Berkeley's quotas, which aim to diversify and stabilize the city's businesses, may be stunting the area's economic growth, some business leaders say.

The city's zoning ordinance includes numerical limits for the types of restaurants and shops that can exist in each business district, including the Telegraph and Elmwood, said Wendy Cosin, the city's deputy planning director.

"(The quotas) have an intent to ensure that there's a variety of uses and a diversity of uses," she said.

According to Roland Peterson, director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, quotas prevent the area from filling vacant storefronts.

He said he has worked with countless potential business owners who want to start a quick-service restaurant in the district, only to be rebuffed because the quota allowing 30 quick-service food establishments has already been surpassed.

"(Some potential business owners) don't want to do a full service or strictly take out. ... I suggest to many of them it would be easier to apply as a full service restaurant, but they're not always willing to do that," Peterson said.

Peterson claims the quotas only benefit landlords, who can ask for more rent if they own a space previously occupied by a business whose type is in high demand because of the quotas.

"You have to give that place that used a barbershop to another barbershop," Peterson said. "A property owner will hold on to that (right) and can get more rent because of that protected use."

But while the zoning regulations only limit four business types in the Telegraph area, Cosin noted the Elmwood district-located along College Avenue near Ashby Avenue-has zoning quotas that regulate seven types of businesses,

including arts and crafts and bookstores.

However, according to Elmwood Merchants Association Boardmember John Moriarty, these quotas are the main reasons why the Elmwood area is as successful and stable as it is.

He said unlike the Telegraph area's eight-block business district, the Elmwood's two-block radius requires more regulations to ensure a balance between retail and restaurants.

"If there's all retail, nobody will come here to eat. If there's all food, nobody will come here to shop," he said. "In keeping the neighborhood equal parts, a good selection of both, it helps everybody."

Moriarty added that while the quotas have protected his own jewelry business, 14 Karats, from the development of other jewelry stores in the area, he added landlords and prospective business owners may have difficulties trying to fill their vacancies or start a business in Elmwood because most of the quotas are already full.

"We don't have openings for (restaurants) and everybody wants to get in," he said.

While Cosin said businesses can apply for a special permit to exceed the quota, Councilmember Gordon Wozniak-whose district includes Elmwood-said applying for the permit is a long and expensive process for a new business.

"You can ask for an increase in the quota, but you have to have a public hearing," he said. "It slows things down."

Wozniak added the quotas may need to be changed because their outdated structure does not serve their original purpose of boosting the city's economy.

"The problem ... is that they don't reflect changing business conditions over the decades," he said.

For Peterson, Telegraph vacancies may be solved if business quotas are banned.

"I say let the market decide," Peterson said. "If there was a market for a lot more barbershops, then why shouldn't that be allowed to happen?"

Tags: TELEGRAPH AVENUE, ELMWOOD