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Front Page

Watergate Rears Its Head

Roger Brigham
The Emeryville Connection Staff
January 2008

A strong community turnout at a City of Emeryville General Plan Update Steering Committee meeting last month brought home one clear message: the residents of the Watergate Community don’t want any high-rise towers going up in their neighborhood.

A group of about 125 residents packed the committee meeting in December as it was wrapping up its recommendations for the city’s general use plan to send to the Planning Commission and the City Council. A rumor was circulating that BRE Properties, which has an option to develop the Watergate Shopping Center, planned to develop the property by building high-rise towers, which residents feared would congest peninsula traffic, create potential fire and emergency response problems, and negatively impact property values.

And that set off a community 9-1-1.

Current zoning in the Watergate apartment area restricts maximum building heights to “mid-rise” (50 feet/5 stories) and further out on the peninsula toward the Marina restricts construction to low-rise (30 feet/ 3 stories).

In a December 14 memo to the General Plan Update Committee, Mike Kim of BRE wrote, “With respect to the Watergate Shopping Center, we are asking the Committee to consider zoning which will allow for the potential of a high-rise building. This Bay front site deserves nothing less than an elegant, mixed-use residential tower befitting this exclusive real estate. Keep in mind that the discretionary powers of your Planning Commission and Council will ensure that the community stakeholders…will have a say in shaping the project in all respects including height, massing, design, circulation, amenities, and public improvements. The point is, let’s explore within the well established set of entitlement procedures, the full range of possibilities rather than limit ourselves before we even put pencil to paper.”

Community members say for the first time they learned of BRE’s aspirations to change the zoning to allow for high rises.

“What I learned as a result of the meeting the prior week was that there might be a proposed re-zoning of the Watergate Market parcel to 75 feet,” said Joe Lutz, a long-time Watergate resident and former member of the Planning Commission. “I think the general plan committee thought it was a 95-foot zone already when it was a 30-foot zone.

“The maps were not quite clear in that area because it is next to the high rise buildings. They thought they were helping us.

“A number of us in the community found out about it and did some research. What we heard from people was a high rise residential was an incompatible use for many. That retail center is a community hub. The idea of the residential component and adding rental to that area which already has heavy need for police and fire access – it absolutely made no sense to us.”

Lutz said BRE knew residents were opposed to high-rise apartment buildings in the area. “BRE talked with several people in Emeryville and were discouraged many, many times. They were told it was not an appropriate use, and they proceeded to go forward with it.”

That led to a follow-up meeting and the packed house at the December 14th General Plan Update meeting, at which each person was allowed to state his or her view.

“The steering committee doesn’t really do any re-zoning or approve any projects,” said Deborah Diamond, the Project Manager for the committee. “I think there was a basic misunderstanding that the steering committee didn’t have that kind of power. The general plan for the committee is that they would allow taller buildings where there are existing towers, then the height restriction would step down to mid-height and then to a lower height. The existing height for the Watergate apartments is 55 feet. It is 30 feet further out in to the Marina area.

“We heard a lot of testimony from people. After that, the steering committee decided to recommend the city establish a height limitation of the market site of 30 feet, with the ability to go to 50 feet with a conditional use permit. We heard people would be supportive of redevelopment of that site, but not with housing.”

Patricia Jeffery, chair of the General Plan Update Committee, said, “We had gone through a process and identified what we called ‘change areas’ where we thought there could be change in the next 25 years. What came about in our meeting last Wednesday was a reconsideration of the Watergate Market site. There was some confusion about that site. It had been reported to the committee that the current level was 90 feet; we were lowering it 70 feet.”

After learning of the correct current height restrictions and the community reluctance to introduce high-density apartment towers, the committee came up with a revised proposal.

“What the committee chose to do was to modify a designation, and this is just a committee recommendation, to change it to ‘mixed use with no residential,’ which is what the community wanted,” Jeffrey said.”We left the height level at 30 feet, which could go up to 50 feet with a conditional use permit.”

Jeffrey said the committee had been in the dark regarding conversations between community members and BRE Properties.

“The steering committee quite frankly was unaware of Mr. Kim’s discussions,” she said. “There was some information out there the committee was completely unaware of. The committee was unaware until the meeting.”

Lutz said he was please with the committee’s recommendation and the community involvement.

“The committee made the decision that it will update the plan to reflect that it is a community center.

“For my mind, that’s a perfect solution. It gives any developer the knowledge that this is going to be a non-residential area, period. Plus it allows the developer some leeway to build up the density and make it more profitable.”.

“We would like (the owner) to update the shopping center and provide the tenants with reasonable leases. The owner really has been more interested in selling that place than keeping it up. We want to send a message to the developer and the owner that this is a community center that should be viewed with pride.”

When asked of what he felt about the meeting, Lutz said “I felt proud. I felt proud of Watergate, of how the community came out and voiced their opinions in a respectful and coherent manner. I was also very proud of the City of Emeryville. They listened to us and they listened to our argument, they discussed it, and came up with their brilliant compromise. It’s community action at its best. It couldn’t be better.”

Subsequently, Mike Kim of BRE Properties notified the General Plan Update Steering Committee and City officials that BRE is ending its efforts to redevelop the Watergate Market.

“In consideration of the strong and clear message that the residents of Watergate Condominium Community do not want to see the Watergate Market redeveloped, we have terminated our purchase contract effective immediately, “ Kim wrote in an e-mail message.

“ While we feel that the project could have enhanced the neighborhood with a much improved retail center and a first class residential complex above it, ultimately we respect and concede to the wishes of the community at large.

“Thank you for taking valuable time during this busy holiday season to come out and share your thoughts – your activism is indeed a hallmark of a vibrant community. “