Non-Family Friendly Housing Project in 'Zone of Stability' Nears Completion

Ocean Avenue Housing Project: End Run Around General Plan

News Analysis
As workers put the finishing touches at north Emeryville's newest apartment complex, 'Ocean Lofts', the units stand ready to receive their new occupants and the neighbors who railed against the project years ago can start to see their worst visions become realized and City Hall's stated housing goals subverted.  The project, at 1258 Ocean Avenue involved a small scale developer/builder tearing down a historic existing detached single family house built in 1913 to make way for much denser housing at odds with Emeryville's stated goals of making the town more family friendly and saving the east side housing from the wreaking ball as a General Plan designated 'zone of stability'.

Ocean Lofts street elevation.  Its back is turned to the
neighborhood. Oceans of stucco, sheer featureless facade
rises up and crowds the sidewalk, no 'eyes on the street' here.

The neighbors railed against the project approved in 2007 (the City granted an extension in 2009) quoting the General Plan's recommendation that single family detached housing in the Triangle neighborhood and the north side be protected against demolition but they were defeated by developer tactics some described as cynical.  The developer bought the existing house and requested a tear down and a new 4-plex building from City Hall regardless of the General Plan zone of stability prohibition but neighbors united against it.  Undaunted, the developer withdrew and allowed the house to be taken over by squatters who proceeded to strip out architectural details and damage the interior.  The roof was not repaired and rotted over several seasons.  Finally, the City Council, ignoring cries of foul from neighbors, relented to the tear down citing the damaged and rotted nature of the house.

The rarely-to-be-used front door (drive in, drive out garage
on the side). The vast featureless plane makes the laundry vent
to the left of the front door scream. In the '70's this kind of
architecture was called 'brutalism'.  A historic and family
friendly house in the 'zone of stability' was torn down for this.

And so the North Emeryville residential zone of stability gets Ocean Lofts with its interior courtyard and its back turned to the street and the neighbors.  The lofts crowd the former site of the single family house and so the developer was granted a variance from the Zoning Ordinance requiring a minimum of 15 feet of back yard, allowing the building to push up against the property line to four feet.  The City completed the deal by sweetening the pot, granting the developer private use of a Peabody Lane/Emeryville Greenway connection in the back of the project, forever shutting the public out of a critical bike/pedestrian connection in this city the General Plan identifies as "a connected place".

The big corporate developers in Emeryville haven't needed to use these 'hold, defer repair and let rot' tactics, relying instead on a compliant City Council who commonly engage in large General Plan amendments to accommodate the large development proposals.  1258 Ocean shows how a small scale developer, lacking the gravitas and therefore the capacity to garner City Hall largess like the big time developers, can through clever, some might say cynical scheming, still deliver the goods, maximize his profits and bypass our General Plan.

'Ocean Lofts' Project Gets 2 Year Extention

Ocean Street Project Intrudes On 'Zone Of Stability'

The city council Tuesday granted an out of town developer a two year extension on permission to tear down a house in north Emeryville and replace it with two new residences, a reversal of their stated goal that the neighborhood should be a "zone of stability".  

The vote (4-1 Nora Davis dissenting) reversed a Planning Commission decision to not allow the two year extension of the project called 'Ocean Lofts'.  

The house located at 1258 Ocean Street, has been a point of contention amongst the neighbors since the owner, Ali Eslami bought it in 2005 and left it vacant and unmaintained while he attempted to get permission to tear it down and replace it with two residences.  The house continued to fall into disrepair and dry rot set into the structure.  Neighbors charged that Mr Eslami purposely let the house rot in an attempt to exacerbate its blighted condition as he sought permission to tear it down.  The council ultimately gave permission to tear the house down but scaled back Mr Eslami's earlier redevelopment plans.
Mr Eslami has contended that the house was not worth saving even before he boarded it up and he has said people have been living on the property illegally trashing the house and adding to the general blighted condition.  A 2006 independent inspection report offered up by Mr Eslami, supports his allegation of pre-existing decay.

Even though permission for the project had previously been granted, Mr Eslami says the tanking economy has delayed the start up.

Before the vote Tuesday, Council member Jennifer West expressed concern that the developer has been involved in a contentious housing project in Berkeley ultimately receiving a 'stop work' order imposed on it from that city.

One neighbor spoke out Tuesday against the project calling it incompatible with the neighborhood and cited Emeryville's general plan and its provision that the existing residential neighborhoods in the eastern part of town should be 'zones of stability', meaning this sort of density increase is off limits.  The new configuration essentially doubles the previous density on the Ocean Street lot, a rescinding of the general plan's stability concept.  The existing house could be torn down presumably and be replaced with a new single family residence of comparable square footage and remain in compliance with the general plan.

Mr Eslami's attorney, former  Emeryville council member Greg Harper said what his client is attempting to do should be encouraged by the city, citing its new found goal to increase family friendly housing.  He told the Tattler, "The two units this guy wants to build have been the best examples of family housing the city has seen in my experience".   The two proposed residences have three bedrooms he noted.  Mr Harper added, "He's done everything asked of him and he hopes to complete this project he started five years ago".