Woolsey Gardens
Summary
SCH Number
2025051263
Public Agency
California Energy Commission
Document Title
Woolsey Gardens
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
5/28/2025
Document Description
The Northern California Land Trust incubates, provides, and supports permanently affordable, green-ownership housing for low-income households, transforming housing as a building block of local community autonomy and agency. Woolsey Gardens will be an 8-story urban infill, multi-family, mixed-use project in Berkeley, California. The community is designed to address the current challenges of lengthy interconnection timelines that can delay construction and renewable energy and distribute generation to the grid by developing a community that does not export power back to the grid, but also leverages the grid at times where the community's distributed generation cannot support the necessary energy needed for the community.
Contact Information
Name
Molly Mahoney
Agency Name
California Energy Commission
Job Title
Energy Commission Specialist
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
Ian Winters
Agency Name
The Northern California Land Trust, Inc
Job Title
Director, Incubation & Special Projects
Contact Types
Project Applicant
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Counties
Alameda
Regions
Citywide, San Francisco Bay Area
Cross Streets
3120 Shattuck Ave and Woolsey Street
Zip
94705
State Highways
580
Airports
Oakland Airport
Waterways
San Francisco Bay
Other Information
3120 Shattuck Ave
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15301
Reasons for Exemption
California Code of Regulations, title 14, section 15301 provides that projects which consist of the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, and which involve negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency's determination, are categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA. All of the components for this project will be installed at an existing commercial building site in Berkeley. Woolsey Gardens will be
an 8-story multi-family, mixed-use development located within an existing structure in Berkeley. The existing structure was previously used for commercial purposes but is now vacant. The project consists of the installation of solar photovoltaics that will be mounted on the roof of the existing structure. These modifications will not result in any expansion of capacity beyond the currently existing plot. For these reasons, the proposed work will not have any significant effect on the environment and falls under section 15301.
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, sec. 15303
Reasons for Exemption
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, sec. 15303 provides that project which consist of construction and location of limited numbers of new, small facilities or structures; installation of small new equipment and facilities in small structures; and the conversion of existing small structures from one use to another where only minor modifications are made in the exterior of the structure, are categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA. This project consists of installing roof-mounted solar and storage microgrid equipment, in-unit electric circuit breakers, and demand flexibility equipment such as electric vehicle charging stations with demand flexibility capabilities, Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats, and smart electrical panels. All such installations will be located within the existing structure (or in the case of solar photovoltaics, on the roof of such
existing structure). For these reasons, the project falls within section 15303 and will not have a significant impact on the environment.
This project does not involve impacts on any particularly sensitive environment; does not involve any cumulative impacts of successive projects of the same type in the same place that might be considered significant; does not involve unusual circumstances that might have a significant effect on the environment; will not result in damage to scenic resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; the project site is not included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code section 65962.5; and the project will not cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource. Therefore, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions listed in CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project, and this project will not have a significant effect on the environment.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
Disclaimer: The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) accepts no responsibility for the content or accessibility of these documents. To obtain an attachment in a different format, please contact the lead agency at the contact information listed above. For more information, please visit LCI’s Accessibility Site.