16-0709 2. An Ordinance, As Recommended By The City Planning Commission, (A) Amending The Development Agreement By And Between City Of Oakland And MacArthur Transit Community Partners, LLC Regarding The Property And Project Known As "MacArthur Transit Village" To Allow For Increased Height On Parcel B, And (B) Relying On The 2008 MacArthur Station Project Environmental Impact Report And Addenda, Finding That No Additional Environmental Review Is Needed Pursuant To California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Sections 15162-15164, 15168 And 15180, 15183, And 15183.3 And Adopting Related CEQA Findings, For Parcel B, Located At 532-391th Street, Oakland, Ca (Assessor Parcel Numbers 012 102501100 And 012 102501200)
You are calling this the MacArthur Transit Village, because that is what it was supposed to be. However, MacGrath and Boston Properties are now calling it MacArthur Transit Project because it won't be a village, it will not be friendly. The excessive height is wildly out of compliance with neighborhood norms. If you allow this, you are opening the door for 24 story buildings all over North Oakland, because if you don't you will be accused of giving them special treatment and can be sued. The height is physically overwhelming to the area and the placement will irreparably set up a wall between Temescal and Longfellow. There is plenty of space to the west of the site for intense infill, but it is near long time Oakland residents, and the prospective tower residents seem to prefer looking over Oakland than at it.
Approving this project is selling out to Trumpish developers who want it their way, and a slap in the face to the community who worked so hard on the approved development!
MacArthur Transit Village is zoned S-15, Transit Oriented Development. The approved PUD allows building heights on this Parcel up to 80'. This height allowance was determined about a decade ago by applying bonuses to increase the maximum building height in the S-15 zone, which at that time was 45'. Un-ironically, the very same bonus is being referenced for the new proposal – Oakland Municipal Code section 17.142.100 G – which allows height modification for the “purpose of promoting an integrated site plan”. It alludes me how this bonus can apply to a proposal that literally towers more than 200’ over its neighbors. There is absolutely nothing integrated about it. That Staff is putting forward an Addendum to the 2008 Environmental Impact Report, instead of requiring a Supplemental EIR for this proposal, is yet another action that undermines the purpose of this process. There are significant environmental impacts that haven' and must be studied. REJECT THIS PROPOSAL.
This is absolutely absurd. Everything has changed in this design and in this area in the last 9 years. All the impacts of a tower have not been appropriately studied and the areas that have been flagged as concerns, such as uncomfortable wind levels at the Plaza location, are being ignored. The neighborhood is mostly 1-4 stories and the proposed building height dwarfs everything in its shadow. Even the lowest portion of the proposed building is more than twice the height of other buildings in the Village. I cannot wrap my head around how this proposal has moved forward without a complete Supplemental EIR.
The proposed special ordinance to grant a special exception to a single project and individual developers is especially ethically suspect. Who next will get their own ordinance? Why bother having zoning regulations at all if the city simply tosses them aside when asked to do so by a billion-dollar developer? As residents of Oakland, we that city rules and regulations be fair, clearly delineated, and applied consistently. The MacArthur Transit Village site is zoned S-15 (Transit Oriented Development Zone), and has a maximum allowable height of 90 feet. According to the PUD, the maximum allowable height for Parcel B is 80 feet. The proposed tower is 180 feet taller than what is permitted. If City officials approve this unprecedented, unnecessary, and massive deviation from the City’s existing, well planned zoning regulations, it will betray the trust and respect of the residents who have chosen to make this neighborhood our home.
You are calling this the MacArthur Transit Village, because that is what it was supposed to be. However, MacGrath and Boston Properties are now calling it MacArthur Transit Project because it won't be a village, it will not be friendly. The excessive height is wildly out of compliance with neighborhood norms. If you allow this, you are opening the door for 24 story buildings all over North Oakland, because if you don't you will be accused of giving them special treatment and can be sued. The height is physically overwhelming to the area and the placement will irreparably set up a wall between Temescal and Longfellow. There is plenty of space to the west of the site for intense infill, but it is near long time Oakland residents, and the prospective tower residents seem to prefer looking over Oakland than at it.
Approving this project is selling out to Trumpish developers who want it their way, and a slap in the face to the community who worked so hard on the approved development!
MacArthur Transit Village is zoned S-15, Transit Oriented Development. The approved PUD allows building heights on this Parcel up to 80'. This height allowance was determined about a decade ago by applying bonuses to increase the maximum building height in the S-15 zone, which at that time was 45'. Un-ironically, the very same bonus is being referenced for the new proposal – Oakland Municipal Code section 17.142.100 G – which allows height modification for the “purpose of promoting an integrated site plan”. It alludes me how this bonus can apply to a proposal that literally towers more than 200’ over its neighbors. There is absolutely nothing integrated about it. That Staff is putting forward an Addendum to the 2008 Environmental Impact Report, instead of requiring a Supplemental EIR for this proposal, is yet another action that undermines the purpose of this process. There are significant environmental impacts that haven' and must be studied. REJECT THIS PROPOSAL.
This is absolutely absurd. Everything has changed in this design and in this area in the last 9 years. All the impacts of a tower have not been appropriately studied and the areas that have been flagged as concerns, such as uncomfortable wind levels at the Plaza location, are being ignored. The neighborhood is mostly 1-4 stories and the proposed building height dwarfs everything in its shadow. Even the lowest portion of the proposed building is more than twice the height of other buildings in the Village. I cannot wrap my head around how this proposal has moved forward without a complete Supplemental EIR.
The proposed special ordinance to grant a special exception to a single project and individual developers is especially ethically suspect. Who next will get their own ordinance? Why bother having zoning regulations at all if the city simply tosses them aside when asked to do so by a billion-dollar developer? As residents of Oakland, we that city rules and regulations be fair, clearly delineated, and applied consistently. The MacArthur Transit Village site is zoned S-15 (Transit Oriented Development Zone), and has a maximum allowable height of 90 feet. According to the PUD, the maximum allowable height for Parcel B is 80 feet. The proposed tower is 180 feet taller than what is permitted. If City officials approve this unprecedented, unnecessary, and massive deviation from the City’s existing, well planned zoning regulations, it will betray the trust and respect of the residents who have chosen to make this neighborhood our home.