Response1
Concerns regarding Beth El's proposed Parking Plan:
The synagogue complex being built approaches in size the North Berkeley Safeway three blocks away, and yet will have only 32[?] parking spaces.
We aren't asking Beth El's leaders to "be nice" in producing a parking plan. We're asking them to be good neighbors by living up to the commitment they made to us. They signed a hard-negotiated legally binding agreement. That agreement required that they produce a detailed, workable plan that
"... shall consist of a range of different parking management techniques for different size events. At a minimum, the Plan shall specify such techniques for all events of 150 people or more. The Parking Plan shall employ: (i) on-site valet parking and (ii) satellite parking or other effective techniques. Applicant may also use event invitation inserts to inform guests how parking management techniques will be used at such an event."
The agreement signed by Beth El's leaders and LOCCNA accepted an expected attendance of 150 or more. It also made no distinction between religious and non-religious events. This is red herring they have introduced to maneuver around the commitment they made.
Beth El's "parking plan" consists of nothing more than
Asking event attendees to be nice,
Using the 10[?] spaces at the title company lot at Rose and Henry, if they're available, and
Using the parking lot at School of the Madeleine when it is available.
The congregation's agreement with the Magdalen shows no firm commitment detailing when parking will be available. It is likely that it will only be available on some Friday nights and Saturdays because the Magdalen is both a school and a church and used by its members on Sundays and at other times related to the needs of both the school and the church. Catholic weddings are often held on Saturdays. Thus, its availability is very limited.
The Magdalen certainly will not be available to CBE on Sundays when several events, such as KeeTov orientation, preschool orientation, the Chanukah Fair, the Purim Carnival, all of which have attendance of over 300 people, are held. The Parking Plan makes absolutely no provision for parking for these very large events. CBE also plans to hold weddings, which are usually held on Sundays, attendance at which will exceed 150. In addition, there will be other events, such as funerals and memorial services, where attendance will exceed the150 person threshold and for which the Plan has not provided. Thus, the Magdalen does not satisfy the requirements for satellite parking set forth in the CUP.
The Beth El plan also makes absolutely no provision for the High Holidays, at which the attendance is highest. These holidays, of course, fall on different days each year. If one of the Holidays is on a Saturday, the other will not be on Saturday. Again, the Magdalen is not likely to be available for High Holidays. And the plan must provide for the inevitable times on which the High Holidays are not on Saturday or Sunday.
Synagogue parking plans involving valet parking and voluntary or even mandatory use of satellite lots and shuttle bus service are far from unprecedented. LOCCNA has presented evidence of the successful use of such plans by a number of synagogues.
In an attempt to be good neighbors and help Beth El to develop an effective parking plan, LOCCNA identified parking lots that might serve as satellite parking facilities and communicated that list to Beth El leaders and the city. That list included Martin Luther King Jr. and Jefferson schools, several UC parking lots north of University Avenue and the Public Health lot at Shattuck and Berkeley Way. None of those suggested satellite lots appear in Beth El's parking plan.
Beth El has failed to comply with the procedural requirements set out in the use permit. Before submitting its parking plan to the city, Beth El was required to "develop and complete the plan in consultation with the neighborhood residents and the City's Traffic Engineer" and to "present the plan to a scheduled meeting of the neighborhood residents for review and comment." Comments of the neighbors were to be considered before the submittal of the Plan to the City of Berkeley. Has Beth El presented its plan to you?
The parking plan submitted by Beth El is a unilateral attempt to change both the agreement with LOCCNA and the conditions approved by the Berkeley City Council in the Conditional Use Permit. Parking is one of the most controversial impacts of this project. The city, LOCCNA, and Beth El's leaders invested significant resources and effort through mediation to reach an agreement. Its parking plan expressly violates the terms and conditions of the use permit, and it is also a breach of trust with the neighborhood. The city must fully enforce the Conditional Use Permit and all of the terms of settlement.
The other high visibility issue in the negotiations was preserving, and hopefully ultimately daylighting, Codornices Creek. The agreement required that the banks of the creek be rehabilitated. Now Beth El is asking the city for permission to delay its landscaping plans into the future. Its efforts to date to stabilize the creek banks have failed, and anyone who looks can see evidence of slides. Beth El should be required to comply with all the conditions specified in the construction permit, including the rehabilitation of Codornices Creek, before it is permitted to occupy its building complex.
Beth El is intruding its building complex into the midst of our neighborhood, and now it is saying that it will not landscape its property until some future date. Why should it be permitted to impose an eyesore on its neighbors? Landscaping was one of the elements of the building plans submitted to, and approved by, the city. The city should make sure the plans have been followed completely before permitting occupancy.