Take action: No more delays for Berkeley Way transit-oriented housing

By Igor Tregub

At its March 13th meeting, the Berkeley City Council will discuss the Berkeley Way project — the city's most ambitious development for affordable and supportive housing for the homeless in over a decade. Tuesday's meeting is our chance to make a good project even better and make sure it moves forward without delay.

Use our online form to send a message to the City Council asking them to approve this visionary affordable housing project without further delays or redesigns that would endanger its viability.

In addition to helping ease our community's homelessness crisis, the Berkeley Way project will be a model for sustainable, environmentally friendly development. That's becauseaffordable, transit-oriented housing like the Berkeley Wayproject is one of the most effective strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — particularly those associated with transportation from single-occupancy vehicles.

Berkeley has set ambitious Climate Action Goals, but it's falling short of achieving them; According to a 2017 City report, "transportation is the largest source of community-wide emissions" — and transportation emissions are on the rise. Let's make the Berkeley Way project a reality and help reverse that trend.

To make Berkeley Way a success, we also want the city to waive a $1.5 million fee on the developers for not providing a city-imposed minimum amount of tenant parking. The project is located in a walkable, bike-friendly location just a few blocks away from the Downtown Berkeley BART station and numerous AC Transit bus stops. Minimum-parking requirements for transit-oriented housing projects like Berkeley Way are contrary to the city's stated goal of reducing climate emissions from driving.

Take action: Urge the City to take its Climate Action Goals seriously and lift the parking penalty from this walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible development.

We want the council to ensure that any parking spaces that are created as part of this project are 100% electric-vehicle ready and employ best-available Transit Demand Management principles. Encouraging low-emission vehicles and implementing strategies like demand-based parking pricing will reduce congestion and emissions.

Projects like the Berkeley Way complex can help us combat both the climate crisis and our community's acute housing and homelessness crises. Please send a message to the City Council today: By adopting 100% electric-vehicle-ready parking, removing the outdated imposition of a minimum-parking fee, and implementing cutting-edge Transit Demand Management principles, Berkeley Way can become a model for the Bay Area and beyond.

Photo: Rendering of the Berkeley Way project.