California Supreme Court Clears Way for Berkeley Student Housing

The lengthy legal fight is over for the People’s Park, part of a 2.8-acre site that was cleared and barricaded by UC Berkeley in January as it prepares to build a 1,100-bed student housing project.

The California Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the University of California Regents in a case filed against them by a group known as Make UC A Good Neighbor, who had argued that an environmental review of the student housing project failed to adequately analyze noise impacts.

As the case was making its way up to the Golden State’s top court, state lawmakers passed a bill stating that noise generated by future occupants of a project cannot be considered a significant impact on the environment under California’s Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The top court this month ruled that the new law rendered the plaintiff’s complaint moot.

For more than three years, UC-Berkeley has actively planned to build a new dorm at the site, along with a facility encompassing 125 units reserved for people with low incomes or those who are homeless. About 60% of the site will be maintained as green space.

The university halted construction in 2022 after a high-profile protest demanded that the site be preserved as an historic landmark. The protest ended with $1.5M in damaged construction equipment and several arrests.

The plans for a new dorm at People’s Park actually pre-date the famous park itself: the university cleared the site in 1967 with plans to build a dorm. Two years later, local residents established a park on the vacant site that become an encampment, with occupants including several Vietnam war veterans who remained there for the next 50 years.

People’s Park was named a cultural and historic landmark by the city of Berkeley in 1984.

Another student-oriented apartment project in Berkeley, an 18-story residential building that will be built over the site of the former California Theatre, is moving forward after the City Council rejected an appeal by a residents’ group.

Rhode Island-based developer Gilbane will build the tower at 2113-2115 Kittredge Street in downtown Berkeley, two blocks from the UC Berkeley campus. The development will include 211 “student-oriented” homes while maintaining a 24K SF live theater space and the original façade of the theater.