South Shattuck Strategic Plan

This plan represents an effort on the part of the neighborhood residents and the City to address the specific economic, urban design, housing, and transportation issues presented inside. It complements the objectives of the Berkeley 1977 Master Plan, the 1998 General Plan update, and the 1990 South Berkeley Area Plan. The plan does not propose to make any changes to area's zoning regulations, but serves as a guide for future development and policy decisions for the area. This plan is available for purchase at the Planning and Development Department at 2120 Milvia Street for $5.

South Shattuck Strategic Plan (1997) PDF

Introduction

The commercial thoroughfares and residential neighborhoods between Downtown Berkeley and the Ashby BART station are an important piece of the Berkeley fabric. Shattuck Avenue and Adeline Street, the major southern transportation corridors into Downtown Berkeley, generate significant economic activity with both neighborhood and regional serving shopping destinations. Close to these busy commercial and transportation corridors are stable residential neighborhoods housing many families and households.

Overall, the South Shattuck area is vibrant and economically healthy. However, there are several specific areas in which improvements could be made. Along Shattuck Avenue between Dwight and Ward Street, there are several large sites that have remained continuously vacant, despite interest on the part of developers. On Shattuck between Ward and Ashby, in part because there are many successful businesses, there is a fair amount of traffic and parking congestion. And in the residential areas that surround these commercial corridors, there are several pockets of blighted housing and automobile traffic spills over into the neighborhoods from surrounding major streets.

The South Shattuck Strategic Plan represents an effort on the part of the neighborhood residents and the City to address the specific economic, urban design, housing, and transportation issues presented above. It complements the objectives in the City of Berkeley 1977 Master Plan, the 1998 General Plan Update, and the 1990 South Berkeley Area Plan. The Plan does not propose to make any changes to the area’s zoning regulations, but should rather serve as a guide for future development and policy decisions for the area.

In a series of five public workshops held between March and June 1996, South Shattuck residents, businesses, and property owners examined issues and developed potential opportunities for improvement in the areas of economic development, urban design, residential blight abatement, and transportation. These public discussions were conducted in the context of a strategic planning process designed to identify and implement specific short and long-term strategies and actions within the next one to five years.

 

Organization of Plan

The South Shattuck Strategic Plan is organized into four subject areas: Economic Development, Urban Design, Residential Blight Abatement, and Transportation. Each subject area has three parts. The Objectives and Strategies detail the policy approaches to the four subject areas. The Actions give an outline of specific measures which should be taken to achieve each Objective. At the end of the Plan is the Implementation Section, which assigns a priority, cost, and staffing need to each of the actions in the Plan.

South Shattuck Strategic Plan Objectives & Strategies

Economic Development

Improve and create commercial and mixed-use development along South Shattuck.

1 Encourage a development model of a variety of pedestrian-oriented neighborhood serving businesses supported by anchor commercial sites. Ensure the compatibility of commercial uses and adjacent residential neighborhoods through project design requirements that reduce negative impacts.

2 Encourage the reuse of vacant and underdeveloped Shattuck sites as mixed-use buildings with commercial frontage and residential above, concentrating particularly on opportunity sites that could significantly revitalize the area.

3 Create a partnership between the City, business owners and residents to make property improvements, attract desirable businesses to South Shattuck, and address public safety issues.

Urban Design

Create and enhance the identity of the South Shattuck commercial corridor as a unique and pleasant district that complements adjacent residential neighborhoods.

1 Enhance the pedestrian orientation of the commercial corridor through upgraded and expanded streetscape improvements and the reduction of automobile impacts.

2 Enhance the sense of place and district identity through careful building design and improved relationships between buildings, activities, residents, and shoppers in the South Shattuck corridor.

3 Enhance the visual quality of the corridor by creating an overall district identity, using features appropriate to each of the target areas.

 

Residential Blight Abatement

Ensure that residential properties are used and maintained according to appropriate standards.

1 Address the problem of seriously blighted properties in the South Shattuck area using both enforcement mechanisms and assistance to property owners.

2 Prevent the future development of blighting conditions in the residential area.

Transportation

Make traffic improvements which complement economic development and urban design goals, encourage the use of alternatives to the automobile, and preserve the quality of life in residential neighborhoods.

1 Make capital improvements in the public right-of-way which increase pedestrian access and safety on commercial streets.

2 Support the location of new businesses in the South Shattuck corridor by identifying acceptable parking configurations for both anchor businesses and small tenants.

