The meeting in Berkeley brings to light a tense housing debate

A tense debate over a plan to rezone many of Berkeley’s neighborhoods and allow apartment buildings in areas long made up exclusively of single-family homes descended into a physical altercation at a meeting Thursday night.

Council member Rashi Kesarwani said she filed a police report about the incident, which she described as an assault. Kesarwani said an audience member “deliberately pushed his body into me” when he tried to grab a microphone from her hand during the event. The crowd was mostly made up of opponents of the rezoning plan, many of whom were upset that the meeting was not structured like a town hall.

“There can be no tolerance for becoming physically aggressive toward anyone at a public gathering, especially an officer who is just trying to do his job,” Kesarwani wrote in a statement.

The man, Michael Grove, reached by a reporter at his home in Berkeley on Friday, said he did not remember having physical contact with Kesarwani but regretted his actions.

“It was an extremely hasty move and I apologize for creating a negative situation,” Grove said. “I’m a little ashamed of it, I have to admit.”

The meeting was part of a public outreach process the City Council ordered earlier this year for the proposed zoning change, which would fundamentally overhaul the process for building multifamily housing in neighborhoods that have long banned it.

The new regulations include, among other things, higher height and density limits, lower setback and open space requirements, and a streamlined permitting process that would allow property owners to build projects without a public hearing. The goal is to encourage more of what is referred to as “middle housing”: a range of multifamily housing that sits between single-family homes and large apartment complexes.

The City Council launched the initiative in 2021 in a vote that drew national attention because Berkeley was the first city to adopt the practice of single-family zoning as a tool for racial exclusion more than a century earlier. The new rules are expected to go before the council for final adoption later this year, and members have largely supported the plan — although it was scaled back in July to exclude neighborhoods in the Berkeley Hills because of wildfire risks.

It is not clear how many new homes could be built as a result of the change. A city environmental report estimated that up to 1,700 new homes could be built over the next eight years, but officials say the actual number is likely to be much lower.

Still, the rezoning proposal gives property owners the opportunity to build housing in neighborhoods that have seen little new construction in half a century, if not longer. It could bring more housing — much of it built downtown and near UC Berkeley as development increased in recent years — into the proverbial and literal backyards of more residents. As a result, it has been more controversial than other recent efforts to encourage housing construction in Berkeley.

Violent scene at the rezoning meeting

The confrontation between Grove and Kesarwani occurred about half an hour after the meeting began Thursday night in the Berkeley Adult School auditorium. After a presentation about what the proposed zoning changes would entail, Planning Director Jordan Klein told the audience of about 100 that the meeting would next be broken down into smaller groups where participants could provide feedback and ask questions of city staff.

That outraged many attendees, who wanted the meeting to be an open forum where people could voice their comments to city officials and the entire audience, which was largely white and older. Several booed and shouted “No!” as Klein and Kesarwani encouraged the audience to move to a collection of billboards at the back of the room for group discussions.

Grove then walked to the front of the room and tried to grab the microphone from Kesarwani. He later said he did so out of frustration with the meeting format.

“No, no, you can’t take the microphone like that – go back, get away from me!” Kesarwani told Grove. He continued to walk towards Kesarwani who again asked him to resign. Housing activist Darrell Owens then stepped between Grove and Kesarwani and was heard telling Grove to keep his hands to himself.

That was the end of the physical altercation, but the opponents in the crowd continued to boo, some of them shouting, “We want to talk!” After admonishing the crowd, Kesarwani left the hall and said to the cheering spectators, “You guys bring it Embarrass yourself.” A Berkeleyside reporter captured these moments on video.

Ultimately, the meeting continued as planned, with audience members split into group discussions that ranged from pointed criticism of city planning staff to spirited but civil debates between critics of the rezoning plan and its proponents.

Mary Oram, a real estate agent who said she opposed the proposal because she believed Berkeley was “fully built out” and already dense enough, said she wanted to hear the opinion of the entire audience.

“I was hoping we could talk some sense into these people,” Oram said of city officials.

Owens disagreed, saying such a forum would not have led to productive discussions.

“People want to get to the microphone and just give their speech,” Owens said. “The type of people who show up to these housing meetings have always been the same – they are the people who are always against it.”

Several East Bay officials released statements on social media Friday condemning the altercation. In her statement, Kesarwani said she left the meeting out of concern for her safety. She declined to answer further questions from a reporter.

“I want to thank our city planning staff for boldly moving forward without me,” Kesarwani wrote. “This incident has strengthened my resolve to continue to serve with dignity and respect for all.”

Berkeley police did not respond to a request for information about Kesarwani’s report. Grove said he has not been contacted by police.

A long-standing debate over density continues

In an interview, Grove cited many of the same concerns opponents expressed at the meeting about the proposed rezoning effort.

He believes allowing housing throughout the city’s lowland neighborhoods will “disrupt the community” and destroy what makes Berkeley special, and fears investors will buy up properties to build multifamily projects. Grove said he wants neighbors to have a say in new developments and for there to be a more comprehensive design review process – steps that supporters of the plan say would slow or block housing construction.

“I just want the development to happen in a way that is compatible with the neighborhood,” Grove said.

Proponents of the rezoning say fears that allowing housing in additional parts of the city could cause irreparable damage to Berkeley are overblown. This type of development, says architect Heather Chicoine, “seems to be one of the easiest ways to increase density in a way that still respects the existing fabric of our neighborhoods.”

With single-family homes in Berkeley selling for an average price of $1.5 million, according to Redfin, advocates argue that allowing multifamily development will help more people afford to live in the city — especially theirs historically wealthy and exclusive areas – since these apartments were built, they are likely to be cheaper than houses.

During Thursday night’s presentation, city officials also pointed out that Berkeley is already dotted with buildings that are examples of “middle housing” built before the city virtually stopped housing construction in most neighborhoods in the 1970s.

It’s a twist that Grove lives in such a building. The three-story, three-unit apartment building where he lives, nestled among single-family homes in the Elmwood District, could be a poster child for what housing advocates want to promote throughout Berkeley through the rezoning process. Grove, an artist, inherited the 1930s building from his mother and moved in after raising his family in a bungalow elsewhere in Berkeley.

But Grove said of his house, “That wouldn’t be the type of construction I would support right now.”