Small Residential Neighborhood Goes Up Against International Giant IKEA

Sept. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- Emeryville, CA – Despite its reputation as family-friendly, IKEA isn’t being very friendly to a small community of families in Emeryville, a little city nestled between Berkeley and Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Residents trying to block IKEA’s proposal to use 60,000 sq ft of a building adjacent to their homes are taking their fight to City Council members at their October 19, 2010 meeting at the Emeryville City Hall.  A key argument is the Planning Commission’s disregard for land use provisions in the City’s recently approved $1.5 million, award-winning General Plan.
IKEA’s proposal involves warehouse and customer pick-up operations from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. seven days a week.  The building is located on the corner of Hollis and 53rd Streets in the heart of a residential community of 142 family homes, 2 preschools, a secondary school, a children’s gym and a new pocket park and in an area zoned for Office/Technology uses.  The Emeryville Planning Commission approved IKEA’s application by a slim margin of 4 to 3 despite concerns voiced by dozens of residents, parents, employees, and small business owners in Emeryville who filled the City Hall to overflowing.
On September 10, a group of Emeryville homeowners, calling themselves the Ad Hoc 53rd Street Neighborhood Committee, appealed the Planning Commission’s decision.  They cited the General Plan that permits warehousing and distribution facilities in the Office/Technology zone but as ancillary uses only (accessory to the primary use, not a second business).  In granting IKEA a Conditional Use Permit, the Planning Commission found that IKEA would be a “secondary” use, the terminology used in the Interim Zoning Regulations for this zone.  The Committee noted the impact the facility would have on safety, traffic, noise, and air quality.  They called attention to the designation in the General Plan of 53rd St as a greenway and bicycle boulevard, an integral part of the citywide design.
Laura Garnier, a 10 year resident of Emeryville, fears that “disregarding the protections in the General Plan by allowing IKEA to locate outside the area zoned for ‘retail uses that serve as a regional draw’ would set a precedent and put other Emeryville neighborhoods and businesses at risk for similar treatment.”
The Ad Hoc 53rd Street Neighborhood Committee is a grass-root effort of concerned residents, employees, and small business owners in Emeryville.  For more information, visit our Facebook Group "No to IKEA's Expansion in the Heart of Emeryville" or contact us at noikeawarehouse@gmail.com.

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The Ad Hoc 53rd Street Neighborhood Committee is a grass-root effort of concerned residents, employees, and small business owners in Emeryville, California who organized to prevent IKEA from locating a mega warehouse and customer pick up facility adjacent to a residential neighborhood.