3 Make circulation system improvements which direct non-local traffic away from residential neighborhoods, minimize spillover effects from one neighborhood street to another, and allow resident access to major arterials.

4 Support alternatives to the automobile (transit, shuttles, bicycling, and walking) by developing and implementing policies which encourage non-automobile travel, including a plan for targeted street improvements.

The South Shattuck Planning Process

Interest in a South Shattuck planning process began when three neighborhood groups, which had each been working to address different neighborhood concerns, joined together after the 1995 approval of a Hollywood Video store on Shattuck Avenue. The three groups and their area of concern were:

1 The Community Committee for a Full-Service Supermarket which had been working to bring a supermarket to 2020 Oregon, the site of the former Safeway store;

2 Ward Street Neighbors which had been working to address the problem of blighted residential properties on Ward Street east of Shattuck and on other Le Conte neighborhood residential streets; and

3 South Shattuck Neighbors, formed in response to the Hollywood Video store plans, which was interested in bringing neighborhood serving businesses to Shattuck Avenue.

To comprehensively address their array of concerns, the leaders of these three groups, along with the Le Conte Neighborhood Association and the United Neighborhood Watch, requested that the Council authorize a planning process to develop a strategic plan for the South Shattuck corridor. After listening to the group’s concerns at a Community Forum in January 1996, the City Council approved a planning process for this area. The South Shattuck Planning Committee, composed of representatives of the original five neighborhood groups requesting the planning process, representatives of Stuart Street Neighbors Actively Prepared (SSNAP), and individuals from neighborhoods west of Shattuck, was formed to meet with City staff to plan community workshops and to provide neighborhood input on the South Shattuck Strategic Plan.

Starting in February 1996, City staff began designing a planning process and compiling data and information about the Plan area. Five public workshops were held in which this background information was presented and community concerns were discussed.

Workshop 1. March 9, 1996. This workshop presented an introduction and overview of the South Shattuck Planning Process.

Workshop 2. March 30, 1996. This workshop focused on Economic Development issues and resulted in a preliminary blueprint of desired businesses along South Shattuck.

Workshop 3. April 20, 1996. This workshop focused on potential solutions to Urban Design and Residential Blight Abatement issues in the area.

Workshop 4. May 11, 1996. This workshop focused on resolving neighborhood traffic and parking issues in the South Shattuck area.

Workshop 5. June 1, 1996. This workshop was a culmination and consolidation of the community input into the planning process, and introduced a preliminary Draft Plan for public review.

In January 1997, the first Draft Plan was released. By November 1997, after many meetings between staff and the South Shattuck Planning Committee, a significantly revised Draft Plan was presented to the neighbors at a community workshop. Overall the Draft Plan was very well received. The Plan was sent to the City Council to be adopted as an amendment to the City’s Master Plan in June 1998.

During the planning process some new development and re-use projects were proposed for South Shattuck. These projects were evaluated in light of the emerging planning goals.

The City will continue to be in contact with the community regarding Plan implementation. Additionally, progress on Plan implementation will be reviewed at a community meeting one year after the South Shattuck Strategic Plan is adopted.

South Shattuck Background

South Shattuck Study Area

The South Shattuck Strategic Plan covers the area stretching along the Shattuck Avenue and Adeline Street commercial corridor between Dwight Way and Ashby Avenue. The study area includes the residential neighborhoods west of Shattuck and Adeline to Milvia Street, and east to Ellsworth Street. In its entirety the area covers .234 square miles, or 2.2% of the City’s total land, and includes 35 city blocks. Shattuck Avenue spans slightly over half a mile in the Plan area. Although the study area borders the Ashby BART, the station is not included in this Plan. The BART station area is discussed in the South Berkeley Area Plan.

 

Area Planning History

The South Shattuck Strategic Plan is the first planning effort to concentrate solely on the Shattuck/Adeline corridors between Dwight and Ashby, and the immediately surrounding neighborhoods. However, the South Shattuck Plan builds on a foundation of past Plans and Zoning Ordinance amendments, described below.

Most significantly, the South Shattuck Plan provides greater definition to an area covered by the South Berkeley Area Plan (SBAP), adopted in 1990. The SBAP includes the portion of the South Shattuck Plan area which lies west of Shattuck. One of the SBAP’s main goals is the revitalization of South Berkeley’s economic base. Many of the policies and actions in the SBAP are mirrored in the South Shattuck Plan, including: 

• support for mixed-use development and a pedestrian-friendly street environment,

• community participation in decisions that affect the area,

• business attraction,

• traffic management, and

• restoration of deteriorated housing stock.

