2437 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Telegraph Avenue Commercial District

The purpose of the Telegraph Avenue Commercial (C-T) district is to: Implement the General Plan’s designation of Avenue Commercial for this area; Implement the Southside Plan’s designation for the Telegraph Avenue Commercial Subarea; Regulate development in the Telegraph Avenue area to satisfy the needs of the population groups using the district, especially the University population and the surrounding resident population; Encourage the availability of a variety of goods and services which serve residents in the district and the University population but do not generate a high volume of vehicular traffic; Allow for uses which maintain the cultural quality of the district giving it its regional appeal without generating substantial vehicular traffic; Discourage uses which, because of size, the type of the products sold, vehicular traffic generated or other considerations, are more appropriately located elsewhere in the city; Encourage a mix of goods and services which will prevent the dominance of any one type of use and which will produce variations within the same category of uses; Encourage the establishment and maintenance of uses which will satisfy the needs of all age groups and attract a range of users and interests; Encourage the creation of additional housing in the district which is affordable, including housing for those who work or study nearby; Encourage those uses and structural architecture that reinforce, and discourage those uses and architecture that interrupt, the pedestrian orientation of the district; Encourage mixed commercial and residential uses; Encourage the construction of new housing in mixed use development on vacant properties and surface parking lots; Encourage the redevelopment of single-Story structures that are not historically significant resources with housing and mixed use development; Protect and enhance historically and architecturally significant buildings by ensuring that new development and alterations complement their existing architectural character; Encourage the establishment and survival of small, locally-owned businesses, thereby contributing to the vitality and diversity of the district; Discourage the type of commercial use whose establishment will contribute to the displacement of businesses that supply neighboring residents with essential goods and services; Ensure that new buildings, additions and renovations harmonize with and enhance the unique character of the district; Provide environmental protection for the residents of mixed residential commercial structures and surrounding residents from such detriments as noise, fumes and litter; Preserve the ethnic diversity of the resident population and users of the district and of the types of businesses providing ethnically diverse goods and services in the district; Protect and encourage the development of properties accessible to the disabled for both residential and commercial use; Discourage uses which are widely available in other shopping districts throughout the Bay Area and detract from the unique type and mix of goods and services available in the district.