communications - detienne page 1 of 10 - … - detienne page 5 of 10 east bay express april 07, 2010...

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Harrison, Jordan

From: [email protected]: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 11:26 AMTo: Harrison, JordanSubject: For All PC members: Article: "Back to the Green Future" with Back up documentationAttachments: 4-7-10 Back to the Green Future - B Gammon.doc; 4-1-10 to B Gammon re PG soviet model

FINAL.doc; 3-29-10 to D Herst re Rendering for EBE-2.doc; PG-RENDERING F-WITH AREA LABELS.jpg; PG RENDERING FOR EBE ARTICLE- LIGHT.jpg

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Communications - deTienne of 10

δε Τιεννε Ασσοχιατεσ, 3435 Χεσαρ Χηαϖεζ Στ #312, Σαν Φρανχισχο, ΧΑ 94110 πη. 415.821.9091, φαξ 415.821.0523 δετασσοχ≅σβχγλοβαλ.νετ

To: Doug Herst

From: Darrell de Tienne

Date: 3/29/10

RE: Peerless Greens Rendering for East Bay Express. I’ve livened up the original Calthorpe site plan rendering to include the following features:

1. Solar panels on eastern and western block 2. Wind turbines along railroad and a “wind fin” on the manufacturing building 3. Horizontal garden walls on demising walls along art/residential and

townhome/R&D/offices on southern end of the Eastern block. 4. Vertical gardens along Fourth Street and above the old Vic’s building to the

North. 5. Water collection and generating technology on the roofs of market rate

housing. 6. Selected small roof tile gardens similar to proven design now in place on

projects we’ve done previously ( not planted roofs) 7. Cogeneration tower on manufacturing side near large scale manufacturing to

North. 8. Glass green house atrium in the arts residence for interest. 9. Last but not least the raised garden in the center of 4th Street with trellis and

growers parcels indicated as well as traffic cross over walkway to Aquatic Park.

If you have any questions please call me at 415.821.9091.



To: Bob Gammon, East Bay Express

From: Darrell de Tienne

Date: 4/1/10

RE: Peerless Greens ‘Soviet Model’ of MUR District Buildout per Current Zoning Chapter 23E.84- MUR Ordinance Compared to Peerless Greens C-W Reclassification Application. Bob, here is the analysis of the housing build out potential of Peerless Greens MUR portion of the Eastern block followed by a description of the housing portion of our C-W reclassification application. I confirmed my assumptions with Joe DeCredico, the past PAC Chairperson, Mike Tolbert, retired City of Berkeley Senior Planner and Nicole Cabalette, our land use legal counsel. Legal Background The following is an explanation of how the Berkeley Inclusionary Housing ordinance is applied and how the state density bonus law works with the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance. Section 23C.12.030 of the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance requires residential housing projects including construction of five or more Dwelling Units to include at least 20% of the total number of Dwelling Units within the project as Inclusionary Units. (Capitalized terms are defined in the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance). As a result of the recent Palmer decision, it is possible that Berkeley’s inclusionary housing requirements may be modified, however we do not anticipate the inclusionary housing planned for the Peerless Project to be affected by these changes. Under the state density bonus law, for housing developments that agree to include 20% of the total units for lower income households (which is required in Berkeley), a city must grant one density bonus of 35%, and two incentives or concessions. (Cal. Govt. Code, § 65915(b)(1).) In addition to meeting the inclusionary housing requirements imposed by city ordinance, the inclusionary units proposed for the Peerless Project will only be available to lower income artists, providing much needed affordable housing for local artists. Accordingly, a housing development that meets the Berkeley Zoning Ordinance inclusionary housing requirements qualifies for a density bonus of 35%, and two incentives or concessions, which may be in the form of an additional density bonus, a reduction in site development standards such as height and F.A.R., or other regulatory incentives or concessions as the city and developer may propose. Analysis



The analysis that follows is consistent with City of Berkeley West Berkeley Area Plan and MU-R zoning district development standards (Berkeley Zoning Ordinance section 23E.84.070(D).) Assumption. Apply analysis to the portion of the Peerless Greens site located in the MU-R zoning district only. The portion of the project which is zoned MU-R is one-half of the block bound 5th Street to the east, and 4th Street to the west (referred to as the “Eastern Block”). (See attachment).

