Dear Neighbor,

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the Council will consider approving a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Berkeley and BART as the next step in our effort to comply with state law AB 2923 and create homes (including below-market-rate affordable homes) at the Ashby and N. Berkeley BART stations.

You can read this Council item on the Dec. 10th agenda available HERE (scroll down to Item #31).   

Please feel welcome to attend the Council Meeting: 
Tues., Dec. 10 
BUSD Board Room, 1231 Addison St.
6 p.m.*
*Please Note: The Mayor has the discretion to establish the order for Council action items. He has informed me that he intends to hear this issue (Item #31) first after the Consent Calendar, so — unless there is an unexpected change — we can expect this item to be heard around 7 p.m. I encourage you to arrive by 6:30 p.m. for a seat. 

The item asks the Council to - 
  1. Approve an MOU between the City and BART to establish a process for cooperatively pursuing the implementation of state law AB 2923 at the Ashby and N. Berkeley BART stations. This action is pursuant to unanimous City Council direction on May 9, 2019 to direct the City Manager to “engage with BART to develop an MOU that outlines the project planning process including feasibility analysis, project goals, and roles and responsibilities; and direct that the MOU return to Council for adoption.” 
  2. Establish a Community Advisory Group for the purposes of providing input: (a) to the City Planning Commission as it considers zoning standards that will be consistent with the City’s obligations under AB 2923 for the Ashby and N. Berkeley BART stations; and (b) to the City and BART as the parties establish a joint vision and priorities document that will be incorporated into eventual Requests for Proposal/Requests for Qualifications for potential developers of the Ashby and N. Berkeley BART stations.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to share your input with me and the Council by e-mailing: rkesarwani@cityofberkeley.info and/or council@cityofberkeley.info . Alternatively, you may call my office at 510-981-7110.  

I look forward to hearing from you or seeing you at the meeting! Please stay tuned for my full December newsletter later this month.

Stay warm and dry,