Planning Commission Upholds Storage Use Appeal, Exposing Gap in Oakland's Zoning Code

Oakland's Planning Commission wrestled with the limits of its own rulebook Wednesday, unanimously siding with a property owner who fought a staff ruling that his industrial site's decades-old outdoor storage use had been abandoned — then turned around and asked staff to fix the ambiguous code provision that forced the fight in the first place. Separately, commissioners received a sweeping look at the city's economic development strategy and heard pointed warnings from neighbors about a proposed senior care facility near the Oakland Hills.

• Commission votes 5-0 to overturn staff, ruling outdoor storage at 9668 First Avenue was not abandoned

• Commissioners flag undefined "purposeful abandonment" standard as a code problem needing a legislative fix

• Five Claremont Avenue neighbors urge traffic, shadow and fire studies for proposed 85-foot senior care facility

• Economic development presentation reveals 94% of Oakland businesses earn under $250,000 a year; permit complexity tops complaint list

• Commissioner Ahrens presses for deed-restricted rent data delayed since June 2025

The basics: The owner of 9668 First Avenue, an industrially zoned parcel adjacent to residential neighborhoods and a school, appealed a staff determination that his property's longstanding outdoor storage use — in place since at least 1963 — had been "purposefully abandoned." The site's most recent tenant, AJW Construction, operated there from roughly 2000 to 2024. After AJW terminated its lease in November 2024, the owner, Neil Johnson of Provender Partners, hired Colliers to market the property and cleared the site.