 
UC
Berkeley moves forward on plans for more student housing and
a seismically secure dining complex
07
Apr 2000
By
Marie Felde, Public Affairs
BERKELEY
-- With the release of a draft environmental impact report today
(4/7/00) the University of California, Berkeley moves a step
forward with its plans to provide new housing for up to 900
students and replace two existing seismically unsafe dining
halls.
Major
components of the Underhill Area Projects, as they are called,
analyzed in the environmental impact report, include:
·Three
new multi-story student residence halls.
·Two
apartment-style student housing complexes.
·The
demolition of two seismically poor dining halls and construction
of a new central dining facility.
·Central
offices for housing and dining operations.
·A
three-story parking facility for 1,000 vehicles.
·A
new sports and recreation field on the parking structure's rooftop.
The
projects are planned in and around the block bounded by Channing
Way, Bowditch Street, Haste Street and College Avenue. Two high-rise
student residence hall complexes currently exist in the area.
The
student housing component of the Underhill Area Projects was
added last year in response to a call from students and the
community for more student housing. The additional student housing
units proposed for the area are consistent with the campus's
1990 Long Range Development Plan.
The
proposed new central dining facility would replace two dining
halls built between 1959 and 1962, when the first high-rise
residence halls in the area were constructed. The residence
halls have all been seismically upgraded in recent years, but
the dining facilities were not and remain rated poor.
By
demolishing the two dining halls and replacing them with a new
central facility at the corner of Channing Way and Bowditch
Street the campus serves two objectives. It will provide a vastly
improved facility for students and it will provide infill space
to build new residence halls on the sites of the old dining
commons.
The
proposed parking structure replaces a two-story structure and
sports field built in 1962 that was demolished in 1993 when
engineers found that it would not stand up to a major earthquake.
The new structure will provide a similar amount of parking,
about 1,000 spaces, and replace the popular rooftop sports field
of the old parking structure.
The
draft environmental impact report reviews the projects under
the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines. Among the
significant impacts identified are:
·Land
Use conflicts with city zoning regulations related to building
height, setbacks and density.
·In
the section on cultural resources, two areas of impact are noted.
One is the plan to demolish or remove a stone cottage on the
site of the new dining and office complex. The Fox Cottage,
as it is known, was constructed in 1930 and is an example of
the picturesque revival-style architecture of that era. In addition,
the design of the 1960s-era dining halls may be noteworthy and
the impact of their demolition is examined in the draft EIR,
as is the impact of developing the new infill residence halls
within the existing complexes.
·Traffic
safety, notably pedestrian safety, is also raised in the draft
EIR. Because students from the nearby housing complexes will
have to cross the street to dine in the new central facility,
there is opportunity for pedestrian and auto conflicts. The
university is proposing to add crosswalks and other safety measures
to reduce the problem.
The
first public hearing on the draft environmental impact report
is scheduled for April 24 at 7 p.m. in UC Berkeley's Unit 1
Residence Hall at 2650 Durant Ave. Additional hearings will
be held in the city.
The
University of California Board of Regents is expected to consider
the environmental impact report in September. Construction could
not begin until after regents' certification of the final EIR
and approval of individual projects. The campus hopes to have
the dining hall and the first of the student housing completed
in 2002.
###
|
