Barbara Lee
Under Mayor Lee, Oakland Is Cutting Red Tape for Small Business Permits
Abad said permit reform is already underway. Recent code amendments have relaxed rules for businesses in Downtown Oakland, the Broadway-Valdez district in Uptown, and the area around the Lake Merritt BART Station.
By Post Staff
One of Mayor Barbara Lee’s top priorities, along with housing, illegal dumping, homelessness, and public safety has been to respond to calls for permit reform, a longtime concern of economic development groups and community advocates who have complained that complex and restrictive permit rules are squashing small businesses.
According to Robin Abad, ombudsperson for the City of Oakland, the goal of permit reform is to “streamline and reduce bureaucracy for small businesses.”
“Permit reform impacts so many aspects of our local economy,” Abad said. “With the right changes, more entrepreneurs will be able to realize their dreams by starting up businesses in Oakland, and we’ll be able to retain the rich and diverse small business community we enjoy here.”
Abad said permit reform is already underway. Recent code amendments have relaxed rules for businesses in Downtown Oakland, the Broadway-Valdez district in Uptown, and the area around the Lake Merritt BART Station.
More amendments will be proposed this fall to expand those relaxed rules to commercial districts across the whole city.
The changes will make it easier for businesses such as medical offices, banks, tutoring facilities, pet groomers and fitness studios to open in ground-floor retail spaces up to a certain square-footage.
Makers and sellers of artisanal goods — such as furniture making, textile production, and metalworking — could operate in commercial zones citywide with no square-footage or floor-level requirements. And businesses in these zones could have billiards tables and arcade games without a special permit.
Currently, these activities are either not permitted or require an application for review by the Bureau of Planning. Some conditional permit applications also must go through a public hearing, where community members can weigh in, before the permit can be approved.
“We have expanded places where land use regulations don’t require extensive approval processes, so it’s much easier to open up,” Abad said. “These changes are part of stimulating local business and inviting folks to open up businesses in Oakland.”
Further, until recently all businesses, like arts and entertainment venues, had to apply for a special permit to sell alcohol. This required a Planning Commission hearing, which could take up to a year.
This was a separate permit on top of a liquor license from California State Alcohol Beverage Control, the latter of which is required for all businesses that serve alcohol and is granted at the state level.
This flexible new permit now makes it easier for bars, nightclubs, theaters, pool halls, museums, art galleries, salons, and similar venues in central business district zones to serve alcohol.
Other proposed changes include the addition of entertainment and food sales in dispensaries that have an existing onsite consumption permit to operate as cannabis cafes.
These changes come in response to the passage of California State Assembly Bill 1775, authorizing cities to permit cannabis cafes that provide valid county health permits for preparation, sale, and consumption of non-cannabis food and beverages at state-licensed and locally permitted cannabis dispensaries with onsite consumption lounges.
“Visit Oakland” already offers a Cannabis Trail, and the introduction of cannabis cafes could contribute to cannabis tourism in The Town.
Changes like these require amendments to the city’s planning code. Already, the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan, adopted in 2024, prioritizes new zoning that allows flexible ground-floor uses for customer-oriented artisan production, office, and retail use.
Abad said the city aims ultimately to expand the planning code amendments to all commercial corridors in Oakland. Ideally, this expansion would go before the City Council to be adopted before the end of this calendar year.
“We have many incredible small business entrepreneurs and restaurateurs here in the City of Oakland, and that’s part of what makes Oakland beautiful and wonderful,” Abad said. “We want to encourage local enterprises to open as much as possible. So, let’s cut out any unnecessary procedures and streamline the process.”
