UC Berkeley Web Feature
Court will not rule on new student-athlete training center lawsuits until sometime after March 7
BERKELEY – A ruling will not be issued until sometime after March 7 on the three consolidated lawsuits over planned construction of UC Berkeley's new student-athlete training center, to be situated west of California Memorial Stadium.
On Wednesday Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller affirmed her previous order directing the litigants to submit expert analysis of the university's construction plans for the new Student-Athlete High Performance Center. This latest order rejects an effort by petitioners to prevent the court from gathering and considering such additional evidence.
The court-ordered expert declarations will assist the judge in deciding whether the new training facility is a separate structure. Were it not a separate structure, the center could be subject to restrictions under the Alquist-Priolo seismic zoning act, which limits the value of additions or alterations to existing structures that, like the stadium, straddle active earthquake faults.
All parties have now been directed to submit declarations and responses by March 3, with oral arguments on the new evidence scheduled for March 7. The Court has 90 days from that hearing's conclusion to issue a final decision, though campus attorneys anticipate a ruling well before that deadline.
"We welcome the opportunity to provide the court with this evidence," said UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof. "From the very beginning the campus intended to build a separate structure. That was the task assigned to our architects, and that is exactly what they delivered.
We're confident that the additional evidence requested by Judge Miller will confirm that the Student-Athlete High Performance Center was designed as a discreet building."