You think it's difficult to build things in San Francisco? You should get a load of Berkeley sometime. A developer is trying to build a five-story, 67-unit building on Shattuck Avenue near Derby, in South Berkeley, near the original Berkeley Bowl, and the neighbors are not having it. At issue, first of all, is the height — the Zoning board is currently unhappy with adjustments to the design that were meant to shrink the building and accommodate a "transition" to the single-family homes near the building.

A previous design included 70 units, and a recent revision has shrunk that by only 3, as Berkeleyside reports.

Like similar projects in San Francisco, these are all going to be "micro-units" of 269 to 344 square feet, and will be priced between $1,200 and $1,600 a month.

Complaints from neighbors to the city, which number at least 20 now, cover everything from the size of the units (one neighbor called it a glorified "residence hall") to the bulky massing of the design to the five-story height. And now the project may be doomed because city staff have provided the Zoning board with sufficient cause to reject it if they wish.

[Berkeleyside]
[KQED]