Hearing delayed over suits opposing UC sports facility

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 8, 2008 | by Kristin Bender

BERKELEY -- A court hearing for the lawsuits against the University of California, Berkeley, over plans to build a $125 million sports training center near the Hayward fault was postponed Friday for a week.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller was scheduled to consider expert testimony as to why the planned sports training center should be considered a "separate structure" from seismically unsound Memorial Stadium, which straddles the Hayward fault.

UC Berkeley spokesman John Sudsbury said he received an e-mail shortly before the hearing was to start Friday alerting him of the postponement. Neither he nor officials from the city of Berkeley had further details as to why the hearing was held over to March 14. Once the hearing is completed, Miller will have 90 days to issue a written ruling.

UC Berkeley is facing lawsuits from the city of Berkeley, the California Oak Foundation, the Panoramic Hill Association and a group called Save Tightwad Hill over plans for the sports training center for the Cal Bears football team and 12 other teams.

Three of the lawsuits were consolidated and a trial was held in October. The suits claim the center will be seismically unsafe and cause more noise and traffic, among other things.

The fourth lawsuit, filed by Save Tightwad Hill, which is trying to preserve an area where games are watched for free, will be considered separately.

Miller was expected to issue a written ruling on the cases following the October trial.

But in December, Miller asked for "expert testimony" after issuing preliminary findings rejecting the university's claim that a law called the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act does not apply to its plan to build the student athlete center near the stadium.

For safety reasons, the 1972 act prohibits "alterations or additions" to existing structures to be built on earthquake faults where the cost of the alteration or addition exceeds 50 percent of the value of the existing structure.

That order says the university "never considered" whether the sports training center was an alteration or an addition to the stadium for purposes of compliance with the act, or whether the cost to construct the sports center might violate the act because it is more than 50 percent of the value of the stadium.

Building the training center has been held up for more than a year by a court injunction that bans any changes to the construction site.

A group of people are living in oak trees near the proposed construction site in an attempt to save the grove from being razed to make room for the center.

Contact Kristin Bender at kbender@bayareanewsgroup.com or 510- 208-6453.