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If you missed the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) meeting last night, there was an interesting bit of info from Shannon Dodge (BART staff). BART needs to increase ridership from stations they develop. They are a transit agency, that makes sense. 
The thing is that when we build housing on those parking lots, Berkeley's stations will lose some parking spots. The riders who used to rely on those spots will find another way to the station or park their car elsewhere. Either way, that's a drop in parking revenue for BART.
Shannon said that in order to increase ridership from Ashby and North Berkeley, the developments at those stations will need to be an average of 6 stories (so some parts could be lower, and some will be higher). A lot of us like the idea of 7 or 8, but we could settle for 6
Many suspect that in a post-covid world there will be less demand for parking spots at BART stations, and over here at North Berkeley Now! we welcome the prospect of replacing storage for cars with homes for people.
People > Cars, everytime
People > Cars, everytime
It's estimated that the city will need $200k for each affordable home at the BART stations. We know that parking garages are expensive and each spot can cost up to $80k! Imagine:
$12 million = 150 parking spots or 60 permanently affordable homes. We choose homes!
$12 million = 150 parking spots or 60 permanently affordable homes. We choose homes!
We'll let you know when there's another CAG meeting to show up to, but in the meantime, think about what you'd like at the North Berkeley BART station:
lots of parking for cars?
or lots of homes for people?
lots of parking for cars?or lots of homes for people?
