Livable Berkeley Activities and Initiatives

Downtown Area Plan Update: 
On February 23, the Berkeley City Council voted 8-1 to forward the Mayor's "Green Pathway" proposal for the Downtown Plan to the Planning Commission and to put it on the ballot in November 2010.  In response to the August 2009 referendum on the DAP, the Council first voted unanimously to rescind the Plan they adopted in July 2009.
 
At their July 13 meeting, the City Council voted 7-2 to put the Downtown Area Plan on the November ballot. 
 
The ballot language, sponsored by Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Capitelli, Maio and Moore can be found here:
 
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=57014 
The proposal, sponsored in February by Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Capitelli and Wozniak, requires all new buildings in the downtown to meet green building requirements including LEED Gold certification.  In exchange for a reduced entitlement process, the Voluntary Green Pathway requires affordable housing and prevailing wage provisions.  Following the Palmer decision, which made inclusionary zoning requirements illegal in California, the Mayor’s Green Pathway is an innovative approach to maintaining Berkeley’s commitment to affordable housing. See the attachments below for the full text of the Mayor's proposal.
 
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Berkeley's Climate Action Plan was adopted by the City Council on June 2, 2009.  From here, Livable Berkeley will be working to help implement Climate Action programs to make the Plan the success. Contact us to get involved!
 
In November 2006, Berkeley voters issued a bold call to action on global warming - to reduce our entire community's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. To achieve this goal, the city developed a Climate Action Plan. Find out more...