The BART Board of Directors will receive an update on the Ashby Station TOD Project at their Board Meeting on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 1pm. The Meeting Agenda is available here:
https://bart.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
Ashby Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Project Virtual Community Meeting
Traction Power Substation (TPSS) Update
Presentation slides from the November 8 Virtual Community Meeting
Update September 2023:
The City of Berkeley and BART staff have been actively engaged since the July 18th City Council meeting to develop a set of project requirements and community benefits, as well as an economic valuation of the City’s option for air rights over the West Lot. This will enable the ASHBY TOD project to move forward to a developer solicitation. These discussions will result in an Amended Memorandum of Agreement which will be considered in January 2024. Following approval of the Amended Memorandum of Agreement by the BART Board and the City Council, a Circulation Framework identifying the developable area will be prepared by BART. We anticipate that the solicitation for a developer of the project will be issued in Q2 2024.
Background
Thirty years ago, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) transit-oriented development (TOD) program was established to build BART’s ridership base and to support local economic development efforts. BART’s TOD program has evolved to respond to multiple changing societal demands, including the need to address climate and equity challenges. One of BART’s TOD goals for 2020-2025 is to advance racial and economic equity by prioritizing housing for lower income residents in areas experiencing displacement as well as high-opportunity communities at the core of the BART system. Learn more about BART’s TOD Workplan here.
In close partnership with the City of Berkeley, BART is in the early planning stages of this predevelopment process. Hundreds of new homes affordable to people with a variety of incomes, retail and/or cultural uses complementing the adjacent Lorin District businesses, and new gathering spaces are among the goals that residents of Berkeley identified for transit-oriented development (TOD) at Ashby.
Site Overview
The Ashby BART Station development sites are comprised of a 4.3 acre site (West Lot) on the west side of Adeline and a 1.7 acre site (East Lot) on the east side of Adeline. The West Lot is adjacent to the Ashby BART Station and the East Lot is adjacent to the Ed Roberts Campus, which was an earlier phase of TOD; both are currently used for BART rider parking. Any develppment proposal will include both the West Lot and the East Lot. The Flea Market operates at the West Lot on weekends. A site locator is shown below.
Image credit: Van Meter Williams Pollack
Collaboration between the City of Berkeley and BART: 2015-2021
Adeline Corridor Specific Plan
In 2015, the City began a robust community process to develop a plan for the Adeline Street corridor which includes the Ashby BART station and its parking lots. Sites close to transit (whether BART or other high frequency transit) present opportunities for adding new housing and jobs and providing economic stimulus to surrounding areas. With funding from MTC and ABAG, the Adeline Corridor Specific Plan was developed and adopted by the City in 2020. The Adeline Corridor Specific Plan identifies several goals for development of the Ashby BART station, but was not specifically focused on the development of the BART property.
In the final stages of the plan’s development, the State of California passed Assembly Bill 2923 (Chiu/Grayson, 2018) which imposed requirements for the minimum density, height, floor-area ratio and parking for zoning of certain BART-owned property including these sites. Therefore, in 2019, Berkeley and BART developed a Memorandum of Understanding to complete further work to plan for this development opportunity.
Memorandum of Understanding
In 2020, the BART Board of Directors and the Berkeley City Council both unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that established a City-led community advisory process to articulate community-centered goals for zoning and development of TOD at Ashby and North Berkeley; called for BART’s future developer selection process to consider those community-centered goals; and set deadline for the City to rezone the sites and to decide whether to reserve City affordable housing funds for projects at Ashby and North Berkeley. In June 2022, the Berkeley City Council and the BART Board of Directors unanimously approved a Memorandum of Agreement for the North Berkeley and Ashby Transit-Oriented Developments.
Community Advisory Group (CAG)
Under the terms of the MOU, BART and Berkeley worked closely from January 2020 to December 2021 with a Council- appointed Community Advisory Group (CAG) through public meetings to to lay the foundation for development at both the Ashby BART and North Berkeley stations and address issues of affordable housing, land use, station access, building form, and new public spaces that would benefit the current and future residents as well as BART riders. The eight CAG meetings were public and were complemented by three community meetings, where the general public provided input on development priorities for the Ashby and North Berkeley stations.
BART and the City of Berkeley want to ensure all stakeholders interested in future transit-oriented development at the Ashby BART station are involved, informed, and provide input. Below is a list of organizations that have been active in this discussion to date. If you represent an organization that is interested in engaging in the Ashby TOD planning process, please reach out to [email protected].
