Housing and shelter is not enough if we do not provide wraparound supportive services to address the underlying causes of homelessness.
The underlying reason for Oakland’s homelessness crisis is the lack of quality affordable homes. While substance abuse is a serious issue- and providers of supportive housing are required by the City to provide residents with connections to appropriate services- the City is not aware of any data that suggests substance abuse is more severe in Oakland than it is in the rest of the country. The City is, however, aware of the compelling research that suggests that differences in housing affordability largely explain regional variations in homelessness. The rise in homelessness in Oakland occurred during a period when rent growth rapidly outpaced wage growth, which, combined with an inadequate supply of affordable housing, explains the trend. Our focus is on creating more affordable homes and preserving the ones we have; as well, we are partnering with OHA, the County, and the State, to access service dollars to ensure that residents receive the supportive services they need to stabilize and remain housed.
32 Tuan Ngo 12/29/22 People keep saying NOAH. NOAH stands for “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” but there’s NO SUCH thing.
Housing most definitely does NOT “occur naturally”. Housing doesn’t naturally grow out of the ground. In fact, it takes a lot of work. Housing is expensive and difficult to do. And Affordable Housing is even harder to make happen.
So what do people refer to when they say “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing”? These are low-rent housing units offered by local residents who trade in countless weekends to provide housing. Local mom and pops are able to deliver on lower cost housing because they pull “double duty” on maintenance. They answer repair calls themselves and often do their own repair work, notoriously underpaying themselves for their time and labor. They are much more efficient and willing to work hard to build home equity to send their children to college and to save for retirement. The TOPA/COPA social housing model won’t See response to Letter #5
39 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response pencil because right off the bat it has bloated staffing, with someone in the office taking tenant repair requests and then sending out expensive plumbers, roofers and painters for maintenance.
33 Dennis OLeary 12/29/22 The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act is a false promise to tenants- as they do not ever own. That’s a fact. Deed restriction is not ownership.
It’s also a distinct private property grab for unsuspecting small owners who have no desire to participate in this obscene shakedown. It is bad for all parties besides perhaps the lawyer groups and select non profits who are pushing it.
Tenants already have the opportunity to put offers in for a property they live in.
Any owner would gladly help a good tenant get the place. I certainly would.
No one needs TOPA nor would I ever get involved in such a scheme as a buyer.
Furthermore I'm infuriated by the suggestion that I be forced to do so as a small owner. It’s absurd and I want no part of it. I am a small owner in Oakland. I am all about true home ownership with all its rights and responsibilities. TOPA is not that. There are so many responsible and proven ways to help people buy properties. Down payment assistance, subsidized loans come to mind.
There is already too much of an assault on small owners. TOPA is the icing on the cake. I've honestly lost all faith in local government. TOPA is a distinctly bad policy choice. Please get educated on what this thing really is. Say NO TO TOPA.
See response to Letter #5
34 Claire Mays 12/29/22 I wish to write in support of the City resolution* that calls for investigation of the recent takeover of Mills College,which to my view requires that rezoning of the Mills campus in Oakland be suspended until the facts of the takeover("merger") are known and can be appropriately acted upon.I have perused the Housing Element documents available to the public online and I recognize the intensive effort andthe high expertise present in these documents, whether by city admin and elected people or by citizens who havecommented. I respect this and acknowledge that my own experience is not similar.
Awaiting that, the rezoning effort should not introduce further destabilizing change to the Mills historic campus nor open the door to further abuses.
See response to Letter #26
35 Angela Watrous 12/29/22 I believe the corporate takeover of Mills by NE is a corrupt endeavor (why would we give up our extremely valuable and our endowment to
an organization with literally nothing in overlapping values, if not for personal gain?), and I am requesting and am in support of all investigations into that takeover and the people involved in selling out Mills for personal gain. I would like to see prosecution and the reversal of the takeover of Mills College, and I am also strongly against rezoning of the Mills College campus, which has clearly been part of the intention all along. Please protect the educational space for women/nonbinary people, especially BIPOC people, that Mills College has been to so many of us. Please investigate. Please don't let these people profit off their corruption.