In the SBAP, Adeline Street is viewed as the main commercial corridor for South Berkeley, and plan implementation efforts were targeted here. Shattuck Avenue between Dwight and Ashby is treated as a transition area between Downtown and the neighborhood-serving area south of Ashby.

In 1987, the C-1(SA) Zoning District was created to begin implementing the goals being formulated in the South Berkeley Area Plan. This zoning district covers all of the commercial corridors in the South Shattuck Plan. The goals of the C-1(SA) are very similar to the economic development goals of this Plan. The C-1(SA) tries to encourage mixed-use development (retail/residential) and neighborhood-serving businesses. It also prohibits any additional auto-related uses in the C-1(SA) area.

The Avenues Plan was approved in 1995 as a package of Zoning Ordinance changes intended to stimulate housing and mixed-use development along Shattuck and University Avenues.

The U.C. Neighborhoods Transportation and Traffic Plan (1995) covers a large part of southeast Berkeley and includes all of the South Shattuck Plan area. The goals of this plan are to reduce auto traffic, decrease the negative effects of traffic on high volume streets on all non-auto users, and to discourage cut-through traffic. The U.C. Neighborhoods Plan includes many improvements for the South Shattuck Plan area. Its implementation is one of the actions in this Plan.

Population

Overall, the population in the Plan area tends to be similar to that of Berkeley as a whole. The most thorough statistics available for the area are from the 1990 Census, Tract 4235. However, the eastern and western borders of this Census Tract differ slightly from the South Shattuck Plan area in that the Census Tract extends from Martin Luther King Jr. Way to Fulton Street. Tract 4235 has the same northern and southern boundaries of Dwight Way and Ashby Avenue as the Plan area. Essentially the two areas cover many of the same blocks, but the Census Tract is shifted one block west and therefore includes the blocks between Milvia and MLK Jr. Way, and does not include the blocks between Fulton and Ellsworth. The two sets of blocks are similar in size.

The South Shattuck Plan area houses 2.9% of the City’s population. By percentage, there tend to be slightly more Blacks and Asian/Pacific Islanders in the area than in the City as a whole. Not surprisingly given the amount of senior housing in South Shattuck, a higher percentage of elderly people live here than in the City as a whole. Percentage-wise, the area has fewer high school graduates and people with over five years of college than the rest of the City. The unemployment rate is slightly lower than that of the City as a whole, and the average median income is higher for households and significantly higher for families. The area has a higher percentage of rental units, versus owner-occupied units, than the City as a whole. The following tables present the Census data for Tract 4235 and illustrate these differences.

All data is from the 1990 Census, Tract 4235, unless otherwise stated. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Population (% of Berkeley Total)

Persons	Families	Households
2956 (2.9%)	501 (2.6%)	1396 (3.2%)

Race	Census Tract 4235	Citywide	Age	Census Tract 4235	Citywide
White	56%	62%	0-5 years	5.8%	6%
Black	23%	19%	6-15 years	6.9%	7%
Am. Indian	0.6%	0%	16-64 years	71.5%	76%
Asian/P.I.	19%	15%	65+ years	15.7%	11%
Other	1.5%	4%

Educational Attainment - Persons 18 years and over

	Census Tract 4235	Census Tract 4235	Citywide
Less than High School Graduation	323	12.7 %	8 %
High School Graduation	265	10.4 %	12 %
Some College	843	33.2 %	32 %
College Graduation	723	28.5 %	25 %
5+ years of College	385	15.2 %	23 %
TOTAL	2539	100%	100%

 

Employment - Persons 16 years and over

	#	% of Labor Force	Berkeley Labor Force
Employed	1762	96.5%	94.4%
Unemployed	63	3.5%	5.6%

 

Median Income - Constant $1997

	Census Tract 4235	Berkeley Average	Percent Difference
Family Income	$44,629	$35,362	+26%
Household Income	$31,309	$28,777	+9%

 

Housing Units

	#	%	Citywide
Total Units	1446	3.2% of city total	45,735
Occupied	1369	94.7%	95%
Owned	442	32.3%	44%
Rented	927	67.7%	56%
Vacant	77	5.3%	5%

Land Use

Commercial Areas

The commercially zoned areas along Shattuck and Adeline have a mixture of land uses including small and large businesses, outdoor used car lots, offices, vacant lots, institutional uses, housing, and parking lots. The primary commercial uses in the South Shattuck Plan area are auto-related uses (auto dealers, auto repair, etc.), grocery, and small-scale retail. Two major auto dealerships generate substantial economic activity. The area had two large food markets until Safeway departed in 1994, leaving residents with one market, but no nearby full-service market.