Community Services United - Berkeley Flea Market
Ed Roberts Campus
Equity 4 Black Berkeley
Friends of Adeline
Livable Berkeley
The Lorin District Berkeley
South Berkeley NOW
Walk / Bike Berkeley
Joint Vision and Priorities
The CAG helped shape the City-BART “Joint Vision and Priorities for Transit-Oriented Development for Ashby and North Berkeley Stations” (JVP). In June 2022, the Berkeley City Council and the BART Board of Directors unanimously apprved the Joint Vision and Priorities.
City Affordable Housing Funding Reservation
In April 2021, the Berkeley City Council provisionally reserved $53 million of City-controlled funds as the subsidy needed to achieve 35% affordable housing at the Ashby and North Berkeley TODs. The City is now considering ways of generating more funds to increase the affordability level to 50% or higher.
Flea Market Relocation Study
The Flea Market is an important community asset and resource that is currently held in the West Lot on weekends. In order to satisfy the housing goals articulated in the JVP the West Lot must be available for development and the Flea Market must be relocated. The JVP anticipates a relocated Flea Market by Ashby station and the new housing TOD. BART is working with experts to study alternative sites for a permanent home for the Flea Market in a potential linear plaza along Adeline Street. Vendors and representatives of the Flea Market are helping shape these alternatives. The Adeline “road diet” includes plans for an extended plaza that will provide space for many community activities including a new permanent home for the Flea Market.
Corridor Access Plan
The Berkeley-El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan provides a rare opportunity to comprehensively analyze how residents in Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Albany, Kensington, Emeryville, and Oakland who currently drive and park at the El Cerrito Plaza, North Berkeley, and Ashby stations could access BART along the corridor once TOD is built on the existing parking lots. It will balance the need for BART rider parking, which is expensive and uses a lot of space, with transportation options that enhance community vibrancy and safety. BART is making a recommendation for a maximum of 85 on-site replacement parking spaces at Ashby.
Next Steps
BART will select a developer via a competitive process which is planned to start in early summer 2023. In preparation for that, the following studies are underway.
Adeline Roadway Reconfiguration
The Ashby, Adeline, and Martin Luther King roadway pattern is not welcoming or safe for people traveling on foot or bike. A goal of the ACSP and JVP is to develop a pedestrian- and bike-friendly TOD. A prior planning study determined that it was feasible to convert some travel lanes on Adeline into a linear plaza – to put Adeline on a “road diet” - without calming traffic flow. In November 2022, the Berkeley City Council approved a road diet option for Adeline and directed staff to move forward with design.
Objective Design Standards
The Objective Design Standards will be the rules approved by the City of Berkeley to govern how the developer designs the new buildings to be constructed on each BART property. These standards will set additional limits on what kind of construction can be built on the properties, and city planning staff will review the architect’s designs for consistency with the standards. The Objective Design Standards will be developed through an inclusive process that will include input from residents and other stakeholders, and will be finalized for each station individually following the selection of a developer. This process is currently underway for the North Berkeley station.
MOU Amendment
BART and Berkeley are working together to amend the MOU to provide additional guidance over the disposition of the Berkeley’s air rights over the West Lot and the result of the studies that have taken place since 2020.
Recent Actions
- April 6, 2022: Planning Commission Public Hearing and recommendation to City Council on the draft zoning and General Plan Amendments, JPA, and Final EIR.
- April 19, 2022: City Council Work Session on draft zoning and General Plan amendments, JVP, Final EIR, and key issues related to the MOA, Flea Market relocation and Adeline road reconfiguration.
- May 26, 2022: BART Board information item on recommended replacement parking maximums, JVP, and MOA.
- June 2, 2022: City Council certified the Final EIR, approved the draft zoning ( R-BMU)(first reading of Ordinance, second reading scheduled for June 28,2022), General Plan amendments, JVP, and MOA.
- June 9: BART Board approval of recommended replacement parking maximums, JVP, and MOA.
- July 2022: BART issues RFQ for North Berkeley
- October 2022: Berkeley acts on Adeline Corridor, Flea Market and Air Rights issues
- Dec 2022: North Berkeley developer selection to BART Board
Community Engagement
D&A Communications has been engaged by BART to coordinate community engagement. If you wish to submit a comment or question regarding the Ashby TOD, please attend the community meetings. If you wish to contact BART with a question about the Ashby TOD please email: [email protected].