3.1 Land Use & Housing

3.1 Land Use and Housing This section presents the environmental setting and impact analysis on land use in the Emeryville General Plan. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING PHYSICAL SETTING Land Use Evolution Before the colonization of the area by Spain in 1776, the Emeryville area was the site of extensive Native American settlements. Mudflats rich with clams and rocky areas with oysters, plus fishing, hunting, and acorns from the local oak trees, provided a rich and easily exploited food source for the residents. They would dispose of their clam and oyster shells in a single place, over time creating a huge mound—the Emeryville Shellmound. After settlement by Europeans, Emeryville became a city in its own right, largely through the efforts of businessman Joseph S. Emery who started a stonework contracting business in San Francisco. In 1859, Emery purchased a 185-acre tract of land north of Oakland and began to develop projects in the area. A community began to develop around the Emery Tract, and the town of Emeryville was officially incorporated in 1896, taking the name of its founder. In 1871 Emery financed the construction of the San Pablo Avenue Horse Cart Railroad, which connected Oakland to Emeryville. He was also one of the primary builders of the California- Nevada Railroad, which began in Oakland, crossed the burgeoning Emery Tract, and terminated in Orinda. Emeryville soon became a city of big industrial enterprises and rail terminals. Successive years saw further consolidation of industry, including the paint factory of Sherwin- Williams and Shell Development, the research arm of Shell Oil Company. Residential areas remained confined to small portions at the city’s eastern edge, bordering Oakland. As the city built out, bay fill was considered viable for creating new land. The Emeryville Peninsula was created in the 1960s by filling shallow water areas. In the 1970s Emeryville’s landscape began to change once again as some of the city’s older industries had already begun to move to the suburbs or close up shop altogether. The city’s first major residential development—the 1,249-unit Watergate Apartments—was completed in 1971. In the mid 1970s, parks and a 500-berth marina were created by filling in 12 additional acres of the San Francisco Bay to create a small boat harbor. Multi-story office buildings rose between the Eastshore Freeway and San Francisco Bay. With vacant warehouse and industrial space becoming available, Emeryville began to see the development of a community of artists who converted several of the buildings into live/work space. In 1984, the city’s second major housing development—the high-rise Pacific Park Plaza— 3.1-1 Emeryville General Plan Draft Environmental Impact Report was completed. Between them, Watergate and Pacific Park Plaza more than doubled the city’s population, from 2,681 in 1970 to 5,740 in 1990. As large tracts of industrial land—originally built at low intensities and supporting many fewer workers per acre of land than contemporary businesses—have continued to be redeveloped, Emeryville’s transformation over the past two decades has been dramatic, with substantial increases in employment and population. The city’s evolution continues to this day. The sections below evaluate Emeryville’s recent and current development trends. Existing Land Use Emeryville’s land use transformation over the past 20 years has been extensive. Formerly dominated by manufacturing and distribution, the city is now marked by ever increasing development of office, regional retail, and high-density residential land uses, as well as mixed-use developments. Almost entirely built out, with little to no vacant land, Emeryville’s growth has primarily been through redevelopment of existing land uses and rehabilitation of older buildings. Existing land use data is provided as of 2005, the most recent data available when the Notice of Preparation for the project was issued. Previously an industrial town, the city is no longer dominated by a single land use. Around half of the developable land in the City—that is, excluding roads, highways, and other rights-of-way—is in Commercial (36 percent) or Industrial (14 percent) use, and just under a quarter (21 percent) is used for housing. Much of the land identified as commercial, however, is devoted to surface parking lots. The remainder of the city is in Public use (seven percent), Parks and Open Space (seven percent), or a mix of uses (seven percent). Only around 40 acres, or seven percent of the land, is vacant. Specific acreages for each land use are shown in Table 3.1-1. (Land attributed to roads and rights-of-ways are not included in the table.) Table 3.1-1: Existing Land Use Distribution (2005) Acres Percent Commercial 222.0 36 Residential 126.2 21 Industrial 87.5 14 Mixed Use 48.0 8 Public 45.7 