Meeting Overview

Mayor Adena Ishii opened the first regular Council meeting after the winter recess with a land acknowledgement. All eight councilmembers were present: Kesarwani (D1), Taplin (D2), Bartlett (D3), Tregub (D4), O’Keefe (D5), Blackaby (D6), Lunaparra (D7), and Humbert (D8). The meeting included a Poet Laureate transition ceremony (outgoing Aya DeLeon; incoming Hanan Masri). The Council announced Vice Mayor Cecilia Lunaparra for the coming quarter. A proposal to repeal Berkeley’s tear‑gas ban had been removed from the agenda prior to the meeting; multiple speakers urged the ban remain in place.

Main Agenda Items

• Consent calendar (adopted unanimously): notable items called out by councilmembers and public included
  • Item 6: extension/expansion of the Throne Lab portable toilet pilot (noted public interest; accessibility concerns raised about automatic timed egress signals).
  • Item 8: authorization allowing retail alcohol sales in the Telegraph Avenue commercial district.
  • Item 9: removal of outdated bicycle/e‑bike licensing/registration requirements and retention of the prohibition on adults riding bikes on sidewalks (exception for children); staff/advocates welcomed referral to create clearer rules.
  • Item 13: program to engage emerging nonprofit affordable‑housing developers.
  • Item 17: funding for Caminos al Exito; several councilmembers contributed discretionary funds.
  • Item 18: referral to develop comprehensive Transportation Design Standards; WalkBike Berkeley and other groups urged safety‑focused standards and field testing.
  • Item 19: referral to consider permitting tiny homes on wheels as ADUs.
  • KPFA building proponents spoke in favor of landmark designation.
• ADU condominium conversion (AB 1033) — public hearing and deliberation:
  • Staff presented a draft Chapter 21.29 to implement AB 1033, allowing ministerial condominiumization (separate sale) of qualifying ADUs without creating new development rights. Two councilmembers recused (Kesarwani, Tregub).
  • Vice Mayor Lunaparra introduced supplemental tenant protections (no‑fault eviction limits, right of first refusal, five‑year restrictions after certain evictions, option to pay mitigation fee or elect rent control).
  • Major policy tradeoffs debated: tenant protections (ROFR, eviction safeguards) versus preserving incentives for owners to convert/build ADUs; interaction with Measure Q and the Rent Stabilization Ordinance; and the scope/size of any affordable‑housing mitigation fee.
  • Council considered three approaches (staff/Planning Commission, Lunaparra/Bartlett supplemental, and a Mayor/majority supplemental capping tenant ROFR at 90 days).
  • A roll‑call vote adopted Councilmember Humbert’s substitute: shorten the ROFR period for “covered” tenants to 90 days (replacing a one‑year ROFR in the Planning Commission version); a motion to extend 90‑day ROFR to all tenants failed.
  • Negotiations continued on owner‑move‑in eviction language and the mitigation fee; no final ordinance adoption for AB 1033 was recorded in the excerpt.
• Zoning amendments / Program 32 (middle housing and design review):
  • Staff proposed by‑right approvals for qualifying housing projects on identified opportunity sites and an abbreviated staff‑level design review to preserve ministerial approvals.
  • Councilmember Kesarwani’s amendment to exempt Mixed‑Use Residential (MUR) middle‑housing projects from a non‑binding design‑review meeting passed unanimously; the ordinance as amended passed unanimously.
• Other adopted items: Vital Records fee changes and selected recreation/camp fee adjustments were approved unanimously; staff were asked to return with equity and benchmarking analyses.

Decisions Made

• Consent calendar adopted unanimously; items listed above will proceed per staff timelines.
• Council adopted Humbert’s substitute narrowing tenant exclusive right‑to‑purchase (ROFR) for covered ADU tenants to 90 days; a proposal to apply 90 days to all tenants failed.
• No final vote on the full AB 1033 ordinance was recorded; Council continued deliberations on owner‑move‑in treatment and the affordable‑housing mitigation fee.
• MUR middle‑housing projects were exempted from the Planning Commission’s non‑binding design‑review meeting; the related ordinance (as amended) passed unanimously.
• Vital Records fee changes and Recreation/camp fee adjustments were adopted unanimously.