The Berkeley Kitchen Forum

Should Elmwood Hardware renovate the store and build 4 housing units?

Status as of March 21, 2007

To: Friends and Neighbors of Elmwood Hardware

From: Tad Laird

I want to thank all our wonderful neighbors and customers who have shown us such outstanding support through Kitchen Democracy. It is encouraging to know that so many people ( besides my wife and I ) care deeply about maintaining an outdated institution like Elmwood Hardware.

We took your support, along with our plans, and met with a number of staff and elected officials at the City of Berkeley. The message from all of them was clear and specific - The CIty would love for us to do the project, and clearly felt it would be a valuable addition to the fabric of the Elmwood. But the zoning laws, specific and unique to the Elmwood, would not allow them to find in favor of approving this project. This means we would have to apply and fight for 3 separate variances in order to get just the Zoning approval, and if we did not get any one of those three, the entire project would have to be dropped. This was an unanticipated cost of doing as much outreach and collaboration on the design and specifics with so many neighbors and merchants prior to submitting. If we had applied for far more than we needed, we could have negotiated aspects of the project away - but that is not now an option. We are still fairly sure that eventually we would be able to get these variances, but the uncertainty of the time frame and the costs involved ( which are acknowledged to be a long time and very expensive ) make pursuing this project essentially impossible for us.

But we have not given up on keeping a Hardware Store of some kind in the Elmwood. As evidenced by the recent decisions of City staff and the Zoning Board, supported by many neighbors and it appears our council, other aspects of our unique Elmwood Zoning are easily circumvented. With the recent approval of 3 more clothing stores, a 50 table bar with restaurant, and more jewelry/gift stores, my wife and I, as merchants and as landlords, need to acknowledge the dramatic changes occuring around us. Soon we will see our first international clothing chain opening as an anchor tenant at College and Ashby, something I could never have imagined that this neighborhood would previously approve. Soon, I fear, the Elmwood will be just another trendy location for chain stores to open branches in. And as just the first of the many new shops that will soon be opening in our district, it sends a clear signal as to the type of commercial area the City and quite a few others ( per the approval through another Kitchen Democracy issue ) want in our neighborhood.

A major difference between these projects/uses and ours is that those buildings are oversized and non-conforming, so they are allowed to take advantage of the benefits of their non-conformance, but do not have to remediate any of the negatives. There is also many advantages to being a well-known and politically-connected developer in the City of Berkeley. Since we have no such connections or abilities, we are forced to follow a simpler and much smaller-scale path, which I can outline in the hopes of keeping ( or gaining ) your support -

First, we cannot afford to keep the hardware store its current size, as it cannot generate the business or income required to make the necessary upgrades to the building. We will submit plans to replace the interior wall and the storefront that was lost between the stationers and the hardware store when we expanded in the 1950s. In this space we will apply for a restuarant / cafe permit. Although a quota'd use, this is one of the only business categories in Berkeley that has seen any growth in the last 10 years, and it should be capable of generating rental income that will allow us to afford many of the upgrades the building requires.

Second, if the cafe is approved, we will ask the City for a single variance - for Floor Area Ratio - to allow us to rebuild and expand the warehouse/office space at the very rear of the property. If this can get approved, we see a scenario where the front of the store has the kitchen/housewares/garden departments ( similar to the way it is now ) and the existing rear warehouse will have the plumbing/electrical/paint/fasteners/hardware/locksmith areas, with new warehouse storage above that to hold all our backstock and our offices. If this can be built easily and affordably ( as warehouse space, it should be far less expensive per square foot than housing would be ) we have a good chance to keep the hardware store going. Otherwise, we have to face the possiblity of losing the full-service hardware, and specializing in one or two of our most profitable departments.

We never wanted to go this route, but it is the path blazed by Gordon Commercial and whole-heartedly supported by our City, and we cannot afford to not follow it. Ideally, the council would recognize that the Elmwood Zoning has now been so violated as to warrant throwing the entire law out and use a section of Berkeleys approved zoning code that would be enforcable, but it is unlikely that we will see anything that reasonable happening.

Eventually, we may find a City receptive to adding housing in the Elmwood, encourages mixed use and green development, and a zoning law that actually encourages neighborhood development to the benefit of the neighbors, and we will try to resurrect our plans then, if only for our own occupancy, because I still fell this is one of the best neighborhoods anywhere to live in. It is just not an option for us now -

As always, I am very approachable to any other ideas, comments, or suggestions. I think we can all be assured that change is coming upon the Elmwood quickly, and we will hope that this "new" Elmwood generates all the wonderful memories for our children that the "old" Elmwood left us with.

Thanks again -
Tad and Nancy Laird , Elmwood Hardware