The university has plans for student and supportive housing. Opponents say they should build it elsewhere
By Christian Leonard | Updated
Jan. 15, 2024 12:34 p.m. (SFChronicle.com)
Bulldozers and picket signs have returned to People’s Park.
For decades, the 2.8-acre park has served as a center for activism, art and community support. It’s also been the focus of a prolonged battle between UC Berkeley, which owns the land and has tried multiple times to develop it, and protestors who want it to remain a largely autonomous public space.
UC Berkeley’s current plan would build housing for both students and formerly homeless people at the park and radically transform the historic space. But it has received intense criticism. While the university says students desperately need housing and claims the park has been host to “extensive criminal activity,” opponents of the project worry it will displace the homeless people at the park and argue UC Berkeley should instead develop one of the other sites it owns.
That battle over the site began in 1967, when the university gained control of the property by eminent domain for student housing. It turned violent two years later, when activists who had established a park there clashed with police trying to clear it. One man was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy during the confrontations, and Gov. Ronald Reagan ordered the California National Guard into Berkeley to quell the protests.
Activists ultimately reclaimed the park, and though the university has announced plans to develop it on a few occasions over the years, it backed down each time over activists’ objections.
But the university recently tightened its control. On Jan. 4, UC Berkeley sent hundreds of police officers to clear the park overnight and barricaded the perimeter with double-stacked shipping containers, calling it a “closed construction zone.”
A UC Berkeley spokesperson said construction won’t begin until it resolves a lawsuit claiming the university didn’t sufficiently address environmental concerns. That suit is still with the state Supreme Court.
If UC Berkeley does build on People’s Park, the historic site will look very different from how it does now.
People’s Park’s 2.8-acre site is located in Berkeley’s Southside neighborhood, just a few blocks south of UC Berkeley’s campus.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects and Hood Design Studio
UC Berkeley plans to construct two housing structures at the park. The location and size of those buildings on this map are approximations based on the architect’s renderings and site plans.
The background shows: A rendered aerial view of people’s park shows a long, rectangular building on the east side and a t-shaped building toward the middle of the park, with the top stretching much of the length of the north side of the park.
The building on the west side of the park would provide more than 100 supportive housing units for formerly homeless people. The building on the north side of the park would include housing for more than 1,100 UC Berkeley students. The student housing would be developed, owned and operated by the university, while the supportive units would be developed and operated by a third party.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects and Hood Design Studio
The five-story, 60-foot-tall supportive housing building would contain apartments for low-income households, as well as common areas and offices, according to UC Berkeley. It would also offer case management to help connect residents with services.
The background shows: A rendering of People’s park shows a rectangular shaped building with people walking and talking in the courtyard in front of it. There is a green, slightly hilly yard and some trees in the foreground.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects and Hood Design Studio
The T-shaped student building would contain apartments for college sophomores, juniors and seniors at “below-market” rents, UC Berkeley said. Those units are desperately needed, the university argues, because UC Berkeley houses only 23% of its students, the lowest percentage of any school in the University of California system. The building’s taller north wing would have 12 stories and a maximum height of 154 feet, while the six-story south wing would have an open corridor at ground level to allow people to pass beneath it.
The background shows: A rendering of People’s Park shows the side of a T-shaped building, where students will be housed. One of the wings of the building is partially raised off the ground so people can walk beneath it.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects and Hood Design Studio
UC Berkeley said the current design would retain more than 60% of the site as public park space. It also plans to commemorate the park’s history of activism in the new design, though it hasn’t released details about what this would entail, saying it’s still weighing options.
The background shows: A rendering shows a grassy field in people’s park along with some trees. Some buildings can be seen in the background to the left and right sides.
People’s Park currently bears little resemblance to the renderings for the project. In the early morning of Jan. 4, UC Berkeley sent hundreds of police officers to block off and clear the park, removing tents, forcing people to leave and arresting several protesters for trespassing. Workers chopped down several large trees and barricaded the park with dozens of double-stacked shipping containers. The university said it was blocking access to the park as a “closed construction zone.” There is currently no date for construction to begin.
The background shows: An aerial shot of shipping containers partially surrounding People’s Park. Much of the ground has been bulldozed, with the grass torn up.
Credits
Reporting and design by Christian Leonard. Editing by Sarah Feldberg. Powered by the Hearst Newspapers DevHub.
Originally published on Jan. 15, 2024
