UC Berkeley can build student housing at People’s Park, state Supreme Court rules (2024)

The Supreme Court of California ruled Thursday that UC Berkeley can build student housing on the historic People’s Park, dismissing a years-long case from plaintiffs who argued the university had violated environmental regulations in its planning process.

Read the full state Supreme Court decision here

Neighborhood groups and People’s Park activists sued the university in 2021 to block the project, which plans for 1,100 student beds and about 100 supportive beds for formerly homeless residents.They said the project would create “social noise” that would negatively impact the neighborhood.

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, along with a panel of judges, ruled that the plaintiffs’ argument, which alleged that the project would generate too much noise and that the university had violated state environmental law by failing to consider alternatives, has no merit — especially in light of a new law, AB 1307.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law last fall to ease the project’s path through the courts. The law says universities don’t have to consider the impacts of student noise when building a housing project for them or repeatedly consider alternate sites for their project.

“In short, as all parties have effectively acknowledged, this lawsuit poses no obstacle to the development of the People’s Park housing project,” the opinion reads.

A lower court sided in favor of the plaintiffs in February 2023, but the Supreme Court opinion on Thursday reversed that decision.

The verdict was expected after Thomas N. Lippe, attorney for Make UC a Good Neighbor, said during oral arguments in April that his case no longer posed a threat to UC Berkeley’s housing project.

In a statement after the court’s decision, university spokesperson Kyle Gibson said the university is “pleased and relieved” that construction can resume. The park is currently walled off with shipping containers, and workers have been spotted on site occasionally. Gibson said construction timelines will be finalized in the weeks ahead.

The ruling paves the way for the university to begin work on its housing project in Southside, which has received support from the Berkeley City Council and many community members as the university attempts to address an ongoing housing shortage. Cal currently houses about 20% of its students, according to the UC Regents, amounting to the least student housing of all campuses in the system.

“The campus is committed to addressing the high cost and low supply of housing close to campus that undermines students’ ability to thrive, succeed, and fully partake in all that the university has to offer,” Gibson said.

Mayor Jesse Arreguín also threw his support behind the court’s decision, saying on social media that he’s pleased with their “common sense” ruling that will allow for “much needed student housing, supportive housing, and open space at People’s Park.”

Others, however, have long questioned why the university has focused on building on its property at People’s Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to its political and ecological significance.

A group of about a dozen park activists, young and old, gathered to read the court decision on Thursday morning at Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue. Enrique Marisol, a recent Cal graduate, said AB 1307 — which clinched the court’s decision — was special interest legislation designed to overrule the judicial system.

“I’m not shocked by the ruling — I’m just upset that they would do this so blatantly,” Marisol said. “We were never going to win a case where they could change the rules halfway through.”

Joe Liesner, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the court’s decision was “depressing and awful.” He and others are meeting with their lawyer to determine if there’s any remaining legal recourse to block the university’s project.

“This is just a city park, but this is our city park. And it represents a time when people stood up for peace and justice, something that not many people are doing anymore,” Liesner said. “It’s really sad to see it so threatened — it’s going to be hard to mount an action defense, but we’re going to do something.”

UC Berkeley has already spent over $10 million on police, security and the double-stacked shipping containers to mitigate activist protests of the project, including demonstrations of hundreds of people, occupations of the park and vandalism of UC equipment.

Park activists have many different perspectives on why the land should be preserved as an open space. Some were part of the Free Speech Movement and founded the park in 1969, when community members took shovels to the university’s abandoned, muddy lot and created People’s Park.

Another younger group began its defense of the park during the pandemic, when shelter-in-place rules allowed for a homeless encampment at the location, where overnight camping had been banned. These activists supported the park’s legacy as a hub for mutual aid, music and art performances, and resources for homeless residents.

Before its first attempt to begin construction in August 2022, UC Berkeley offered temporary housing beds to several dozen people living at the park. The university said early this year that it has since spent about $5 million to purchase temporary housing options for homeless residents.

The UC Regents first approved the student housing portion of the plan in 2021 with a price tag of $312 million, and Resources for Community Development, a nonprofit housing developer that has since pulled out of the plan, projected the supportive housing element to cost about $90 million.

The university expects to spend over $400 million on the entire project, and said costs have surpassed initial estimates because of court delays and increases in construction prices.