As a big FU to the neighboring community, Trammell Crow has begun demolition on the Courthouse building without notifying any of its neighbors. This is par for the course in the way this developer has related to this community.

So far we have learned that the Oakland Planning Dept. issued the demolition permit on Friday the 25th by Eric Angstadst. This came as a surprise as the building permit hasn’t been issued yet as this is awaiting conditions to be met along with approved tree removal permits.

At issue: that the demolition permit violates condition #33, which was to prevent the decoupling of a building and demolition permit by the Oakland Planning Commision. The decoupling of the demolition and building permit was being sought by developer Tramell Crow from the planning commission back in April, but was denied unless the wanted to conform to new conditions. So, they decided to live with condition #33–“A demolition permit to demolish the historic resource, Courthouse Athletic club, shall not issued prior to building permit approval and commencement of the actual construction.” The building permits have not been issued – so the demolition permit was granted against the explicit language of Condition #33. Also, condition 22, that the condition of tree removal must be approved before demolition. This process is not to be completed until 5PM this evening. The planning department has ‘rewritten’ condition 22 to say that demolition can proceed as long as they don’t destroy the trees.

How can city bureaucrat Angstadt unilaterally give Tramell Crow what the Planning Commission denied?