Appeals court blocks housing proposal at People's Park

SAN FRANCISCO >> A California appeals court has blocked a proposed housing project at People's Park that has drawn protest and controversy, ruling that the project's Environmental Impact Report was inadequate.

In a unanimous 3-0 decision, First District Appellate Court Justices found the EIR “inadequately analyzed potential alternatives to Housing Project No. 2 and impacts from noise and displacement.” In a rarity for an appeals court ruling, the 47-page decision also attempts to quell any public outrage that might result.

“We do not take sides on policy issues. Our task is limited. We must apply the laws that the Legislature has written to the facts in the record,” the decision reads. It adds the project can continue if UC Berkeley regents “return to the trial court and fix the errors in the EIR.”

“The EIR failed to justify the decision not to consider alternative locations to the People's Park project,” the judges wrote. “In addition, it failed to assess potential noise impacts from loud student parties in residential neighborhoods near the campus, a longstanding problem that the EIR improperly dismissed as speculative.”

In a statement, Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof said the university is “dismayed” by the decision and plans to ask the California Supreme Court to overturn it.

“Left in place, this decision will indefinitely delay all of UC Berkeley's planned student housing, which is desperately needed by our students and fully supported by the City of Berkeley's mayor and other elected representatives,” Mogulof said. “This decision has the potential to prevent colleges and universities across the State of California from providing students with the housing they need and deserve.”

The attorney for Make UC a Good Neighbor, the group that sued to block the housing, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The ruling overturns a July 2022 decision by Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, who gave a green light to begin construction on the $312 million proposed housing project, finding it didn't violate the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

The proposal includes 1,100 university students and 125 homeless residents within two 12- and six-story dorm buildings — coming full circle since 1969, when the university's initial desire to build housing on the 2.8-acre site culminated in thousands of protesters, a state of emergency and one death.

The project has led to protests and clashes with Berkeley police, which last year racked up more than $4 million in excess costs for UC Berkeley, according to public records. That toll includes $750,000 to pay for the fencing that protesters ripped out of the sidewalks around the 2.8-acre park, but the biggest expense is $2.73 million to compensate law enforcement deployed at People's Park.

The appellate court decision notes that UC Berkeley provides housing for less than a quarter of its student body, “by far the lowest percentage in the UC system.”

“The campus remains fully committed to building the People's Park project, that commitment is unwavering,” Mogulof said.