Currently there are about 12 mixed-use buildings (retail/residential) on Shattuck and Adeline. These buildings are principally located near the Shattuck/Dwight and Ashby/Adeline intersections. No new mixed-used structures have been built on the South Shattuck corridor since before the creation of the C-1(SA) zoning district in 1987, which attempted to encourage mixed-use development.

There is a mix of modern structures and older buildings on the commercial corridors. There are no City-designated landmark buildings. The types of housing on the commercial corridors range from single-family residences to multi-story apartment complexes.

The large-scale uses are spread out along the commercial corridor, with the auto dealers north of Ward Street, and the grocery and drug store uses south of Ward. The smaller scale uses tend to be clustered around the intersections with the major streets of Dwight Way and Ashby. Adeline/Ashby has a regional serving cluster of antique and home furnishing stores. The intersections of Shattuck with Dwight and with Ashby contain a mix of neighborhood-serving businesses, including small restaurants, a laundromat, dry cleaners, a shoe repair store, a hardware store, and beauty salons. Situated along the commercial corridors between the Plan area boundaries, are small to medium-sized retail and service uses that do not rely on foot traffic for their business.

Residential Areas
The area surrounding the South Shattuck commercial corridor is mostly residential with a few other uses, including an ice skating rink, a fire station, and U.C. Berkeley warehouses. The strong, stable residential area contains a mixture of single-family bungalows and shingle houses, and small to medium-sized apartment buildings. One senior housing project and a residential co-op are located on Adeline Street; there is a convalescent home at Shattuck and Oregon.

Residential Conditions
Most residential properties are excellently maintained, but some residences are in a deteriorating condition. These blighted homes, located around the intersection of Ward and Ellsworth, not only affect the occupants, but also have a blighting impact on the neighborhood.

Vacant and Unbuilt Sites
Vacant storefronts and vacant lots currently occupy just over 15% of Shattuck Avenue’s length between Dwight Way and Ashby. The majority of these sites are located north of Ward street. The one main vacant site to the south of Ward Street, 2020 Oregon, has been purchased and will be developed as a full-service supermarket. These existing vacant sites, combined with unbuilt lots used for parking or used auto sales, create large and frequent gaps of inactivity. These intermittent gaps discourage foot traffic along Shattuck Avenue, especially north of Ward Street, and result in a poor connection between existing businesses. While vacancies obviously detract from an area’s vitality, used auto sales and parking lots can be a part of an attractive commercial area if they are well-landscaped and maintained.

Transportation
For over 120 years, Adeline/Shattuck has been a transportation corridor, first as a street car route and then as an auto route. Today, autos tend to stay on Shattuck Avenue for its entire length between Dwight and Ashby, and Adeline is less heavily used. Shattuck between Dwight and Ward is two-lanes in both directions, and carries about 33,500 cars per day. Between Ward and Ashby, Shattuck narrows to one lane in each direction, but still carries about 19,000 cars per day. Adeline, on the other hand, has three lanes in each direction between Ward and Ashby, but only carries 15,700 cars per day.

The Shattuck/Adeline corridor is classified in the City’s Master Plan as a major street, which is defined as a "high-volume street connecting areas of the city and/or adjoining communities." Shattuck between Ward and Ashby, however, is a collector street, which is a "street carrying varying volumes providing access to local streets, major streets and activity centers." Both Dwight and Ashby are major streets, and additionally Ashby is a state highway.

There are relatively few traffic signals on Shattuck and Adeline, and no stop signs. On Shattuck between Dwight and Ashby, there are three traffic signals: one at each major intersection at the Plan area boundaries and one in the middle of the Plan area at Ward. This results in a signal every four to five blocks. Adeline between Ward and Ashby has a traffic signal every two blocks.

Due to the lack of traffic signals and stops signs along Shattuck, pedestrian crossings are often difficult. The intersection of Adeline/Shattuck/Ward is particularly awkward to cross, even with the existing signal. In 1996 there were 9 collisions between pedestrians or bicyclists and autos on the major and collector streets in the Plan area (Shattuck, Adeline, and Dwight), compared to one accident on the local streets.