See response to Letter #26
40 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response 36 Tilly Maui 12/29/22 This is in response to the Mills College call to action by alumna that we make our voices heard. As a resident of Oakland since the 1970s and an embarrassed Mills alumn, I urge the new mayor (who I did not vote for) to please focus on job creation and addressing crime (FUND the police). The city doesn’t need more apathetic people with zero accountability, zero sense of responsibility, zero motivation living on my dime in an already overcrowded dump of a city.
How about focusing on job creation, building parks not homes, addressing the crime (being committed by people of color at disproportionate rates).
Stop focusing on Mills sale to NE ( as a Mills alum the new mayor has a conflict of interest being involved). Focus on cleaning up this city. The homeless are not native to Oakland. They come from all over knowing you’ll support them on my dime. Enough!!!!! Why would I buy property here if you’re going to allow squatters and make eviction impossible. So, my request: make oakland clean, safe and livable for the people who have jobs. Create jobs. There’s plenty of housing (in fact there is a surplus).
See response to Letter #26
37 Christa Lewis 12/29/22 In July Oakland’s City Council voted to support an investigation of the closure and sale of Mills College. Northeastern University, which took over Mills, has not fulfilled its obligations to students, faculty, and staff, and disregarded Mills’ commitment to the community, women, students of color, trans and non‐binary students, and under‐represented populations. There’s no question that more affordable housing will benefit the Oakland community; however, it is unnecessary to butcher the Mills campus and permanently end access to education and opportunities to accomplish this, especially while the community supports an investigation of transfer of Mills’ assets. When there is the unresolved question of the legitimacy of the sale of Mills College, it is malfeasant to plan to rezone and divvy up the campus for private development.
Dismantling educational opportunities at Mills to rezone the campus enriches Northeastern University, and perhaps facilitators, of the deal while sacrificing opportunities for women, people of color, and LGBQT students of Oakland and California.
See response to Letter #26
38 Kristen Caven 12/29/22 I respectfully request that the zoning adjustments to the Mills Campus NOT be generally changed to allow for expanded residential and commercial development, and this is why:· The 135-acre Mills campus acts as a public park and green space, with paths, trails, soccerfields and a pool that historically provided community access, functioning as a public good for the wider community of Oakland as both recreation and as a botanical preserve providing habitat for diverse species at a time of global extinction.· The Mills campus has long been admired for its safety and lush beauty, two things we should be legitimately concerned being destroyed, given the reputation of Northeastern’s Boston Campus towards its own green spaces and neighboring communities of See response to Letter #26
41 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response color in Boston.· Their track record shows a pattern of disruption and disregard for their neighbors. A 10-storystudent housing building now dominates and divides the predominantly African American community of Roxbury, Boston. The coastal community of Nahant, MA is losing their fight with NU, which aims to build a 60,000 sq. foot science building that will ironically damage thes ensitive environment.· A look at NU's community takeovers around the world show a trend for benefitting their predominantly white, male, upwardly mobile student populations, while gentrifying surrounding communities and pricing long-time residents out.· Given the opportunity to develop and sell choice sections of the campus to private investors, NU could permanently destroy the integrity of this land parcel. Once soil is paved over, it is neverr eturned to nature, which benefits us all in increasingly apparent ways.
Please use extreme caution in your decision to rezone Mills, only designating specific areas of the campus edges for commercial building. There may be some benefit to establishing outward-facing services for the MacArthur community but, given the opportunity to develop the entire land, NU is not to be trusted. The needs of our community absolutely include increased affordable housing, but this must be balanced with Oakland’s needs for open space, protection from gentrification, and community partners that are integrated with the fabric of our city.
39 Kristin Coan 12/29/22 I am writing to support the preservation of Mills College, its' campus, and what it represents for past, present and future students and faculty, as well as the many ways Mills College benefits Oakland and the surrounding communities.
See response to Letter #26
40 Chris Moore 12/29/22 TOPA/COPA:
TOPA/COPA is an example of a failed policy. Look at Washington DC - they are shutting the program down after 40 years....yet Oakland is considering starting the program. Has there been an independent equity study to show the negative impacts of TOPA/COPA...no there hasn't. If Oakland makes the bad decision to include TOPA/COPA in the Housing Element, then it should be clearly stated that an independent equity study will be performed. The approval for the preparer of the equity study should be selected with input from housing provider organizations including: EBRHA, CalRHA, CAA, In-It-Together.
NOAH:
NOAH stands for “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing”. This makes no sense.
