How Berkeley Will Move Away From Single-Family Zoning
- Josh Stephens
- Mar 2, 2021
- 6 min read
In 1917, the Supreme Court ruled in Buchanan vs. Warley, that cities could not impose race-based residential segregation. Two years later, the City of Berkeley became one of the first municipalities to try an innovation: zoning that excluded anything but single-family residences.
Last week, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously, 9-0, to reverse a 101-year-old policy that detractors say had been allowed to stain the city for far too long. The message of social justice resonated with stakeholders and council members alike.
Berkeley is the second city in as many months to commit to challenge the sanctity of single-family neighborhoods and allow residences of up to four units via conversion or new construction. The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously in January to move in the same direction and several other cities are considering similar moves.
The department will draft zoning regulations in conjunction with its update of the city’s housing element. The housing element update is, in turn, motivated by the city’s forthcoming Regional Housing Needs Allocation, expected to be around 9,000 units for the upcoming eight-year cycle. Jordan Klein, the city’s interim planning director, said he is hopeful that a signification portion of the expected RHNA can be accommodated by upzoning of single-family lots. Without it, in fact, the city would be limited to only a handful of commercial corridors and existing multifamily neighborhoods.
“We can’t just rely on our commercial districts and our avenues,” said Klein. “We can’t just rely on our downtown to accommodate these new units.”
In explaining Berkeley’s recent move – after decades of slow-growth policies – Klein credited a recent report from the UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute that essentially contended that racial segregation persists in the Bay Area and correlates strongly with single-unit zoning.
“As planners it’s so critical that we understand the history of our profession,” said Klein. "So often planning and development policies have been used as a means of furthering racial inequities and even white supremacy."
While many members of Berkeley’s famously progressive citizenry are likely celebrating the move, the arduous work of implementing it now falls to the city’s planning department.
Though the upzoning policy is clearly considered by many stakeholders to be a moral victory, the pragmatic victory will depend on whether multi-unit buildings actually get built. Klein said the city is very early in the process but said the city does want units to actually get built.
