Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee Meeting Summary - June 24, 2025
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Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee Meeting Summary - June 24, 2025
The Oakland City Council's Community & Economic Development (CED) Committee convened on June 24, 2025, at 1:33 PM. Chair Rowena Brown presided, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife, Janani Ramachandran, and Zac Unger present. After initial routine items, the committee noted a quorum of the full City Council was present and formally adjourned the committee meeting to convene as a Special Meeting of the Full Council at 1:38 PM for the remaining action items. Staff reports and public testimony were heard on six substantive agenda items, all of which were forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council agenda.
Public Comments & Testimony
Public comment was received on several items. On Item 5 (Rent Adjustment Ordinance Amendment), 19 speakers provided testimony. Tenants' rights advocates (from ACE, Oakland Tenants Union, East Bay Housing Organizations) strongly opposed the amendment, arguing it creates a dangerous loophole bypassing rent control, sets a precedent for other pass-through costs, and is unnecessary given existing fair return petitions. Small housing providers and landlord associations (Spay Rental Housing Association, East Bay Rental Housing Association) supported the measure, citing rising operating costs (garbage rates up 48% over six years vs. a CPI rent cap of 0.8% in the current year) and financial struggles to maintain properties.
On Item 7 (Montclair Firehouse Lease), six speakers voiced strong support, highlighting the building's deteriorated condition and the applicants' successful history of transforming an abandoned church into a performing arts center in Piedmont through volunteer labor and community fundraising.
On Item 8 (César E. Chávez Library Lease), four speakers expressed support for the lease, emphasizing the library's role as a vital community hub, its large Spanish-language collection, and its location at the Fruitvale BART station.
Public testimony on other items included requests for further historic preservation protections (Item 3), concerns about federal funding constraints and process transparency (Item 6, Open Forum).
Discussion Items
Item 3: Omnibus Planning Code Amendments (Streamlining Design Review) Planning staff presented comprehensive amendments to establish objective design standards and create ministerial (by-right) approval processes for housing projects up to 30 units, in compliance with state laws and the Housing Element. The amendments also addressed design review exemptions, historic property demolitions, and downtown sea level rise zones. A request from Oakland Heritage Alliance to include properties "determined eligible" for the National Register was debated. Staff and the City Attorney advised against it, citing potential for abuse to halt development. The committee instead approved the staff-proposed amendment adding the words "Or State Landmark, Listed On The National Register."
Item 4: 2025 Code Amendments (ADUs / Fire Zone) Staff presented code updates aligning ADU regulations with recent state law (SB 1211) and updating the definition of Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones to match the map recently adopted by the City Council. A clerical typo in the subsection numbering was corrected, replacing the number 10 with 12.
Item 5: Rent Adjustment Ordinance Amendment (Waste Services) As a result of a legal settlement, the city was required to forward an ordinance allowing landlords to petition for rent increases based on increased waste and recycling service costs, separate from the annual CPI increase. Staff emphasized the item was forwarded for council consideration only and noted that no neighboring rent control jurisdictions allow such a pass-through. The committee moved to forward the item to the full council with no recommendation.
Item 6: Five-Year Consolidated Plan & Annual Action Plan Adoption The committee reviewed the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, which outlines the use of over $14,131,647 in HUD formula grants (CDBG, HOME, ESG, HOPWA) for affordable housing, community development, and homelessness services. Staff highlighted a new $7 million Pro-Housing grant for affordable housing pre-development and permit streamlining. Councilmember Fife inquired about contingency plans should federal funding be jeopardized.
Item 7: East Bay Recreation & Culture Club Lease (Montclair Firehouse) Councilmember Ramachandran sponsored a resolution to direct the City Administrator to negotiate a lease with a nonprofit to rehabilitate and operate the former Montclair Firehouse as a community arts center. The applicant described a plan to raise $500,000 in donations and primarily use volunteer labor for renovations, citing a successful similar project in Piedmont. The property has been vacant since 1989.
Item 8: New César E. Chávez Library Lease Staff recommended authorizing a 5-year lease (with two 5-year renewal options) for the library at the Fruitvale Transit Village. The lease includes a base rent of $1.25/sq ft ($18,898.75/month) and an initial back-rent payment of $340,177.50 to cover the gap since the previous lease expired in 2023. Staff confirmed all costs were already budgeted.
Key Outcomes
The Committee forwarded the following items to the July 1, 2025 City Council agenda with the following actions:
- Item 3 (Omnibus Planning Code): Approved as amended. Forwarded as a Public Hearing.
- Item 4 (ADU/Fire Zone Code Amendments): Approved as amended. Forwarded as a Public Hearing.
- Item 5 (Rent Adjustment Ordinance): Forwarded with No Recommendation from the committee.
- Item 6 (Consolidated Plan): Approved. Forwarded as a Public Hearing.
- Item 7 (Montclair Firehouse Lease): Approved. Forwarded to the Consent Agenda.
- Item 8 (Chávez Library Lease): Approved. Forwarded to the Consent Agenda.
All votes on these items were unanimous (4-0). The meeting adjourned at 4:05 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the community economic committee meeting for today's date, June 24th, 2025. The time is now 133 p.m. and this meeting has come to order. Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker's card on items on this agenda. If you are here with us in chambers and you would like to submit a speaker's card, please fill out one and turn into myself or clerk representative to your right, my left. Before the item is read into record. Online speaker requests were due 24 hours prior to this meeting, making it time 130 p.m. yesterday. The meeting came to order at 133 p.m. Speaker cards were no longer be accepted ten minutes after the meeting has begun, making at time 143 p.m. With that, we would now proceed to take roll. Councilmember Fife. Present. Councilmember Ramachandra. Present. Councilmember Unger. Here. And Chair Brown. Present. This motion passed. We have four members present. And before you begin, Chair Brown, do you have any announcements? Yep. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for joining the community and economic development committee. Um we have a very full agenda. Um and so on that note, just want to ensure that um everyone's voice can be heard, and so we will limit um public comment to one uh minute per speaker. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, for your announcements. Moving to the first item of the day, which is approval of the draft minutes of the committee meeting on June 10th, 2025. I'll move approval. Second. We have a motion made by Councilmember Unger, seconded by Councilmember Ramachandran to accept approval of the draft minutes of the committee meeting of June 10th, 2025 as is on roll, Councilmember Fife. Aye. Council Member Ramachandran. Aye. Councilmember Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. This motion passes with four ayes to accept the draft minutes of the committee meeting on June 10th, 2025. Moving to item two, determination schedule outstanding committee items, and this is also known as your pending list. And you do have one speaker for this item. Okay, excellent. Thank you so much. Um administrator Lake, um, any changes on this. Thank you, Chair. No changes at this time. Okay. Thank you.
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