Laurel Community Finds More Flaws
in Apartment Proposal

Laurel residents and merchants at a Jan. 15, 2008 community meeting found additional flaws in a proposed five-story, 115-unit apartment block proposed for the corner of High St. and MacArthur Blvd.

The City planning commission mandated the meeting when the developer, AMG & Associates of Encino, showed up at a Dec. 12, 2007 session of a commission subcommittee with revised plans made public only three hours earlier.

It turned out most of the revisions were cosmetic changes to the outside wall surfaces, plus some modified landscaping. Although the community meeting found issues with these tweaks, larger problems were brought out:

Big-rig trucks on highway 580: The building would sit next to highway 580, rising above it. Oakland is in danger of losing the California scenic highway designation that currently applies to 580, banning big-rig trucks east of Grand Avenue. Instead of coming closer to the tipping point of losing the designation, Oakland should move in the opposite direction.

Councilmember Quan's chief of staff tried to offer assurance from a telephone conversation with a CalTrans staffer that there is no problem. Quan's office has used alleged telephone conversations, inherently unverifiable, for damage control on other issues. For example, when we publicized several reports in the Los Angeles Times that LA had recruited 330 officers net in two years, the councilmember tried to deny the facts with a report of a telephone call. The chief of staff said at the meeting he would try to get a confirming letter.

City subsidy: A basic problem with the building is that five stories is out of character for the area. The developer, in order to make a profit and pay current landowner Alex Hahn a hefty price for the parcel, asserts the need for at least 115 units. Yet AMG has never ruled out coming to the City for a grant or a low-interest loan. The AMG representative at the meeting said "we are not asking for a subsidy" but did not respond when asked to state in writing it will not ask for a subsidy.

Retail character of Laurel: The Laurel merchants have spent more than half a million dollars through their business improvement district adding amenities to the retail district along MacArthur Blvd. They rightly see the project as a threat to the entire district, not only for its lack of retail but for its variances and exceptions setting a precedent to replace retail stores with huge housing developments.

It became clear in discussion at the meeting that the proposed token 3200 feet of retail space on the ground floor is unlikely to prosper. There are only five customer parking spaces in the garage. The AMG person claimed the retail is intended to attract a pedestrian clientele. Except for residents of the building itself, there are few such persons. Potential customers would drive to the area, and there is no available parking lot nearby.

Worse, the five spaces are in a garage with an entrance/exit on MacArthur Blvd., presenting difficult access and traffic issues that will discourage people from convenient shopping stops.

St. Lawrence O'Toole school on High Street generously provided facilities for the community meeting.

The AMG-Quan proposal returns to the design review committee of the planning commission at 5 p.m., Wed., Jan. 23, in hearing room one of City Hall.

Councilmember's Newsletter Report

Councilmember Quan describes the meeting this way in her Jan. 19, 2008 newsletter: "Approximately 50 residents from the Laurel and Maxwell Park communities attended a meeting to comment on the design of the Proposed AMG Senior Project for High and MacArthur on January 15. The new designs improve the exterior texture and provide an opening on the MacArthur side, parting it into two buildings. Following this meeting, the Planning Commission Design Review subcommittee will review the plans at their January 23 at 4 pm at City Hall. This meeting focuses on the appropriateness of the design only, not the overall value of the project."

In fact, design review extends to "uses which require special design treatment and consideration of relationships to the physical surroundings." (Oakland Municipal Code, 17.136.010) Design review certainly includes an issue like parking facilities so cramped that the alleged retail space is not feasible. Design review certainly encompasses a hulk of a building that risks loss of scenic highway designation and the return of big-rig trucks to highway 580.

Also, the committee meeting is announced for 5 p.m., not 4 p.m.