City Council Supports Electric Car Dealerships

Zoning rules restricting car dealerships near Downtown Berkeley may be relaxed to permit the entrance of small-scale electric vehicle dealerships following action by the Berkeley City Council last night.

City Councilmember Dona Spring co-authored with Mayor Tom Bates the proposal to allow the electric car dealerships, which was referred to the Planning Commission.

“Being environmentally friendly, we should do all we can do for the purchase of electric cars,” Spring said. “Anything we can do to increase a more environmentally sound transportation mode is to the benefit of all of us.”

The current zoning law prohibits any new car dealerships on Shattuck Avenue. Dealerships such as Toyota of Berkeley and Berkeley Honda Auto Center currently operate in the area because they were established before the zoning law was enacted.

The philosophy behind the restrictive zoning law is to preserve the Shattuck area for retail shops, Spring said. But she said the appeal of the environmentally friendly car dealers constituted reason to change the law.

“The market is here for environmentally friendly vehicles,” Spring said. “I think the public is going to be more and more demanding.”

The move to amend zoning rules stemmed from a request from Christopher Zuber of Logic Communications, who wants to start an electric car dealership on Shattuck.

“It was his request that triggered it,” Spring said. “That company realizes that Berkeley is fertile ground, and people will be drawn like bees to get more environmentally sound.”

Toyota of Berkeley sales manager Toby Parks also noted the overwhelming amount of public interest in electric car technology.

“The dealership itself is one of the largest sellers of hybrid cars in North America,” he said. “There is a huge amount of public interest in it in Berkeley considering how ecologically forward we are.”

City revenue was also a strong factor in reviewing the zoning laws.

“Car dealers are the top sales tax generators for the city of Berkeley,” Spring said. “The city is hurting for revenue, so we really need to do what we can to replace that revenue.”

Parks also noted the importance of car dealerships to city revenue, as Toyota of Berkeley contributes about $200,000 monthly in sales tax, with $118,000 coming solely from hybrid Prius vehicle sales.

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