People's Park Bill Gliding Through the Legislature

It looks like the legislature is poised to OK Berkeley's student housing project in People's Park. See below. But what initially stopped the project was a protest and police confrontation. Unanswered is what UC-Berkeley and the City of Berkeley would do when the inevitable next protest and confrontation occurs. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The state Supreme Court set that ruling aside in May when it granted a hearing on UC’s appeal, supported by Newsom and the city of Berkeley. The justices have not yet scheduled a hearing but could decide the case by early next year. But the case will lose its impact if Wicks’ bill has already become law by then, and it appears to be on course to do so. AB1307 cleared the Assembly on a 77-0 vote in May, has passed two state Senate committees unanimously and has been placed on the legislative “consent calendar,” which would allow passage without the need for any debate or roll-call vote.*

As initially drafted, the bill said noise from residents should not be considered a “significant effect on the environment” that would require developers to consider alternatives under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. A recent amendment by Wicks said a public university does not have to consider alternative sites for a proposed housing project on a site no larger than 5 acres in an urban area, a provision clearly designed to exempt the People’s Park project from further review.

“At the 11th hour, they are changing the rules of the game,” said Harvey Smith, president of People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, one of the organizations opposing the plan. “This guts the public’s ability to say anything about where these projects might be located.” He said he would ask lawmakers to remove AB1307 from the consent calendar and would seek to argue against it at the next committee hearing...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/peoples-park-bill-18287553.php.

===

*The bill is at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1307.