Some residents involved in the process to update the city’s zoning code say that Oakland is doing a good job incorporating public concerns into a far-reaching document that will help shape the look and density of the city for decades to come.

“Overall we feel like staff has been quite responsive and have done a pretty good job working hard to get this stuff together,” said Naomi Schiff, a board member of the Oakland Heritage Alliance. “While we have some differences with them, overall they’re doing something huge. The differences we have with them are over a few blocks.”

The next zoning meeting will be held at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 15, at hearing Room 1 in City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. At this meeting, the three-person zoning update committee of the planning commission will discuss the city’s proposed changes to the zoning text and maps in the commercial and residential areas of east Oakland and the south hills.

The city’s quest to update its zoning code is important because zoning determines what can built where in the city, the density of development, how tall buildings can be built and the minimum requirements for side, front and backyards.

Oakland’s current zoning code is out of date with the city’s general plan, which was adopted in 1989. The city has already updated its zoning code for city parks and the downtown and has adopted new zoning for industrial areas as well as areas in west, east and north Oakland that contain a mixture of industrial and residential uses.

Last year, the city began the process to rezone its residential and commercial areas and has held more than 50 community meetings throughout the city to inform the public about the process and receive public feedback.

The Oakland Heritage Alliance has been closely involved in the process and recently drafted a letter outlining six concerns it had with the zoning code in the areas of central Oakland, including San Antonio, Fruitvale, the Adams Point/Grand Lake area and the lower hills.

Members of the heritage alliance say there were a couple of points in the letter that affect the city as a whole. Among them: not allowing reduced setbacks for small lots in areas with mostly larger lots, unless consistent with existing setbacks on adjacent lots.

In addition, certain areas are being rezoned so that the allowable density is increased, from about 1 unit per 1,500 square feet, to about 1 unit per 1,100 square feet.

For the most part, these areas include the San Antonio neighborhood, and parts of Adams Point, which contain a mix of apartments and single family homes, said Chris Buckley, a former consultant to the Oakland planning department and now an unpaid technical advisor to the heritage alliance.

The proposed rezoning of these areas from R-50 to RM-4 and RU-1, also would change the requirements for a conditional use permit. Depending on the number of units within a proposed development, a conditional use permit may not be required.

These projects would still undergo design review, “but that only addresses visual characteristics of development,” Buckley said. “It does not address the size, the number of units. There’s a nuance there.”

At the zoning update committee meeting of the planning commission held on Sept. 1, the committee directed planning staff to work with the heritage alliance on the density issue as well as the setbacks. Buckley said planning staff seemed ready to consider the option of proposing zoning in certain areas so that would not remove the conditional use permit requirement.

Overall, Buckley said that most of the city is being rezoned with a lower density to reflect the actual densities of the Oakland’s neighborhoods.

“Generally we think the proposals are pretty good,” he said. “We’re really in the fine-tuning stage here.”

OHA Sept 1 2010 Zoning