Private individuals provide housing. Mom and pop housing providers provide affordable housing via rent control and the eviction moratorium. Additional rental regulations (TPO, Eviction Moratorium, Rent Control, Just Cause, TOPA/COPA) result in elimination of affordable housing by significantly increasing the cost to provide affordable housing.
Housing does NOT “occur naturally”. Providing Housing does take a lot of work.
See response to Letter #5
42 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response Housing is expensive and difficult to do. There's a reason that the recent outgoing Oakland Housing Director, Shola Olatoye said in her exit interview that "the City of Oakland absolutely should not own or operate housing, by contract, City employees can only work from 9am to 5pm. Monday through Friday." Mom and Pop housing providers provide low-rent housing units by trading in countless nights and weekends to provide housing. Local mom and pops are able to deliver on lower cost housing because they pull “double duty” on maintenance. They answer repair calls themselves and often do their own repair work, notoriously underpaying themselves for their time and labor. They are much more efficient and willing to work hard to build home equity to send their children to college and to save for retirement.
The TOPA/COPA social housing model won’t pencil because it has bloated staffing, with someone in the office taking tenant repair requests and then sending out expensive plumbers, roofers and painters for maintenance. It only provides Not For Profits special benefits (discounts on property taxes and exemptions from rent control) to help make it more profitable. If they offered those benefits to private housing providers the City of Oakland would have an explosion in new housing.
The single best solution to providing more housing in the City of Oakland would be to have a means test for Rent Control, Just Cause and TPO. If someone earns 100% of the Bay Area AMI– they don't get the Rent Control subsidy. Start there and you will see a significant increase in the supply
of housing and a corresponding decrease in rents. At 100% AMI, those individuals will not go homeless in the streets, they have the means to find new housing. 41 EBMUD 12/29/22 East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Notice of Public Hearings to Adopt City of Oakland 2023-2031 Housing Element, which encompasses the entire City of Oakland (City). EBMUD commented on the Notice of Preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Phase 1 of the Oakland 2045 General Plan Update on April 14, 2022. EBMUD also commented on the 2023-2031 Housing Element Update in the City of Oakland's General Plan on June 9, 2022. EBMUD's original comments (see enclosures) still apply regarding water service, geology, wastewater service, water recycling, and water conservation. EBMUD has the following additional comments. WATER SERVICE Please see the attached EBMUD documents for California (Waterworks Standards) Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 64572 (Water Main Separation) and EBMUD requirements for placement of water mains.
Comment Noted
42 Ilona Clark 12/29/22 TOPA is worse than a false promise Supporters say it will prevent displacement of renters by giving them the right and the ability (through 3rd party assistance) to buy the properties they live in, if put up for sale. These are good ideas. Everyone wants to encourage homeownership and the benefits that it confers. No one wants to be displaced. Unfortunately, TOPA does not do any of these things.
See response to Letter #5
43 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response In reality, if passed, it would make displacement more likely for many. At the same time, it will take away rent control and eviction protections from many of Oakland’s renters,and hobble the city’s ability to function by exempting many properties from property taxes.
TOPA controls the sale of any rental property in the city. Under TOPA, The renter has the first right of refusal and may express interest to purchase in writing.
Most of the time, a renter can’t afford to buy the property on their own and they may assign their right to purchase to a 3rd party, non-profit. In this case, the house or unit, once purchased, will be considered affordable housing. Affordable, by definition, may not serve people who do not qualify. So, if a renter-purchaser does not meet income qualifications for affordable housing, they will be displaced in favor of another household that earns less. That’s right, if they earn too much, they would be evicted from their homes.
Oakland has eviction protection for renters and income level is not a reason to evict. That is why TOPA takes away these protections so that renters may be legally evicted if they do not meet the affordable housing requirement.
Oakland also has rent control. But TOPA takes that away from its residents too.
Monthly payments for residents (affordable housing recipients) may rise faster than rent control. But the residents must take responsibility for maintaining the buildings and surroundings. They must do all the work the previous owner did before them.This might be worth it, if they could expect to enjoy the benefits of ownership, but any home that becomes “affordable housing” under TOPA must be maintained as “affordable” for many decades. They may not be re-sold at market rate. All rights, freedoms, and financial incentives of ownership would be lost. People who live in properties purchased under TOPA get all the sweat and none of the equity.
