Wollmer
Wollmer v. City of Berkeley
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Reardon, J.
Appellant Stephen Wollmer asks this court to reverse the denial of his petition for administrative mandamus challenging two approvals by respondents City of Berkeley and the Berkeley City Council (collectively, the City) for a mixed-use affordable housing or senior affordable housing project located at 1200 Ashby Avenue. 1 Specifically, he denounces the approvals as violative of the state’s density bonus law as well as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 2 We conclude the trial court properly denied the petition and entered judgment in favor of the City; accordingly, we affirm the judgment.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The site of the proposed projects at 1200 Ashby Avenue consists of 0.79 acres, located at the southeast comer of San Pablo Avenue and Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. Currently vacant, the northern portion of the site previously was a gas station, and the soil has been remediated. The area generally has been developed with one- and two-story commercial and mixed-use buildings. It abuts a lower density residential neighborhood to the east and a light industrial/commercial district to the west.
*1336 A. The Affordable Housing Project