1. MU-R land: 56,744 s.f. or 1.30 acres. 2. Planning constraints and development standards applied to the number of

units provided under current Berkeley Zoning Ordinance requirements for residential use.

a. 35’ height b. Three stories c. FAR of 1.5 d. Density limitation of one dwelling unit per 1250 s.f of lot area. e. 150 s.f. of open space per unit which can be located on the roof

and/or balconies.

3. Calculation: max s.f. 56,774 s.f x 3 floors = 170,322 total square feet or 473 units assuming 300 usable s.f. with a load factor of 20% for circulation = 360 g.s.f. per unit. The minimum size of a unit is governed by the California Building Code and the California Health and Safety Code, which authorizes cities to permit efficiency units. An efficiency unit is defined as a unit with a minimum floor area of 150 square feet which may also have partial kitchen or bathroom facilities. (Cal. Health and Safety Code, § 17958.1.) For the purposes of this analysis we are not planning for efficiency units and have used a higher number of 300 s.f. per unit. Be advised that a current multi-unit project went before the ZAB last month with units under 250 s.f. each.

4. Reduce FAR from 3.0 to one-half (1.5) = 236 units 5. Assume 20%, or 47, of these units will be inclusionary units for lower income

households, plus a 35% density bonus, or an additional 83 units granted by applying the state density bonus.

6. Total units with state density bonus = 319 (236 + 83) units for MUR portion of eastern block, distributed as follows:

a. Floor (1) 111 units b. Floor (2) 111 units c. Floor (3) 97 units Grand Total 319 units.

Note: The 319 units on the MU-R part of the block (1.30 acres) are equivalent to the 270-320 units that Doug Herst is proposing for the entire Peerless Greens project encompassing 5.5 acres.

Architecturally the end result of applying current Zoning on Peerless Greens would be a three-story residential wall from Bancroft Way to Peter Walkers parking lot to the North, hence the term the “Soviet model”. It is important to note that if additional set backs for green spaces are required for the building(s) along 5th Street this building will exceed the 35’ height limit and would require another floor; both are legitimate density bonus concessions.



By way of contrast, assuming the Eastern Block is zoned C-W as we are proposing; Doug would be constructing 270-320 inclusionary artist and workforce housing units. These units average 620 g.s.f., with approximately 25,000 s.f. of open space on the eastern block only which is in keeping with Doug’s vision of providing a project for humanity that is sensible , creative and not looking to maximize profit or density Hopefully this helps frame the discussion. If you have any questions please call me at 415.821.9091.

Cc: Doug Herst Nicole Cabalette, Attorney Joe deCredico, GDES Mike Tolbert, Consultant Erick Mikiten, Mikiten Architecture


East Bay Express April 07, 2010 News Eco Watch Back to the Green Future A West Berkeley environmentalist and successful businessman wants to build a livable, walk-able community, but he's facing old-school opposition. By Robert Gammon

Doug Herst is trying to reimagine how we live, work, and play — at least in West Berkeley. The environmentalist and successful businessman wants to create an artists colony and green-tech development on land he owns near the city's waterfront. It would be a livable, walkable community, where people live next to their work and to local shops. His vision also promises to lower greenhouse-gas emissions because residents won't need to use their cars as often. But Herst is facing resistance at Berkeley City Hall, a place one would think would be at the forefront of the fight against climate change, yet at times seems firmly wedded to outdated notions. More than a century ago, Americans typically lived as Herst envisions for his community — close to where they worked. Oftentimes, right upstairs. But after the invention of the automobile, our work and home lives became increasingly detached. We established laws that prohibited our places of work from being near our homes. Yet these so-called zoning regulations have caused unforeseen problems. Namely, sprawl. They've forced us to live far away from our work, and required us to drive to our favorite restaurants and stores. Herst, by contrast, wants to go back in time on 5.5 acres that he owns between Allston and Bancroft ways, bordered by Fifth Street and the railroad tracks. He's proposing up to 320 units of workforce housing, including about 50 affordable lofts for artists, next to green-tech businesses and artist studios. In the center of the community would be small artisan shops and an urban garden, where residents could farm their own food. It also would feature rooftop solar panels and vertical gardens so that residents could grow vegetables on the outside walls of their condos. "It's a green vision; it's about reintegrating people back into a community," explained Herst, who also sits on the board of the Berkeley environmental group, Seacology, a nonprofit that protects island ecosystems around the world. In many ways, Herst represents West Berkeley's past and what its future should be. For more than a century, his family business, Peerless Lighting, designed and manufactured efficient lighting fixtures. But a few years ago, Herst retired after selling his business to


