Downtown Oakland Specific Plan Approved

| Justin A. Zucker
Oakland

Last month, the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (“DOSP”) was adopted by the Oakland City Council, with the DOSP environmental impact report being certified July 16 and the implementing Planning Code, Zoning Map, and Municipal Code amendments passing on second read July 30.  The DOSP is intended to guide development over the next twenty years, to meet the projected housing and employment needs in Oakland’s downtown.  The plan encompasses approximately 850 acres, and is generally bounded by 27th Street to the north, I-980, Brush and Market Streets to the west, Embarcadero and Jack London estuary waterfront to the south, and Lake Merritt and Channel to the east.

Approval of the DOSP is the culmination of a near decade-long process.  As previously reported, the preliminary draft DOSP was released in 2019 with the draft zoning amendments released in April 2022 and the Zoning Incentive Program released in July 2022.  The delay in adoption of the DOSP was to allow for enhanced community engagement, adapting to the evolving social and economic conditions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The DOSP has been designed to help prevent displacement of both people and culture, while encouraging development of downtown.

The DOSP projects the addition of approximately 18.3 million square feet of new commercial space, 1.3 million square feet of new institutional space, and 500,000 square feet of new industrial space, resulting in approximately 57,000 jobs and $41 million in impact fees to fund affordable housing and transportation improvements.  In addition, 29,000 new housing units are planned for by the DOSP, including approximately 4,000-7,000 income-restricted affordable units, that would generate approximately $480-544 million in one-time impact fees to fund affordable housing.

Some changes to the DOSP since publication of the draft include:

  • Preservation of industrial land uses closest to the West Oakland industrial area, removing the “Green Loop” and other non-industrial improvements from Howard Terminal now that the Howard Ballpark is no longer going forward.
  • Development intensity changes clustered in five small areas, including portions of the West of San Pablo Planning sub-area, specifically from Grand Avenue to 20th Street and east to Martin Luther King Jr. Way (height increases from 85 feet to 175 feet in the Final Draft Plan, 7.5 FAR to 12.0, and from 200 square feet of lot area per unit for residential density to 110 square feet of lot area per unit), as well as between 14th and 15th Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Jefferson Street (height increases from 175 feet to 275 feet in the Final Draft Plan, 12.0 FAR to 12.0/17.0, and from 110 square feet of lot area per unit for residential density to 90 square feet of lot area per unit).
  • Prohibiting demolition of the principal building at the sending site leveraged for the transfer of development rights program.
  • Requiring ten percent of the affordable housing Zoning Incentive Program benefit to be provided as an in-lieu fee rather than allowing entirely on-site benefits where projects propose at least 125 units above the base.
  • Creation of a new alcohol use special permit, relaxing controls in the non-residential districts within the plan area, removing the need for a major conditional use permit for alcohol permits.

There are too many specifics of the DOSP to include in an email update. Please contact us if you have any questions.

 

Authored by Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP Attorney, Justin A. Zucker.

The issues discussed in this update are not intended to be legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is established with the recipient. Readers should consult with legal counsel before relying on any of the information contained herein. Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP is a full service real estate law firm. We specialize in land use, development and entitlement law. We also provide a wide range of transactional services, including leasing, acquisitions and sales, formation of limited liability companies and other entities, lending/workout assistance, subdivision and condominium work.

Plan Updates in Oakland and SF

| Mark Loper
Downtown Plan

This week, we discuss Oakland’s most recent status report on its proposed Downtown Specific Plan and San Francisco’s kickoff of its own General Plan update.

Oakland’s Downtown Plan Progresses, with Changes

Oakland’s sixth area plan—and the first to focus exclusively on the downtown area—is moving forward again, but with modifications based on feedback provided on the draft Environmental Impact Report (“Draft EIR”) and in response to Covid’s impacts on urban life, including efforts to address the City’s acute housing shortage and homelessness and affordability crisis. The City now anticipates City Council review of the Plan by the end of the calendar year.

The Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (“DSOP” or “Plan”) has been in the works since the mid-2010s. The Plan and accompanying Draft EIR were published in August 2019; they envisioned and evaluated 29,100 new residential units, approximately 17 million square feet of office, nearly 2.5 million square feet of retail, and over 1 million square feet of “flex” commercial and industrial space. It covers many different neighborhoods and districts in downtown, including Kono, Uptown, San Pablo, the “central core” of Downtown, Lakeside, Old Oakland, Jack London and the surrounding area south of I-880, and Laney College.

The City’s brief summary update a few weeks ago explains that changes to the Plan’s proposed zoning controls will “address the changing nature of retail” presumably brought on (or exacerbated, depending on your perspective) by the pandemic, identify and regulate priority areas for arts and institutional cultural uses, and encourage increased development in exchange for enhanced community benefits. This voluntary “Zoning Incentive Program” as proposed will set clear metrics for public benefits necessary to achieve enhanced density, such as affordable housing, reduced rent for non-profits and arts organizations, and homelessness services.

Oakland is also undertaking a study on options to fund more housing. These include potential new or increased impact fees, an inclusionary housing requirement that could be more robust than the City’s current policies, and infrastructure financing.

The City anticipates three more phases of planning before the Project and accompanying environmental review are considered by Council: first, revising the DSOP, responding to comments on the Draft EIR, drafting new zoning regulations, and analyzing housing funding options in the Winter and Spring of 2021; next, completing the revised DSOP, responding to EIR comments, completing the housing funding analysis and updated zoning regulations in the Spring and Summer of 2021; and finally, holding adoption hearings on the final DSOP, EIR, zoning amendments, and housing funding program in the Fall and Winter of 2021.

Reuben, Junius, & Rose LLP has experience with entitlement projects and land use diligence throughout Oakland, and we are pleased to have worked on some of the largest housing projects approved in the city over the last several years. We will continue to track this significant rezoning and community planning effort as it moves forward.

San Francisco Kicks Off General Plan Update

Later this month, the San Francisco Planning Department will hold a series of virtual public meetings kicking off an update to San Francisco’s General Plan. 12 meetings are scheduled to run from March 15-26. City staff will discuss topics such as housing, transportation, climate resilience, environmental justice, and racial and social equity. The introductory session is set for Monday, March 15, and one or two events per day focusing on a specific aspect of the General Plan will follow. We are monitoring the update closely and will keep you up to speed as the City releases more information.

 

Authored by Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP Attorney Mark Loper.

The issues discussed in this update are not intended to be legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is established with the recipient.  Readers should consult with legal counsel before relying on any of the information contained herein.  Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP is a full service real estate law firm.  We specialize in land use, development and entitlement law.  We also provide a wide range of transactional services, including leasing, acquisitions and sales, formation of limited liability companies and other entities, lending/workout assistance, subdivision and condominium work.