Sports complex will bring five new fields to Berkeley

Oakland Tribune, Sep 24, 2005 by Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER

BERKELEY -- Construction of five new sports fields at the foot of Gilman Street in Berkeley could begin as early as spring.

The $5 million complex, to be built at a site now used for overflow event parking, will include two year-round, lighted soccer fields, two softball fields and a full-sized baseball diamond, city officials said Thursday.

If construction starts in May as scheduled, the first fields could open next fall, said Cisco De Vries, chief of staff for Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates.

"A year from today, people will be playing on new sports fields," De Vries said, adding that the complex will also include 207 parking spaces, a field house and restrooms.

An estimated 150,000 people are expected to use the complex annually, with rugby and lacrosse players taking to the fields in the winter months.

The site is currently used as overflow parking for events such as the Berkeley kite festival and by employees of Golden Gate Fields.

The project is moving forward because of recent state grants from the Youth Soccer and Recreational Development Program and from the State Urban Parks and Healthy Communities Program. It received an grant from the Urban Parks Program last fall, and efforts to secure the final $1 million are under way, De Vries said.

The fields will be built as a joint project among the East Bay Regional Parks District and the cities of Berkeley, El Cerrito, Albany, Emeryville and Richmond.

Bates called the project a "true regional effort."

Doug Fielding, president of the Association of Sports Field Users, said he hopes the project "can be a model for how different governmental agencies can work together to solve other regional problems."

Robert Cheasty, president of Citizens for East Shore State Parks, said environmentalists consider the project a good fit for the area.

"We think it's a great day for the environment and a great day for the parks," Cheasty said.

Cheasty said burrowing owls, which live on the south end of the project site, will have a new 10-acre, fenced habitat on the east side of the plateau in Albany. The owl is a species of special concern, Cheasty said.