Judge issues injunction
against UC Berkeley stadium plan

By Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News Service

January 27, 2007

A judge issued a preliminary injunction today stopping the construction of a $125 million athletic training center and other facilities near the University of California, Berkeley's football stadium.

The order by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller keeps in force a stay that was issued on Dec. 22 and temporarily prevented the university from going forward with the project.

Miller held a daylong hearing on the issue last Tuesday and her ruling was made public today.

The UC Board of Regents Grounds and Building Committee voted 7-0 on Dec. 5 to approve the project, which calls for 451,000 square feet of new construction, including a sports training facility and a four-story underground parking lot with more than 900 spaces.

It also calls for building new facilities for the university's law and business schools.

A total of four plaintiffs have filed suit seeking to stop the project on various grounds. Among the allegations is that the project violates environmental laws and that it's unsafe to build the facilities near a major earthquake fault, as the Hayward Fault runs through the middle of Cal's Memorial Stadium.

Miller's hearing was on a consolidated preliminary injunction request by three of the plaintiffs: the city of Berkeley, the California Oaks Foundation and the Panoramic Hill Association, which represents residents who live near the stadium.

A lawsuit filed by a fourth plaintiff, Save Tightwad Hill, a group of Cal fans who watch games for free by sitting on a hill 100 feet above the stadium, is on a separate track.

That group has raised different legal issues than the other plaintiffs because its primary objection to the university's plan is that it calls for additional seats on the stadium's east side which would raise the height by about one story and block their views.

University of California, Berkeley officials weren't immediately available for comment on the ruling.

Stephen Volker, an attorney for the California Oak Foundation, said the group will hold a news conference later today at a grove of trees near Memorial Stadium where activists have been sitting in trees since UC regents approved the project.

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