7 Parks and Open Space 44.7 7 Vacant/ Unassigned 40.8 7 Total 615.1 100 Source: Dyett & Bhatia, 2008; Metroscan; City of Emeryville, 2005. Almost all of the Bayfront and freeway edge area west of the railroad tracks has been redeveloped in the past 30 years. Much of this space is devoted to retail and office uses in large-scale 3.1-2 Chapter 3: Settings, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures developments, such as Bay Street, IKEA, the Public Marketplace, and Powell Street Plaza, which serve a regional clientele. Almost no industrial uses remain in this area. Residential developments in this area are few in number, but large in size and high in density. In total, they comprise about 2,750 housing units—half of the housing in the city. Development to the east of the railroad is more diverse in use, scale, and age. Industrial, office, and residential uses are geographically closer to one another. Parcel and building sizes generally diminish towards the east, where pre-war structures are supplemented with new residential and commercial construction. Two large corporate campuses—Novartis and Pixar—dominate the area south of Powell Street while the southern edge of the city is marked by “big box” retail. Emeryville’s public schools and much of its locally-oriented retail businesses lie along or near San Pablo Avenue, a major boulevard and state route which connects Emeryville with Oakland and Berkeley. In the eastern residential neighborhoods, east of Doyle Street and San Pablo Avenue, the Triangle and Doyle Street neighborhoods are composed of lower density homes. Because Emeryville is largely flat, topography does not play a factor in the city’s land use pattern. Transportation corridors, however, do split the city into several sub-districts. The main divisions are I-80 and the railroad, and to a smaller extent, Powell Street. I-580 separates Emeryville from Oakland along the southern city limits, although a portion of the area north of I-580 is in Oakland. 3.1-3 Figure: 3.1-1 EXISTING LAND USE (2005) Residential 0-7 du/acre 8-13 du/acre 14-20 du/acre 21-45 du/acre PEABODY LN 46-60 du/acre 61-75 du/acre R 76+ du/acre Pt. Emery BERKELEY Mixed Use EMERYVILLE T Hotel 63RD S Retail Office Eastshore State Park L Research & Development EMERYVILLE T OAKLAND Light Industrial 62ND S L L Industrial Marina L Public/Institutional Park L Marina PELA D Parks & Open Space Amtrack EA U L ST Vacant Transportation/ROW SHELLMOUND WAY L Live/Work Unit R Residential Mixed Use C H R Sources: City of Emeryville, 2005; IS T Metroscan Data, 2005. IE A Fire VE Station Emery High School CHIRON WAY Eastshore State Park AC Transit R L San Francisco Bay Anna EMERYVILLE Yates L E.S. OAKLAND L L L City L Hall R R 0 300 600 1200 2400 FEET INTERSTATE 580 Chapter 3: Settings, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures Residential As of 2008, Emeryville had an estimated population of 9,727 living in approximately 5,988housing units, according to the Department of Finance. An overwhelming proportion—88 percent—of the housing units in the city are multifamily. Multifamily residential developments range from the 320-foot tall Pacific Park Plaza development to just over 500 units in small (2-4 unit) structures. The city’s housing stock also includes over 600 single-family units, consisting of both detached and attached housing units. Half of the housing units in Emeryville are located west of the railroad tracks, almost entirely in large-scale multifamily developments. All of the housing on the Peninsula is located in the Watergate Condominium complex. The remainder of Emeryville’s housing is distributed evenly throughout the eastern part of the city, with the Doyle and Triangle neighborhoods predominantly residential in nature. Office and Research & Development Office is the dominant non-residential use in Emeryville, followed closely by industrial, retail, and mixed-use space. Around one-third of the 3.3 million square feet of office space in Emeryville is located on the Peninsula in the four Watergate office towers. The rest of the city’s office space is distributed throughout North and South Hollis, with notable concentrations along Christie Avenue and Park Avenue. Most of the research and development space in Emeryville—750,000 out of 970,000 square feet— is provided by Novartis. Pixar’s campus is classified as office space. Industrial Industrial uses once dominated Emeryville and they still constitute the most non-residential built square feet in the city, although that position has been slipping as manufacturing and warehouses are converted into other uses. Ninety-two percent of this industrial space is located between the railroad and the eastern residential neighborhoods, concentrated either along Hollis Street or at the western end of Park Avenue.

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