Areas of particular congestion are centered along Shattuck between Ward and Ashby. The grocery store (Berkeley Bowl) between Ward and Stuart generates a large amount of auto and pedestrian traffic. Autos competing for parking spaces create congestion along the bordering residential streets and on Shattuck. Additionally, Shattuck is often congested during peak hours due to the high number of autos traveling on a relatively narrow street.

All of the residential streets in the Plan area are classified as local streets, which are defined as "providing access and parking to abutting properties." The neighborhood east of Shattuck has received extensive traffic calming treatments, including diverters in the 1970s and speed humps in the 1990s. For the most part, these treatments have dramatically reduced traffic on the residential streets, although some streets have seen increases in traffic volume. Today the number of cars traveling each day on a given residential street ranges from about 500 to 2,300.

The existing bike routes in the South Shattuck Plan area are along Milvia and Russell. Due to its low traffic volumes, Fulton is often used by bicyclists and is a proposed bike route in the 1994 Draft Bike Plan. Other proposals in the Draft Bike Plan include bike lanes on Adeline Street and a bike route on Derby from Milvia to Ellsworth.

Streetscape and Design
Shattuck Avenue from Dwight to Ward, and Adeline from Ward to Ashby are both about 140 foot wide boulevards, reflecting their historic use as a streetcar route and their current importance as a transportation corridor to Downtown Berkeley. Shattuck from Ward to Ashby is much narrower at 46 feet wide.

On the northern portion of Shattuck, the sidewalks are fourteen feet wide and are bulbed-out at the intersections to improve pedestrian crossings. Benches and planters are found near many intersections. There are street trees on most blocks and in the center median. Parking bays line the street on both sides. In spite of the existing pedestrian amenities, the street is perceived as auto-dominated mainly due to its width, the speed of auto traffic, and the lack of pedestrian activity. Street lights are tall and geared towards autos, not pedestrians. The condition of the sidewalks is good, but the benches, trash receptacles and some street trees are not consistently maintained.

Most foot traffic on the northern section of Shattuck is found on the west side of Shattuck from Dwight to Blake. The auto dealerships, also found on the west side of Shattuck, are large tax revenue generators, but do not contribute significantly to the pedestrian activity in the area. The two new auto dealerships do, however, create a continuous building wall at the sidewalk. The walls of these properties help to frame this section of Shattuck, which otherwise has very few continuous building walls with occupied storefronts.

Adeline Street is also a wide street, but unlike the northern part of Shattuck, it has a 56 foot wide grassy center median, and there are parking bays only between Russell and Ashby. Although this street is as wide as Shattuck to the north, it carries significantly fewer cars. Between Ward and Russell, the east and west sides of Adeline have different characters. Three of the four blocks on the east side have parking lots fronting the sidewalk, making this an unpleasant place to walk and making the street appear even wider than it is. The west side, however, is mostly residential with landscaping and interesting buildings.

Shattuck between Ward and Ashby is a relatively narrow two-lane, mostly tree-lined street. Most of the public right-of-way areas are in good condition, however in some places the sidewalks are in need of repair and the planting strip is overgrown, further narrowing the sidewalk. The two largest parcels on this length of Shattuck, each taking up a full block on the west side, have properties that are set-back from the street with parking in front, detracting from the pedestrian orientation of the rest of the area. This area has a mix of architectural styles and uses which makes it an interesting environment, but also works against creating a unified neighborhood identity. Some of the older building façades and signage are in deteriorating condition or poorly designed, but others have been recently renovated. The newest development on this section of Shattuck, a retail building between Russell and Ashby, has brightened the area and brought new streetscape improvements.

This section of Shattuck between Ward and Ashby has more pedestrian activity than anywhere else in the Plan area, particularly at its two ends. This existing activity, along with the narrow street width and the fact that most buildings are built to the property line make this the street with the most potential to become truly pedestrian-friendly.

Recent Economic Activity
A variety of uses exist in the South Shattuck Plan area, and the upturn in the region’s economy over the past four years has increased the demand for new business space. Downtown Berkeley has seen a drop in commercial vacancies, and businesses are apparently looking toward South Shattuck as the next area to locate. Newly constructed retail space on the west side of Shattuck, just north of Ashby, has the potential to increase activity near this intersection, and the commercial growth of businesses southward from Downtown Berkeley is promising for the Shattuck/Dwight area. The opening of a video store at Shattuck and Derby, will increase pedestrian activity in this area, and may motivate nearby property owners to secure tenants for their vacant sites.

