California Supreme Court gives UC Berkeley go-ahead to develop People's Park, capping decades-long battle

A plan was developed to create a towering dormitory complex with space for 1,100 students and a separate building with permanent supportive housing for 125 homeless people. About 60% of the property would remain green space, with commemorative exhibits about the park’s history.

Opponents — a very-Berkeley coalition of park idealists and NIMBYS opposed to growth — fought the development, claiming the university did not do enough to study alternative sites. They filed a lawsuit, claiming the university’s Environmental Impact Report on the project was inadequate.

In 2023, a state appellate court sided with university opponents, ruling that the California Environmental Quality Act required developers to analyze and mitigate a project’s potential “social noise’’ — in this case the noise generated by students who may drink, yell and hold loud “unruly parties.”

The ruling marked the first time a court held that the behavior of a particular group of people whom a housing development might bring into a neighborhood must be assessed, according to UC attorneys.

The university appealed the legal ruling to the state Supreme Court and also turned to the Legislature. Lawmakers passed a law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, designed to make it easier for universities to build housing and overcome lawsuits from residents who raise noise concerns.

That law would become a key factor in the high court’s deliberations.

“We conclude that, based on the new law, none of Good Neighbor’s claims has merit and we accordingly reverse the Court of Appeal’s judgment,” the opinion read. “We hold that the new law applies to both the People’s Park housing project and the development plan, and the EIR is not inadequate for having failed to study the potential noisiness of future students at UC Berkeley in connection with this project.”

Even as the court deliberated, UC Berkeley unspooled yet one more effort to take back control of People’s Park.

In the predawn hours of Jan. 4, with many students away on winter break, a massive contingent of law enforcement officers converged on the park, for an hours-long operation, clearing out activists and encampments. Work crews followed them in, razing trees and greenery and walling off the space by double-stacking heavy metal cargo containers around the entire park perimeter.

That imposing perimeter — with some shipping containers now covered with colorful graffiti — remained in place all spring, as many student activists channeled their energies into a pro-Palistinian encampment on the steps of Sproul Plaza.

As word of the People’s Park decision spread Thursday, the group keeping vigil outside the park grew, with some sporting kaffiyeh scarves.

Enrique Marisol, 23, a recent UC Berkeley graduate, said the coalition remains resolved in its fight to preserve People’s Park for the community.

“People are going to protest. There’s no way people are just gonna watch construction equipment go through these gates and not do something about it,” Marisol said. “There’s no solid plan, but I’m certain there will be people in the streets.”