To add insult to injury, no property taxes may be collected on affordable housing.
This would hobble Oakland’s ability to provide services and maintain infrastructure. In fact, there is nothing to prevent a tenant from buying a home, or negotiating to buy the building they live in.
Who could possibly benefit from this? TOPA was written by lawyers for lawyers and bureaucrats will clean up. politicians who will do anything just so they say say they did “something” will get votes. But the community will suffer and the housing crisis will deepen TOPA is not a progressive way to promote ownership opportunities for existing tenants, it's a blatant attempt to seize private property through a coercive set of regulations that drive small property owners into financial distress and then gifts these properties to organizations that have monies interests at heart but their own. It is an attack on middle-class property owners and middle-class renters, alike.
43 Al Nehl 12/29/22 On behalf of my mother, Rita Nehl, a Mills alumnus, I am writing to support the preservation of Mills College, its campus, and what it represents for past, present See response to Letter #26
44 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response and future students and faculty, as well as the many ways Mills College benefits Oakland and the surrounding communities.
44 Trey Hunter 12/29/22 1. It is clear that Oakland is taking this process seriously. Given that we are in a large metropolitan area, has Oakland considered what more it can do to triage other Bay Areacommunities who will continue to not take the development of housing (affordable housingespecially) seriously? As noted in the draft, the issue of housing policy goes beyond theboundaries of the city of Oakland, the issue is regional in the context of the Bay Area. While Iappreciate the fifteen percent buffer, given the market needs of the entire Bay Area, wouldn’tsomething like a 100% buffer seem more appropriate?
Oakland has shown that it can meet housing goals as referenced by the City's ability to meet the last iteration of the Housing Element. I am concerned that this Housing Element doesn't challenge the city to do more given that other localities will continue to refuse to develop housing. Not only would a higher buffer allow for Oakland to grow where other communities refuse to build housing. This bolsters Oakland’s position as a "YIMBY: city and increases future tax revenue further ameliorating some of the City’s existing budgetary challenges.
A larger housing buffer will result in systemically positive outcomes.
2. Has the City considered abolishing single-family zoning like other cities throughout the nation have done? Action 3.2.1. Might this be a consideration for the next iteration of Oakland’s Housing Element?
3. Action 3.2.4: What is meant by “legalize ADUs’ for low-income homeowners.
Given the enactment of AB 68, AB 881, SB 13, AB 587, and other state law, ADUs are already legal throughout the State and subject to less local control, correct? Should this be geared toward assisting low and middle income homeowners in finding funding streams to support the development of ADUs where feasible?
4. Introduction – Paragraph 3: The housing backlog of 2,000,000 units is a debatable and somewhat arbitrary figure. In some cases, this number has been as high as $3,500,000. It may be best to note that this figure is not a specifically defined metric as the introduction seems to indicate.
5. I am especially impressed by the Housing Element Survey (page 37) which allowed residents to provide feedback on interactive mapping questions. Also, impressed by the City’s willingness and ability to follow State guidelines which have recently given RHNA more authority
1. Comment noted
2. On March 16, 2021, City Council voted unanimously to look into allowing fourplexes citywide and removing long-standing laws that officials called “exclusionary." Goals 3 and 5 in Chapter 4 - Housing Action Plan in the 2023-2031 Housing Element seek to close the gap between affordable and market- rate housing production by expanding affordable housing opportunities and promote neighborhood stability and health. Actions under Goals 3 and 5 will increase housing production capacity, unlock additional opportunities for affordable and missing middle housing, and affirmatively further fair housing by opening up highresource and exclusionary neighborhoods.