The commercial square footage rates indicate that the South Shattuck Plan area is not an under-valued area. Although several large sites in the Plan area are underutilized, it is not for a lack of interest by developers.

While economic development is desired, its potential to negatively affect the surrounding neighborhood should be recognized and addressed. Residents have identified a number of traffic problems that can be caused, or exacerbated, by an increase in development, including lack of adequate on- or off-street parking, auto congestion, pedestrian safety, and increased residential street traffic. In addition to examining the impacts of individual projects, there will be a need to examine and reduce the cumulative effects of development on the neighborhood.

Opportunities
The South Shattuck area has the opportunity to become a thriving and dynamic neighborhood, home to a diversified business environment, serving the needs of the local and regional community, and to new residents living along Shattuck Avenue. Already there exists a base of many successful small to large businesses to build upon, some known regionally, others patronized by local customers. Being centrally located on a major transportation corridor between two BART stations can be a draw for both businesses and residents alike. Given the array of vacant storefronts and properties, and underutilized lots, the area offers more opportunities for development than anywhere else in Berkeley. The upswing in economic activity has enabled the City’s Office of Economic Development to consider a wide range of potential new businesses for the South Shattuck area.

New businesses can help bring pedestrian activity and privately-funded improvements to the physical environment, including new sidewalks, street trees, and landscaping. A strong identity for the area can be established as new development fills vacant and underutilized sites. As new businesses invest in the South Shattuck area, the City has an opportunity to make physical improvements to the streetscape.

The great potential for change in the South Shattuck Plan area presents a chance for the South Shattuck community to play a strong role in shaping and influencing the future of their neighborhood. This plan represents the community’s vision for the South Shattuck Area and a plan of action to make that vision a reality. The success of the plan will depend on all of the players involved, including residents, the City, property and business owners, and market forces.

Target Areas

The actions in the South Shattuck Strategic Plan strive to encourage and direct the revitalization of the Plan area. As the issues and opportunities are, in many cases, distinct to different parts of the South Shattuck Plan area, different tools are needed to address the problems specific to each area. For this reason, the South Shattuck Plan area is divided into four target areas. Each Plan strategy is targeted to one or more of the areas; however, the strategies are not necessarily strictly limited to these areas. The four target areas are:

1· Shattuck Avenue between Dwight & Ward
Of the entire Plan area, this section of Shattuck is the most in need of economic revitalization. Cumulatively there are two blocks of vacant sites or storefronts, and another block dedicated to a parking lot, within a ten block area. There are successful businesses along the street, but due to the vacant and underutilized sites, all of these businesses, except for those on the west side of Shattuck near Dwight, are disconnected from each other. Most, if not all, of the potential development sites sit on the east side of Shattuck between Dwight and Derby. The challenge will be to re-use these sites and link them to the existing businesses, bringing economic vitality to the entire area. New development and a reduction in vacancies will create an identity for this section of Shattuck and bring economic activity to the area.

2· Shattuck Avenue between Ward & Ashby
This section of Shattuck, overall, is more healthy economically than Shattuck to the north. A variety of businesses are thriving; one of the largest ones (Berkeley Bowl) is in the process of moving to a larger site, and a new commercial development was built at the former site of a used car lot (2930 Shattuck). The main issues for these blocks are transportation and urban design. The width of the street creates a pedestrian-scale environment, but additional measures are needed to make it actually pedestrian-friendly. Some of the businesses should be re-oriented to face the street; and some storefronts could benefit from façade improvements.

3· Adeline Street between Ward & Ashby
This is the most stable of the three commercial target areas and the least in need of change. Of the three commercial portions of the Plan area, this section contains the least amount of commercial uses and the most residential uses. The existing commercial uses, mostly clustered near Ashby Avenue, are doing well and there are few vacancies. Many of the strategies in this Plan will benefit the Adeline corridor, but few are directly aimed at this area. Additionally, the Ashby/Adeline node is more fully addressed in South Berkeley Area Plan.

4· Surrounding Residential Neighborhoods
The residential areas are the most stable of all of the target areas. The changes envisioned for these areas are the elimination of blighted housing, and the reduction and calming of traffic through the neighborhoods. Additionally, actions are included that will reduce the impact of development on the residential areas.