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Acuity Brands. Eventually, Acuity concluded that the West Berkeley factory could no longer compete in the global marketplace. Its union labor costs were just too high. And so it closed Peerless Lighting's West Berkeley plant. But a pivotal part of the business remains open on Herst's property — Peerless Lighting's research and development division. It harnesses the creativity of its employees, who design efficient new lighting fixtures that both save energy and provide enough light to enhance worker performance. Peerless has been on the cutting edge of its industry for decades, and Herst has plans for it to be part of his new green-tech community, which he calls, Peerless Greens. But Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks is not enthusiastic about Herst's vision. Marks is an old-school proponent of keeping homes separate from work spaces, especially in West Berkeley's traditional industrial, manufacturing, and warehouse district. In a recent interview, he called Herst's plan "very exciting," but nonetheless expressed strong reservations. "The biggest challenge is having homes in the area," he said. "We do not believe that residential uses should be allowed in the manufacturing area." Marks contends that homes will drive up the value of land and eventually make West Berkeley unaffordable for traditional blue-collar businesses. He also worries that West Berkeley will lose its industrial base over time when new residents complain about being next to manufacturing companies. Keeping the two separate, he said, "is one of the fundamentals of zoning." In truth, West Berkeley, like many parts of the country, has been shedding manufacturing jobs in recent years, with Peerless Lighting providing a prime example. That's one of the reasons why the Berkeley City Council wants to turn the area into a green-tech corridor, featuring research and development companies — again, much like Peerless Lighting is today. In addition, an increasing number of environmentalists are realizing that Herst's vision for West Berkeley is spot-on. In the 2009 book Green Metropolis, environmental writer David Owen makes a convincing argument for why New York is the greenest city in America. The reason? People don't drive. They live near their work, and they either walk or take mass transit. Owen explains that New York is an anomaly because unlike most cities, it developed before the advent of modern zoning rules. And today, New York's per capita carbon footprint is less than one-third the national average. A 2008 report, Growing Cooler, by the Urban Land Institute, reaches the same conclusion. "For sixty years, we have built homes ever farther from workplaces ... and isolated other destinations — such as shopping — from work and home. From World War II until very recently, nearly all new development has been planned and built on the assumption that people will use cars every time they travel. As a larger and larger share of our built environment has become automobile dependent, car trips and distances have increased, and walking and public transit have declined." Yet despite this research, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, who famously gave up his car and now walks or takes public transit nearly everywhere, is not completely on board with Herst's proposal, either. He says he's okay with some housing, but thinks Herst is proposing too many units for a manufacturing zone. "The question is the scale," he told Eco Watch. "It may be over the top." Herst and Darrell de Tienne, a San Francisco consultant who is helping develop Peerless Greens, say current Berkeley zoning rules already allow them to build nearly 320 units on the property. Part of Herst's land is zoned for housing, and if they were to


fully maximize that parcel, they could build a lot of units. But such a dense development would make the project less attractive — Herst and de Tienne call it the "Soviet Model." And so they're asking the city to rezone the property and allow them to move the housing to the center of the proposed community. So far, Herst's plan has at least one champion inside Berkeley City Hall. Councilman Darryl Moore, whose district includes Peerless Greens, said Herst's project dovetails with the city's Climate Action Plan, which mandates that Berkeley become less dependent on cars. "This is the kind of project that we should be doing," Moore said. "Visionaries like Doug Herst get it."


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