Council approves series of ministerial rezonings, parking overlay correction and municipal parking lease

At its April 20 meeting the Berkeley City Council approved a package of city-initiated land-use corrections and a municipal parking license.

City staff presented eight minor, city-initiated rezonings intended to correct inadvertent mapping errors from a prior comprehensive rezoning. The council approved the first reading of PRZ-05-26 (2451 Franklin Road), which changes the parcel from R-1AB to R-1CD; PRZ-06-26 (correcting a split-zoned commercial parcel by placing the rear 33.5 feet into a flex district); PRZ-07-26 (a similar correction for the adjacent lot); and PRZ-08-26 (adding a parking-overlay district to parcel 25-16-352-026). Staff said property owners had been contacted, the planning commission recommended approval, and no public objections were reported during the required hearings.

Separately, the council approved a license agreement to use three parcels (25-07-455-028, -029 and -030) owned by Berkeley First for municipal parking. Staff said the agreement follows terms used in earlier license agreements for other private lots converted for municipal parking; the church owning one parcel asked that two spaces be reserved for its use and that limited exclusive use be available for a weekly food pantry and occasional events. Council members said the arrangements appear to be a "win-win" that avoids the large capital cost of creating new parking.

All motions passed by roll call. These items were presented as first readings or ministerial corrections; staff said final approvals will follow required public-notice steps and any future hearings dictated by the zoning ordinance.