California Construction News staff writer
Police in riot gear removed activists from Berkeley’s People’s Park and crews began placing double-stacked shipping containers to wall off the area as the University of California, Berkeley, waits for a court ruling that will decide the fate of a plan to build student housing.
Construction has been delayed by the legal challenge that claims the university failed to study potential noise issues or consider alternative sites.
UC Berkeley began work early Thursday morning to close the People’s Park construction site, where it will build housing for students and for unhoused people, pending resolution by the California Supreme Court of legal challenges. It also plans to preserve more than 60% of the 2.8-acre site, revitalizing open park space that also reinforces the park’s history.
While awaiting a ruling, officials say Berkeley will be “enforcing its legal right to close the construction zone by surrounding it with a border of double-stacked shipping containers, the kind typically used for freight transport.”
In August 2022, the campus paused construction due to “violence, unlawful protest, and destruction of workers’ equipment and materials ensued”, which caused $1.5 million in damage.
Meanwhile, activists opposed to the housing projects filed an injunction with the state appellate court, which kept construction halted. The court ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor last February; the campus has appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.
“The existing legal issues will inevitably be resolved, so we are taking this necessary step now to minimize the possibilities of conflict and confrontation, and of disruption for the public and our students, when we are cleared to resume construction,” Chancellor Carol Christ said in a statement. “Unfortunately, our planning and actions must take into account that some of the project’s opponents have previously resorted to violence and vandalism.”
Christ added that the project has strong support from Berkeley students, community members, advocates for unhoused people, the city’s elected leadership, the state Legislature and the governor.
Construction of the student residence hall for more than 1,100 and the public park, which will commemorate the site’s history, is expected to take several years.
The final phase of the project is building on the permanent, supportive housing facility, with 125 apartments and onsite services for very low income and formerly unhoused people. The city of Berkeley has earmarked $14 million for this project, which will be constructed by a developer with extensive experience building affordable housing.
Christ said UC Berkeley has gone “to great lengths to create a plan that is responsive to the needs and interests of not only our campus and students, but of the city and all its residents. We are grateful the campus and city communities have expressed their support. We continue to hope the opponents will listen.”
Concerns about the safety of unhoused people camping at the site, and of students and others living and working near it, fueled the decision to close it off, according to Christ.
“We have concern and care for everyone who has been sleeping and gathering in the park, as well as for members of the campus and city communities who live in close proximity to the site,” said UC Berkeley Police Chief Yogananda Pittman. “It is my job to make sure people are safe and feel safe.”
Pittman says she hopes the construction site can be closed safely and expeditiously in the coming days, without incident, and she said security will be in place 24/7.
Development plans include outdoor lighting, accessible pathways, gardens with colorful native plantings, a lush grove of trees and a focus on visibility — no hidden corners. Entries and windows in the new student and supportive housing buildings will face the parkland and allow residents to view and monitor activities there.
Student housing — developed, owned and operated by the campus — will be in one building with two wings; there will be no resident parking lot. It will feature below-market, apartment-style units for more than 1,100 students, rooftop solar panels and bike storage. Its height (one wing is 11 stories, the other, six) aligns with the city’s southside plan.
