50 Arden Rd, Berkeley, CA 94704

Environmental Safety-Residential District

The specific purpose of the Environmental Safety-Residential district is to: Provide a means to implement the General Plan and the Hazard Mitigation Plan to reduce the potential for life loss, injury, and economic damage to Berkeley residents from earthquakes, wildfires, and landslides and to protect the City's unique character and values from being compromised by hazard events by reducing the vulnerability of one of the most unique and inaccessible neighborhoods in the Hill Hazardous Fire Area; Protect the lives and property of Panoramic Hill residents in Berkeley and adjoining parts of Oakland and avoid destruction or damage to the natural environment through the application of special development regulations and by ensuring that the review of new development and alterations or additions to existing structures will require analysis and mitigation of geologic, seismic, and fire hazards; Limit the uses of land permitted to those which are necessary to serve the housing and access needs of the district's inhabitants and will not put either current or future residents at risk due to the area's inadequate infrastructure and special vulnerability to natural hazards; Protect the health and safety of current and future residents by ensuring that no new dwelling units will be built and no land may be subdivided to allow the construction of additional dwelling units until plans are in place that identify the future distribution, location, and extent of development in the Berkeley and Oakland neighborhoods of Panoramic Hill, including provisions to develop and maintain a system of public facilities and services adequate to meet the needs of the future population; Establish procedures to ensure that the development review process provides for consideration of the cumulative impact of new construction, alterations, and changes in use that have the potential to increase the population or intensify the use of land in the district together with the impacts of other projects on Panoramic Hill and within adjacent areas of Berkeley and Oakland; Restrict the size and occupancy of residential structures by imposing standards that reflect the district's limited capacity to accommodate additional population due to poor access, inadequate infrastructure, vulnerability to natural hazards and the fact that a majority of the existing development does not conform to standards that the City adopted in 1979; Assure the effective use of emergency measures available to save lives and property; Give reasonable protection to views and privacy, yet allow appropriate development of all property as long as public services and access are adequate to ensure protection of the health and safety of residents in this vulnerable area; and Protect the integrity of the Panoramic Hill Historic District by ensuring that alterations to existing buildings and new construction maintain the existing pattern of development, are appropriate to the hillside setting, and do not impair the architectural significance of contributing structures.