These actions will allow zoning for diverse housing types, elimination of Conditional Use Permits (CUPS), implementation of Objective Design Standards, increased heights and densities along corridors such as MacArthur, International, Foothill, College, Claremont, Dimond, increased heights and densities in transit proximate areas such as Rockridge BART, and resource-rich areas such as Rockridge, Trestle Glen, and Crocker Highlands. See Appendix J for for proposed rezoning including revised density, maximum building heights, and minimum lot size standards to permit more housing units per lot where appropriate throughout the city in Hillside Residential RH-4, all Detached Residential (RD) Zones, all Residential Mixed Housing Type (RM) Zones, and Urban Residential RU-1 and RU-2 Zones. - Create new RD zone to replace RD-1 and RD-2
- All RD, RM and RU Residential Zones will now allow 4 or more units - Maximum floor area ratio (FAR) and lot coverage will be increased in RD and RM Zones
- Minimum lot frontage for RD and RM Zones will reduced from 25 ft. to 20 ft. in RD and RM Zones
- Open space requirements reduced in RD, RM, and RU Zones
3. Oakland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Loan Program (ADULP) provides financing and technical assistance to low-income homeowners to convert an existing unpermitted secondary unit into a legal Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) or Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU). The property must be located in an Opportunity Zone.
Many secondary units in Oakland were developed outside of the required permitting process. The ADU Loan Program was designed to help ensure that these units are safe, legal, and can continue to provide flexible housing options for tenants or family members and potentially rental income for low-income Oakland homeowners. Participants receive a deferred payment loan of up to $100,000 and guidance with the design, bidding, permitting, and construction processes. For more details see: https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/accessory-dwelling-unit- 45 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response loan-program
In addition to this specific loan program, the City will implement forthcoming state law that allows unpermitted ADUs to be legalized if they correct substandard conditions. This will likely help many older ADUs that are fundamentally safe, but out of conformance with the letter of modern standards, to access legalization
4. Comment Noted
5. Comment Noted
45 Mary Rose
Kaczorowski
12/29/22 I respectfully request that the zoning adjustments to the property that encompasses Mills College at Northeastern University (the former Mills College campus property) NOT be rezoned to allow for expanded residential and/or commercial development. I have outlined this property’s role in Climate Change, Heat Island and Flood control mitigations as well as its history and role as public green space, a farm hub, and biodiversity and watershed integrity protection.
Zoning Changes?
I concur with several other organization’s public comments questioning why a proposed rezoning of the property area around and including Mills College at Northeastern University be changed from RM-3 to RM-4? (See October 14, 2022, comments by EB For Everyone, Greenbelt Alliance etc.) Please clarify the reasoning behind this since RM-4 is a residential neighborhood standard, and this is a private educational institution operating a college and providing associated student housing and basic services. This up-zoning is unsuitable and is incongruous with the established site use. Rezoning for conversion of residential or commercial use of this parcel is inappropriate.
Negative Impact of proposed Zoning Change
Mills College at Northeastern University, if ever given the opportunity to develop and sell choice sections of the campus to private investors, the integrity of this land parcel will be further diminished. This zoning change will permanently and further damage the ecological services that this parcel provides. Once vegetation is removed, once soil is leveled, compacted and paved over, it is never returned to supporting nature or serves the public good as access to nature-based recreation.
Public Green Space
This 135-acre Mills College at Northeastern University property has been used as a public oasis in a highly developed urban area. This campus has historically provided public access to its green space, with paths, creeks, trails, and a community farm, and access to soccer fields and a recreation swimming pool. This Mills College campus functions as a public good for the local residents and wider community of Oakland.
Watershed Protection & Flood Control
Mills Campus property role in Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation See response to Letter #26
46 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response Mills College at Northeastern University is a property that is particularly well situated to help California implement Governor Newsom’s (Oct 07, 2020) EXECUTIVE ORDER N-82-20. This Executive Order points to using nature-based solutions to combat the biodiversity loss and climate
change crises in California.
Agricultural Use
The Mills Community Farm at Mills College was founded as a 2.5-acre working farm that practices sustainable farming and provides urban agriculture education in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, local organizations, and Oakland schools. The farm provided produce to campus dining services and sold produce on campus at a weekly farm stand as well as to local restaurants. . This area can be further zoned for a ‘living lab’ for growing healthy food, deepening knowledge, and building community solidarity."
