Page 1 of 12 1451 Henry Street Berkeley, CA 94709 September 2, 2010 City of Berkeley Planning & Development Department 2120 Milvia St. Berkeley, CA 94704 Re: Proposed Safeway renovation and expansion on Henry/Shattuck Avenue To the City Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board: My house at 1451 Henry Street is located in an R-2A family district directly neighboring a vacant lot to the north adjacent to Safeway store at 1425 Henry Street. I communicated some of my concerns in detail to the Zoning Adjustment Board in my previous letter to the board for the Aug 12 meeting. However in this letter I d like to highlight some of my concerns that were previously communicated to you and new ones that are mostly pertaining to the latest Safeway s design proposal 1. As you can see, from the following drawings, there are multiple windows on the Safeway s expansion building facing my house both on the bottom and top floors. There are at least 17 windows. These windows will violate the privacy and comfort of my house. Even though some of these windows are glazed/painted so that you cannot see through, still the light will come through, especially that the second floor is dedicated for stock rooms and normally the restocking takes place after the end of the operational hours which is midnight. Furthermore unless the height of the fence bordering my property and Safeway s new building is at least 12 feet, you can see my bedrooms, bathrooms and backyard through the windows on the first floor, mostly due to the difference of elevation between my house and Safeway s property. Such a tall fence will turn my house into a prison and rob my house from conditions required for residential use. Moreover, the existing of such windows will deter any potential future buyers for my house on the ground of lack of privacy. Thus, I request the board to direct Safeway to eliminate all the windows on the south side of the extension building facing my house in their design.
Page 2 of 12 My House Safeway s new expansion & its proposed windows next to my house. It looks like a school! No rare/side setback at the end of the new expansion building. 2. Again as you can see from the above drawings the new expansion next to my house is covering the entire length of my property with no rear/side setback. It goes all the way to the property line of my next door neighbor at 2037 Vine Street. As stated before such a tall building will tower over my house and will not only greatly infringe on the privacy, comfort and quality of my life but also
Page 3 of 12 depress the value of my property. In order to lessen its negative impact on my house, I ask the board not to agree with Safeway s request to get use permit to reduce a required setback adjacent to a residential district and should require Safeway to observe at least 30 feet rare/side setback. This will at least provide some privacy for both my backyard and my next door neighbor s at 2037 Vine Street. 3. The height of the expansion building only 20 feet away from my house is at least 35 feet which is in direct violation of Policy UD-16 Context: The design and scale of new or remodeled buildings should respect the built environment. Unfortunately such a respect hasn t been extended to my house as the next door building to this new expansion. This height is a lot more than allowable height for an R2-A zoning district where my house and the rest of the neighborhood is in. I as the next door neighbor to this very tall building will be negatively impacted the most, in the neighborhood, as this building will transform my house to an extension of the new Safeway building. As a result my house will no longer be suited for residential use. Therefore I strongly urge the Board to subject the new expansion to R2-A height limitation as it has been done in recent developments such as Trader s Joe s project in Berkeley. Otherwise the Board should grant me the right to develop my house to the same height as Safeway s if I wish to do so in the future. 4. There is a very good chance that overtime the open space of the vacant lot next to my house becomes the area where Safeway s employees take their breaks, lunches, dinners, etc from sunrise to midnight. This will infringe on the privacy and comfort of my house and next door neighbor s at 2037 Vine St, rights which are reserved for residential homes. Furthermore the installation of huge refrigerators on the top floor of the new expansion, next to my house, for the stock rooms, will add to the existing noise pollution which can easily deteriorates the quality of my life and my neighbors at 2037 Vine St. I request from the Zoning Adjustment Committee to take the strongest possible measures to commit Safeway to keep the open space, next to my house, clear of its employees at all times and take all proper measures to protect us from noise pollution generated by the new expansion building. 5. According to the latest design, please refer to the following drawing, the front setback of the vacant lot next to my house will have a fence constructed about 20-25 feet away from the sidewalk. This will practically turn this area into a sanctuary for homeless people and make an already difficult situation worse. I suggest moving the fence forward so it is aligned with my front yard fence.
