Dellums pulls industrial housing idea

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 23, 2007 | by Cecily Burt

OAKLAND -- Mayor Ron Dellums, flexing his political muscle, pulled a report by city planning staff that recommends housing be allowed in an industrial area of West Oakland.

In its report to the zoning update committee, city planning staff proposed a hybrid zoning strategy for the Mandela Parkway-West Grand corridor that would open the door for developments that have an industrial-commercial presence on the street level while allowing residential behind or above the businesses.

Developer Peter Sullivan wants to build such a project -- 1,572 market-rate condominiums over light industrial businesses -- on the former 13-acre Pacific Pipe-American Steel properties at that corner.

The Planning Commission's zoning update committee was due to consider the report at its meeting Wednesday, one of several scheduled to discuss the future of Oakland's shrinking industrial lands.

However, the committee honored the mayor's request and took public testimony on the issue instead.

Bob Brauer, the mayor's director of intergovernmental relations, said the mayor's staff was not passing judgment on the staff report. But it had not yet had a chance to come up

with its own development recommendations for the industrial neighborhood straddling Mandela Parkway south of West Grand Avenue, nor any of the city's other shrinking industrial zones.

"The report would have started action to determine whether there would be mixed use or industrial use (in that part of Oakland)," Brauer said. "The mayor is very, very interested in the creation of jobs in Oakland, and he wants to make sure we clearly understand the implications for industry and jobs and the effects of the staff proposal (if carried out)."

Several large industrial properties in East, Central and West Oakland have been converted to residential housing developments. City planners are under tremendous pressure by developers -- some who have purchased industrial parcels on speculation and pushed up the prices -- to allow even more.

The Planning Commission, concerned by the large numbers of requests submitted by residential developers for General Plan or zoning amendments in industrial zones, is trying to update the city's zoning codes to match the General Plan, which was updated in 1998.

Planning commissioners Doug Boxer and Michael Lighty, who serve on the zoning update committee, made it clear at the end of the meeting Wednesday that they would not consider any new amendments to the General Plan while the zoning work was left undone.

Boxer said he fully supports retention of industrial lands and believes there is a market for industrial businesses in Oakland. In fact, Boxer said he wants to see Oakland win its share of the clean well-established industrial businesses that looked here to expand or relocate but ended up in Alameda, Richmond or San Leandro, such as Peet's Coffee and PowerLight solar company.

Another longtime Oakland company, California Cereal Products, sought room to expand in Oakland but ended up opening a second plant in a special industrial zone in Macon, Ga.

"I've met with real estate agents who say they can fill these buildings," Boxer said. "Speculation and uncertainty is driving the prices up."

Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) said she was pleased that the mayor's office had the report pulled.

"I felt the report wasn't in the best interests of the city," Nadel said. "It made me feel better that the zoning commissioners restated their intent to implement the zoning called for in the General Plan."