Mills College at Northeastern University serves as a heat island mitigation Existing traffic is STILL an issue
46 Sakura Vesely 12/29/22 I am a Mills College alumna, class of 2006. I was horrified to hear that my beloved alma mater that gave so much to me (and pass it along in the world through my work) was first going to close, then "merge" with Northeastern University, and now is being assessed for further dismantling by proposing to build private-sector housing on the campus. I understand that Oakland and California in particular needs to build more housing and solve the issue of food deserts yet all of this dismantling that has come over the past two years really feels like pure colonization and a purposeful erasure of what Mills College stood for. I am still traumatized by how Mills presented itself as doing quite well only to have its administration quickly and suspiciously hand over the school to an expensive, massive colonizer school that stands for nothing Mills represents. Mills was a safe haven for women, gender minorities, LGBTQ+ people, racial minorities, and generally anyone who was traditionally marginalized by WASP culture. Oakland in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries has prided itself on its diverse culture and sense of being a place for underprivileged communities, artists, and the like. The takeover and development by Northeastern University is one more step forward to gentrifying Oakland into being a place where only wealthy white people can reside. I urge all of you to support the investigation into the merger of Mills College/Northeastern University and put a stop to unnecessary development on the Mills campus. Please don't send us into the ash heap of history.
See response to Letter #26
47 Alecto
Caldwell/Lynda
Caldwell
12/29/22 Having been a part of the Maxwell Park community, just a block from Mills College for nearly 40 years, I have watched in horror and disbelief at the entire process of Mills being transformed into Mills at Northeastern University.
I fully support: The Resolution Passed, July 19, 2022 “Celebrating the contributions of Mills College to the City of Oakland and beyond, and calling on the California Bureau of Private and Post-Secondary Education and the U.S.
See response to Letter #26
47 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response Department of Education to conduct an independent investigation into the circumstances of the merger between Mills College and Northeastern University." I am appalled by the fact that:
The City of Oakland has released the 2023-2031 Housing Element Public Hearing Draft. This includes rezoning the Mills College campus for land development. This proposed rezoning to RM-4 is to “create, maintain, and enhance residential areas typically located on or near the City’s major arterials and characterized by a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, small multi-unit buildings at somewhat higher densities than RM-3, and neighborhood businesses where appropriate.” The RM-4 Zone allows for the development of the site with condominiums, townhouses and retail businesses. For 20 years, the Mills Campus was zoned as RM-3. We are seeing this proposed change just as Northeastern takes over.
It seems obvious that such changes will seriously, significantly, and permanently change the character of our community primarily for the benefit of Northeastern University and not for the existing residents of the neighborhood.
At the very least, existing zoning should be maintained until the investigations regarding this transfer are completed. Additionally, the impacts of such changes should be widely and deeply investigated with much more involvement from and communication with the wider community.
48 Chris Cohn 12/29/22 City of Oakland policy has gone too far and TOPA/COPA would be the end of my housing provider journey. You have heard all the arguments against these policies and read about their failed histories in other communities. I waste my time writing you, but if you bother to read this, NO on TOPA/COPA. I prefer the Ellus Act.
See response to Letter #5
49 Beatriz Perez-Stable 12/29/22 I am writing to oppose the proposed zoning changes at Mills College and land on MacArthur Blvd directly across Mills College. I believe it would be prudent to know what the owners will propose, incorporating these zoning changes, and that surrounding neighbors should be notified of such and be allowed to comment.
See response to Letter #26
50 Gabriel Guerriero 12/29/22 1. I support the development of Action 3.5.2: Support housing cooperatives, coliving, and cohousing models. I want to ask for more specificity and clarity on how the city will support these projects. Please provide exceptions to zoning provisions for direct support of cooperatives, co-living and cohousing models.
2. Accelerate the study of how the Planning Code and building occupancy standards affect the viability of these models.
3. I support new affordable ownership housing opportunities for middle and low income families.
4. I support an increase in density for all Hillside Residential zones for properties located outside the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFSV), or provide opportunities for an increase of density on a case-by-case basis.
5. Provide an application process for spot zoning on eligible properties. Rezone some of the hillside areas with pocket communities in specific areas.
1. Comment noted- the City has and will continue to provide financial support for cooperatives and community land trusts through its “Acquisition and Conversion to Affordable Housing NOFA.” The forthcoming Affordable Housing Overlay may also serve as a useful tool to increase the feasibility of developing new cooperatives, coliving, and cohousing projects.
2. Comment noted.
3. Comment Noted.
4. See Appendix J for the City’s proposed rezoning changes, including revised density, maximum building heights, and minimum lot size standards to permit more housing units per lot where appropriate throughout the city in Hillside Residential RH-4, all Detached Residential (RD) Zones, all Residential Mixed Housing Type (RM) Zones, and Urban Residential RU-1 and RU-2 Zones. As part of the Safety Element Update, the City is studying the potential for areas that might be 48 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response appropriate to be included in the Affordable Housing Overlay and for increased densities to be included in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ) based on analysis regarding evacuation scenarios.
