West Berkeley has long been protected as a haven for artists and light manufacturing concerns, but now city officials are considering whether it is time to take fuller advantage of retail potential there to help build the city’s tax base.
City officials are preparing to review zoning on Gilman Street west of San Pablo Avenue as part of a first step toward updating the 1993 West Berkeley Plan, causing buried tensions to surface. Some fear a move toward more retail could cause rents in the neighborhood to soar, pushing out enterprising artists and small manufacturers, and undermining Berkeley’s reputation as a place of innovation.
"We still have many industrial and non-retail users, and the concern is that it could drive those out and have unintended consequences in the rest of Berkeley," Planning Director Dan Marks said.
With the recent opening of the Target Store and Petco nearby on Eastshore Highway, and with the concentration of vendors already in the area, the pressure to allow more retail continues to grow, Marks said. Gilman Street is currently zoned for mixed and light industrial uses; some manufacturing; and commercial use where it already exists.
One recent sign of change on Gilman is construction of T-Rex Bar B Q Restaurant at Tenth Street by the owners of Lalime, Jimmy Bean’s, Fonda Solana and SeaSalt. T-Rex is scheduled to open this year next to the cluster of existing Tenth Street retailers that includes Smith & Hawken, The Territory Ahead, Zia and others.
A new dead spot on the south side of the street is a result of the recent closure of Flint Ink, which left vacant a full block of dilapidated manufacturing structures between Fourth and Fifth streets. Also vacant is the area between Sixth and Seventh streets, once occupied by Urban Ore.
Willie Hulce, vice president of The Potters’ Guild, located on Jones Street a few blocks south of Gilman, sees a growing commercial corridor there as both a blessing and a curse.
While it could improve weekend business when the studio’s gift gallery is open to the public, it would likely jack up rents in the area, making it harder for artists to flourish, she says.
"What it means is that rents get very competitive and drive out the artists who can’t seem to get around the traditional low-income situation," Hulce said.
While the Potters’ Guild has a 25-year-lease, Hulce is looking further ahead, and worries that the studio is not protected for future generations of artists. The Potters Guild was bought by clay artists approximately 25 years ago but sold in recent years when some of the original artists died and others retired.
According to Hulce, the growing retail climate on Gilman Street has already forced artists out of the area. She pointed to the live/work studios of the Tannery at Fourth and Gilman, which she said are no longer affordable to aspiring artists. Dave Collins, operating the Gilman Street Press out of the Tannery buildings, says he pays $3,500 per month for about 1,200 square feet of space. When the building was renovated in 1990, he paid $1,600 per month.
Tony Welden, owner of Glass Mountain, an art glass shop in the Tannery buildings, said he’s also seen a change of atmosphere as bohemian artist types get replaced by mainstream business owners who can pay more. With large manufacturing buildings becoming available and businesses clamoring to move in, city officials say they want to manage the growth wisely.
The timetable built into the West Berkeley Plan calls for a reevaluation this year. The city plans to update the West Berkeley Plan in increments by addressing areas of greatest pressure for change first, according to Marks. The city has targeted Gilman Street and Ashby Avenue west of San Pablo Avenue for updating, and will also consider where to place auto dealers in West Berkeley this fiscal year, Marks said.
Weatherford BMW has shown an interest in moving to the vacant Flint Ink location, directly across from the Tannery’s live/work studios, according to councilwoman Linda Maio.
"We really do want to keep our auto dealers -- and they want to be placed near the freeway for major exposure. They are very good tax generators," Maio said.
John Curl, a woodworker and former planning commissioner who participated in creation of the West Berkeley Plan, says protection of artist and manufacturing space in Berkeley is important toward ensuring economic and cultural diversity. Zoning for multiple uses and for manufacturing has protected that diversity in the past.
Curl said he fears a new move toward gentrification could leave artists and manufacturers vulnerable at a time when the West Berkeley Plan is in flux.
"Some people think of West Berkeley as a cash cow, a sacrifice zone. But it is a community in itself, and is part of the larger Berkeley community," Curl said.
As a major traffic corridor, Mayor Tom Bates sees the lower portion of Gilman Street as an opportunity for commercial growth, but he said he would like to retain mixed uses that blend in with the neighborhood. Maio also said she supports a balance of industrial, artisan and commercial uses there.
On a recent tour of artist studios in West Berkeley, Bates said he found that many of the buildings rented to artists are 40 percent to 50 percent below market rates. A change of ownership would put immediate pressure on the tenants of those buildings, he said.
Bates said the situation begs for a city policy that would subsidize artists and ensure them lower rents over the long term. While the city considers how it will deal with the pressures for change on Gilman, a much-needed improvement to the Interstate-80 freeway interchange is being planned with infusion of $1.2 million in new federal funding.
The city’s plan, which awaits approval by Caltrans, includes two traffic circles that will facilitate entry onto frontage roads, said Peter Eakland, associate traffic engineer with the city. This project is expected to take approximately three years to complete. Also in the works are two new sports fields west of I-80, expected to be built some time next year, Bates said.
Correspondent Dorothy Vriend can be reached at voice@cctimes.com. |
