Berkeley flexible zoning zeroes in on biotechs, other innovative companies

The zoning update for West Berkeley aims to change policies that protect certain uses in commercial space such as manufacturing. The problem is that those rules were set in place in the 1980s when local residents wanted to encourage blue-collar jobs to stay in Berkeley, but the definition of manufacturing has changed and many startups want to house more than one use — office, research and development and manufacturing — under one roof, which is not allowed.