Been a quiet couple of weeks. A planning commission came and went, but I didn't report on it because there was nothing new on the agenda. However, two new ZBA agendas have dropped with a number of small projects - and one gigantic one we have heard nothing about up until now!
Let's go through
the June 13 agenda first. Items of note:
1.
Infill house in Crawford Roberts. I don't see an address, but
it seems to be here. Pretty basic design. Seems to be custom built for the intended homeowner, not an affordable project.
2.
The ZBA agenda item associated with 214 S. Craig. We went over this earlier, as there appears to be a huge downgrade here from the older plan for a mid-sized apartment. There's not any detailed renderings here, but the plan looks less involved even than what was posted on Loopnet, with
the chopped-up home in the rear remaining. It's an Indovina project, though, so I suspect it will look sharp.
3. Construction of what's being termed "two two-unit residential structures" in Mount Washington.
This is really four units of semi-attached townhouses. It's hard to tell, as there's not a real parcel map,
but it looks like they will go at this corner, with the white house knocked down. Design is pretty awkward, due to the decision to marry a pretty new traditional architectural design with ground-floor garages.
The J
une 20 ZBA is much more interesting:
1.
Infill house in Upper Lawrenceville. Doesn't have an address, but
I believe the site is here. No renderings, unfortunately.
2.
A set of five new townhouses in the Strip District. This project is located at the corner of Penn and 27th, and
will replace a small warehouse/garage. There's a pretty detailed rendering here. The design is a bit generic/contemporary, but I like the use of black brick, which puts it a cut above similar houses I've seen in Lawrenceville. Also, parking off a shared driveway is a big plus (no curb cuts, other than one off the alley).
3. Finally, and most surprisingly,
a new 166-unit apartment building in North Oakland.
The location is here, immediately next to the similarly-scaled Julian, now under construction by the same developer (Hudson Companies). The building will include 17 affordable units.
More information (and better renderings) are available through a presentation given to OPDC here. The building seems to be a near-clone of The Julian, though it's a bit smaller due to the irregular nature of the block (though the unit count is higher - that building had only 148). It's going to be interesting to see if they can get this through the ZBA, because my understanding is there was a lot of NIMBY opposition to the last building, though the UI zoning over the area provides a lot of flexibility for the time being that is lacking in other parts of Oakland.