By Olga R. Rodriguez
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO People’s Park in Berkeley, which since the Vietnam War has been a site for protests and counterculture movements, can be converted into student housing for the University of California, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, capping a yearslong legal fight over the landmark.
The court ruled that a new law enacted in 2023 invalidates the claims by two local organizations that sued the school, saying more students living in downtown Berkeley would add noise pollution to an already dense area.
Because of the new law, which “all parties have effectively acknowledged, this lawsuit poses no obstacle to the development of the People’s Park housing project,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote in the unanimous decision.
California is desperate for more housing of all types, including for students at its public universities and colleges. Somestudents sleep in their cars, crash on friends’ couches, or commute hours to attend class due to limited space in dorms and nearby apartments.
The court noted that UC Berkeley provides housing to the lowest percentage of students compared to other schools in the state university system. During the 2023-2024 academic year, UC Berkeley housed 9,905 students about 22 percent of the university’s 45,699 enrolled students, UC Berkeley spokesperson Kyle Gibson stated in an email.
UC Berkeley plans to build a$312 million housing complexat the nearly 3-acre People’s Park, which it owns. The complex’s residential capacity is expected to be approximately 1,100 students.
Protests have at times escalated into skirmishes between police and activists. In 2022, activistsbroke through an 8-foot-tall chain-link fence erected around the park as crews began clearing trees to make room for the housing development. In January, police officers in riot gear removed activists from the park as crews began barricading the site withdouble-stacked shipping containers.
The parkwas founded in 1969 as part of the era’s free speech activism and Civil Rights Movement and for decades served as a gathering space for free meals, community gardening and art projects, and was used by homeless people. It turned into both a symbol of resistance and mayhem during adeadly confrontationthat year known as “Bloody Thursday,” emboldening then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan to send in 3,000 national guardsmen for a two-week occupation that evoked images of war in a city that was clamoring for peace in Vietnam.
The university is relieved by the court’s decision and will turn its attention to resuming construction at the site, according to Gibson.
“Our students and unhoused people desperately need the housing components of the project, and the entire community will benefit from the fact that more than 60 percent of the 2.8-acre site will be revitalized as open park space,” Gibson stated.
Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group filed a lawsuit against the project, saying that the university system should have considered an increase in noise under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The groups also said there are more appropriate places the university could build, and the park is a rare green space in one of Berkeley’s densest neighborhoods.
California Gov. Gavin Newsomvowed to work with legislatorsto amend the law after a state appeals court last year ruled against the University of California, saying that it failed to assess the impact of potential noise “from loud student parties” on residential neighborhoods.
In September 2023, Newsom signed a law that amended CEQA to clarify that housing projects do not need to study the noise generated by prospective future residents.
Harvey Smith, president of the advocacy group and one of the plaintiffs, said the decision was disappointing but not surprising.
“It’s disappointing because community groups play by the rules and when we win what UC does is go to the Legislature to change the rules,” Smith said. “Community groups don’t have the deep pockets or powerful connections UC does.”
Editor’s note: Associated Press reporter Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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