Page 4 of 12 The front fence that has been pushed back. 6. Safeway has added a new exit to the underground parking garage on Henry St. This new exit is close to my house and will bring the constant flow of moving traffic to the underground parking garage much closer to my house and other neighbors across the street. Moreover this reconfiguration of the garage driveway will result in loss of two on-street parking spaces on Henry St where the on-street parking is almost always at capacity. This reconfiguration of driveway will also create a condition on Henry St where we will have the inflow and outflow of traffic to the garage instead of in one place, as the current condition is, in two different places. Hence making it more difficult for the neighbors to get their cars in and out of their driveways as they need to look out for two different locations for the moving traffic, in and out of the garage, instead of one location. Furthermore the garage inflow and outflow of cars will cut into regular flow of traffic on Henry Street in two places instead of one place and create more traffic on the street during pick hours. To avoid these problems I suggest keeping both entrance & exit together where they currently are or move the new exit up closer to the entrance where they are only few feet (~ 10 feet) away from each other. 7. The design of new Safeway building on the Henry St side does not comply with the following policies of Berkeley Urban Design: Policy UD-16 Context: The design and scale of new or remodeled buildings should respect the built environment in the area. Policy UD-24 Area Character: Regulate new construction and alterations to ensure that they truly compatible with and, where feasible, reinforce the desirable design characteristics of the particular area they are in.
Page 5 of 12 Policy UD-25 Facades and Exterior Features: Buildings should have significant exterior features and facades that stimulate the eye and invite interested perusal. Considering the scale of proposed Safeway building on Henry St side where it is clearly out of scale and character with the residential homes both across the street and on the south of the building is a testimony of the fact that the above policies were not taken into consideration when designing this portion of the new Safeway building. Furthermore its exterior features and facades on this street is not at all inline with the residential and urban characters of our neighborhood. Indeed rather than stimulating the eye of a passerby, on the Henry St, it will remind him or her of a huge car dealership with its mechanic shops on the bottom and its offices on top. Thus, elimination of the required 15 feet front setback alongside Henry St will further exacerbate this incompatibility of Safeway s building with these polices, by bringing such a huge and out of scale building much closer to the neighbors across street and on the South. This will also further decline the quality of life in our neighborhood by brining the nuisance of commercial activities 15 feet closer to the residential homes across the street. As a result I strongly suggest that the Zoning Adjustment Board rejects Safeway s request for use permit to reduce the required setback from 15 feet along Henry Street. In summery I am requesting the following from the board: a. Direct Safeway to eliminate all the windows, both first floor & second floor, on the south side of the expansion building, next to my house, in its design in order to reduce its infringement on the privacy and comfort of my house. b. Reject Safeway s request for use permit to reduce setback adjacent to Residential District and direct them to observe 30 feet rare/side setback on the new expansion building. c. Impose the height limitation of R2-A zoning on the new Safeway s expansion building next to my house. d. Direct Safeway to move the West side (front) fence of the open space next to my house forward so it is aligned with the fence on my front yard in order to deter homeless people from congregating there day and night. e. Take strong measures so that Safeway wouldn t turn the open space next to my house and next door neighbor at 2037 Vine St into a gathering place for its employees. f. Take all the necessary measures to protect my house and next door neighbor s at 2037 Vine St from the noise pollution that will be generated from the refrigeration on the stock rooms on the top floor of the expansion building. g. Reject Safeway s request for use permit to reduce a required setback of 15-feet along Henry Street. h. Direct Safeway to keep the current driveway configuration of the underground garage as is.
Page 6 of 12 As described in details in my previous email to the board, Safeway s encroachment into the vacant lot next to my house has a profound negative impact on my house in many ways. It greatly infringes on my privacy and deteriorates the comfort and quality of my life as well as depressing the value of my property, the largest investment of my life, by at least 15-20%. While responding to my requests listed above will only lessen this negative impact, to some degree, the real solution is to direct Safeway not to encroach into the vacant lot and plan to integrate it, in its entirety, as a green space, into its renovation plan. This will provide much needed smooth transition from residential to commercial zoning in the neighborhood. Your prompt attention to this letter is requested. Sincerely, Abdi Fereyoduni Cc: Tom Bates, Mayor of Berkeley Laurie Capitellie, City Councilmember, District 5 Jesse Arreguin, City Councilmember, District 4
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