5. The City does not encourage spot zoning.
51 Martha de Weese 12/29/22 Please investigate this gross malfeasance. Mills College has been stolen through nefarious means. Mills students are being robbed of the Education they came to acquire Mills dates to 1854 at its' present location. The Academic opportunities and the legacy of this institution have always been an asset to Oakland.
Please look carefully at the past Mayor of Oakland and the past Mills President and the roles they played in this “land grab”.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak up.
See response to Letter #26
52 Jay Gregory My specific comments come around co-housing and pushing for the easing of zoning restrictions in the non-fire zone hillside residential zones (RH) that seem to be untouched by this version of the plan. If the goals of the plan are to increase close the gap in housing affordability and to get lower income housing opportunities into traditionally exclusive hillside housing zones I think a bit more work can be done in the plan in this regard.
1. We support the development of Action 3.5.2: Support housing cooperatives, coliving, and cohousing models and ask for more specificity and clarity on how the city will support these projects. Specifically: Please provide exceptions (or specific pathways to request variances) to zoning provisions for direct support of cooperatives, co-living, and cohousing models.
2. Accelerate the study of how the Planning Code and building occupancy standards affect the viability of these models.
3. We support new affordable ownership housing opportunities for middle and low income families, especially in traditionally exclusive Hillsite Residential areas.
4. We support an increase in density for all Hillside Residential zones for properties located outside the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFSV), or provide opportunities for an increase of density on a case-by-case basis.
5. Provide an application process for spot zoning on eligible properties. Rezone some of the hillside areas with pocket communities in specific areas.
See response to Letter #50
53 Hannah Bluhm 12/29/22 Mills College campus (recently bought by Northeastern University 1). Oakland deserves to keep and pass on its current green spaces for future generations. Not only for the physical environmental benefits that such spaces provide and support in the larger ecosystem but for the psychological health and well being that such green spaces foster in human communities. I believe that placing the development desires of a global, private, institution, of potential short term financial gain for NEU, above the intergenerational health and wealth of the See response to Letter #26
49 Letter # Name/Organization Date Comment Staff Response larger Oakland community is shortsighted, unwise and amounts to a form of environmental racism.
2). Northeastern University is a massive, global, institution that behaves in a predatory for profit manner. The purchase of Mills occurred in a questionable and non-transparent way. If it is allowed an increased ability to develop the 135 acres of the Mills Campus in its first year of ownership, there will be no guarantee or leverage on the part of the city of Oakland to ensure that such development will be in any way, not only NOT harmful but beneficial to the neighboring residents and surrounding community.
3). Mills College is beautiful. With a beautiful and rich history in visual arts, music, dance and architecture. The legacy of the on campus Julia Morgan's buildings should be honored and protected. NEU has no cultural ties to the arts and should not be given carte blanche when it comes to deciding the use, purpose, and aesthetics of these buildings and creative spaces in the future. 4). Northeastern University already has strained relationships with its community neighbors in Boston and other sites. They have a reputation for using militarized campus police, racial profiling on their campuses, covering up incidents around fraternity rape culture, and aggressive gentrification of community spaces. Again, the new owners of Mills College should have to prove themselves worthy before being allowed to build skyscraper frat dorms, or luxury condos and retail spaces that cater exclusively to the wealthy.
5). The new owners of the Mills College campus should be the city of Oakland itself, not Northeastern University. At the very least by keeping limits on the scale and impact of development on the campus the city will ensure some accountability, respect, and health for the current citizens of Oakland and generations to come.
54 Melanie Vega 12/29/22 It has come to my attention that the city of Oakland has released a housing public hearing draft which includes a plan to rezone Mills College campus to allow for building of housing and businesses on campus. As a Bay Area native and a Mills College alum, I am AGAINST this plan. Mills College was just recently acquired by Northeastern University in a highly contested and suspicious manner, and it would be a further blow to the Mills legacy to tear up the physical campus by allowing rezoning and building of housing/businesses. The campus is an oasis in Oakland that should be protected, not sold to greedy developers.
See response to Letter #26