing density.  The decision, a reversal of an earlier vote against the project, was cast solely as a result of the new law (SB 330) the Council said.  The vote promises to set a precedent for new ‘up zoned’ development in Emeryville’s last bastions of traditional single family detached residences in the Triangle Neighborhood and North Emeryville.  

Council member John Bauters, citing provisions in the Housing Element of Emeryville’s General Plan, argued that the City could make the approval of the project conditional regardless of SB 330, providing at least one unit of the all rental project be deed restricted as affordable.  The developer stated he would be willing to grant that as long as he would only be constrained to provide an affordable unit for 20 years and that a rental unit he owns on 48th Street be the constrained unit, not any of the new units on 47th Street. 

The vote was unanimous.   

 The Tattler will follow with an expanded story on this in days to come.

Council Punts on 47th Street Homes Project: Unstoppable in Wake of New Sacramento Law?

Tonight the City Council threw out a decision on the controversial 47th Street Homes project based on a lack of knowledge when the application was completed.   The date is important because the State of California has passed several laws protecting ‘upzoning’ or increasing density, as the 47th Street project would do.  At issue are SB 330 provisions that would make it more difficult for the Council to vote NO to the project.  Council member John Bauters asked staff to report on when the application was “deemed complete” because if that could be determined to be before the passage of Sacramento’s SB 330, then presumably more lax and defensible findings against the project could be made.  The staff was directed to find the application date and return the project to a future meeting.

100 year old Craftsman Homes would be
replaced with this.

The project was recently declined by the Planning Commission based on their finding that the existing homes are affordable and the replacements would be unaffordable, a fact the applicant, Forbes Development, admits.  But that finding might not be an acceptable one to turn down the project now that SB 330 is the law of the land.  The Council also had previously said NO to 47th Street Homes, in January due to the project's transitioning of the neighborhood from affordable to unaffordable.  

The action tonight indicates the Council believes they will have a difficult time voting NO to the 47th Street Homes project with the new rules in effect, barring a clear calendar impediment.  This could serve as a signal to developers to start tearing down existing homes all over the Triangle neighborhood and North Emeryville, the last stands of affordable single family detached homes in Emeryville, a clear goal of California Senate Bill 330.

Council Chastises Developer, Moves to Save 47th Street Homes From Wrecking Ball

Invoking 'Emeryville Values', Council Excoriates Developer's Actions

Destruction of 47th Street Homes Deemed 'Detrimental' to Emeryville 

In a historic and unanimous decision, the City Council moved Tuesday night to disallow a developer’s request to demolish four contiguous single family homes in the Triangle Neighborhood to be replaced with more dense market rate duplex rental homes, Emeryville's first ever ruling against a proposal to tear down existing homes in one of the City’s so called ‘zones of stability’. The remarkable event was capped by Councilman John Bauters and Mayor Christian Patz, both of whom invoked an impudent developer, calling him out for his deviousness and lack of honesty.

A 99 year old company, F.E. Forbes has owned
homes and been a landlord in Emeryville for
decades.  Hearing tenant testimony, Councilman
John Bauters said the company's failure to provide
heat for renters for seven years was "against the
law" and constituted "landlord neglect".

The project proposal to demolish four existing craftsmen homes and replace them with duplexes called ‘47th Street Homes’, sailed through the Planning Commission’s October study session effortlessly, only to be stopped Tuesday by the Council who said the destruction of the existing homes would be materially detrimental to the housing needs of the City and not in the public interest.  This finding singularly precludes the Council from approving the project according to the General Plan, leaving the developer, Mark Forbes CEO of F.E. Forbes Inc without a clear path forward for the 47th Street Homes.  After hearing the City Council’s strong rebuke, Mr Forbes and his team left the meeting without indicating if or how they would proceed with the project.

The Council found the actions of F.E. Forbes, an out of town mortgage brokerage firm and its CEO to be not in sync with “Emeryville values”, pointing to the public testimony at the October Planning Commission study session.  Long term low income tenant families of Forbes testified their corporate landlord had deferred maintenance at the homes for decades resulting in what Mr Forbes said is now a general state of disrepair, a condition he claimed as a primary reason for the demolitions.  He also said the craftsman houses at 100 years, are too old and past their useful lifespan.
Several tenants testified that Forbes had recently offered $5000 to families to vacate the premises and imposed a 95% rent increase to drive out the two families that didn’t take the initial cash offer.

The Council heard tearful testimony on Tuesday from a remaining 20 year tenant and grandmother detailing how the Forbes corporation had not repaired the furnace in her home, leaving a multi generational family without heat for seven years.  Councilman Bauters, an attorney, chastised CEO Mark Forbes for that transgression, characterizing his company’s failure as “landlord neglect” and “against the law”.
Mr Bauters added that he didn’t necessarily believe Mr Forbes’ claims of deterioration in the four homes, “We’re just being asked to believe the homes are in disrepair, and I have not seen any evidence of that” he said.  He called Mr Forbes' presentation "insincere".  Mayor Patz also expressed his disfavor in the CEO’s presentation, stating he felt the applicant had not been honest or straightforward with the Council.

Mark Forbes CEO
F.E. Forbes Real Estate Investment Trust
'Not honest or straightforward; insincere'
according to the City Council.

Adding to the consternation in the council chamber brought on by the testimony of the applicant’s tenants and the Council's reactions, it was revealed the company's contiguous Triangle Neighborhood real estate holdings, some 15 homes in all, were being proposed for a lot line adjustment in effort to game City Hall.  Mr Bauters accused Forbes of deviously attempting to take advantage of City regulations to escape requirements to provide affordable housing.  The proposal asks for the City to recognize a moved property line so that only the four (of the 15) homes would be in a newly drawn parcel, a number that brings Forbes under the wire, negating a City requirement to provide affordable housing when proposing home demolition and replacement.  The corporation would be free to again move the property line in the future and demolish the remaining homes, four at a time, without having to provide affordable housing.  It was a plan the CEO said he had no intention of doing "at this time".
Mr Forbes offered no response to any other allegations Tuesday night as he left the building.

Here is the meeting (start at 41:41):