An ordinance that would restrict some downtown building heights while preserving views from the east side of Lake Merritt is winding its way to the City Council, and will be considered by the Planning Commission tonight.

If approved, the ordinance would allow height limits of from 80 to 140 feet on 96 parcels in the city’s central business district. In exchange, views of Oakland City Hall and the Tribune Tower from four different points on the east side of Lake Merritt would be preserved.

“Those particular views were chosen because they are such well known buildings, they’re historic landmarks and heavily represent city,” said Naomi Schiff, of the Oakland Heritage Alliance. “But they also provide deep perspective as you look across the lake.”

Two of the views are from the same point – at the 18th Street pier looking toward downtown. The other view points are from Hanover Street at Lakeshore Avenue, the 2000 block of Lakeshore and the Cleveland Cascade.

In March, by a vote of 4-3, the city’s landmarks preservation advisory board recommended that the view corridors ordinance be adopted, though there was some strong sentiment against the proposal.

“It’s really an anti-development issue,” landmarks board member Dan Schulman said at the meeting. “All we’re doing is putting more restrictions on developers without preserving any historic landmarks.”

Given that Lake Merritt gets such heavy use and is being improved with millions in Measure DD bond money, Schiff said it was worth preserving the views in exchange for reducing height limits. She said she wanted the view corridors to be judged on their own merits and not on speculation for whether the parcels in the central business district will be developed.

“Hey, it’s our lake,” Schiff said. “Views from public spaces, like Lake Merritt, are actually covered under CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] and they may need to be studied anyway.”

Other cities have instituted view corridor ordinances, Schiff pointed out, though critics say the views being considered in Oakland aren’t nearly as spectacular as what’s been preserved in other cities.

In a May 26 letter he wrote to the Oakland Planning Commission, Schulman said that it was not the views, but other features that defined the lake, including the water itself, the Alameda County Courthouse, the Bellevue-Staten building and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.

“I would guess that if we had a more complete view corridor study with surveys and community workshops,” he wrote, “the proposed views would not be determined to be of major importance.”

Last July, the City Council directed the view corridor study to be completed during a meeting held for the re-zoning of the central business district. At that time, the Council placed an 85-foot height limit along 13th and 14th streets from Harrison to Madison streets until the view corridors study could be completed.

At its June 16 meeting, the Oakland Planning Commission will be presented with three options to recommend: Amend the city’s zoning maps and planning code to create one or more of the proposed view corridors; recommend no view corridors to the City Council; or incorporate one or more of the view corridors into the city’s CEQA thresholds.

Under the last option, the impact on views to and from certain buildings may be examined when new developments are proposed, but there would be no restrictions on building, Oakland planner Laura Kaminski said.

Currently, the study of the impact of views is even more relaxed. Under CEQA, views may be studied for development if a member of the public requests it.

“It doesn’t specifically call out a specific building or a specific view,” Kaminski said.

On June 16, the planning commission will make a recommendation regarding the views ordinance to the community and economic development committee, which will then make a recommendation to the City Council.

Whatever the council decides, city planning staff has recommended that the zoning maps be amended to remove the temporary 85-foot height limit placed along 13th and 14th street from Harrison to Madison streets and replaced with the original recommended height limit of 400 feet.

Oakland Planning Commission May 19, 2010, Report