Sep 4, 2008 10:35 pm US/Pacific
Appeals Court Won't Stop Cal Sports Center Project
BERKELEY (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
University of California, Berkeley officials said late Thursday that they would immediately move forward on their long-delayed plan to build a new sports center now that an appeals court has refused to block the project that inspired lawsuits and tree-sitting protests.
The announcement came after the California Court of Appeal in San Francisco denied a request from two citizens groups, the Panoramic Hill Association and the California Oak Foundation, for an injunction barring construction of the athletic training facility.
Although Stephan Volker, a lawyer for the foundation, said he planned to take the case to the state Supreme Court, campus officials said they wouldn't wait any longer.
"We're absolutely delighted," UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulpof said. "The Court of Appeal decision allows the construction to begin. The real winners in this case are the more than 400 student athletes who will now get their training center."
The university issued a statement calling on the four protestors remaining in a grove of oak trees slated to be cut down at the construction site to end their 18-month protest and come down peacefully.
The university has erected fences to prevent supporters from getting to the tree-sitters, but has been supplying them with modest amounts of food.
''The time has come for these people to come down and put an end to this dangerous and illegal occupation of university property,'' said Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom. ''They have had their day in court and failed to convince impartial judges that their protest had any legitimacy what so ever.''
Construction of the 158,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to cost about $140 million, was approved by a UC Board of Regents committee on Dec. 5, 2006.
Shortly afterward, a group of people began living in a grove of oak trees next to Cal's Memorial stadium to protest the project because it calls for tearing down most of the trees.
The city of Berkeley and the two citizens' groups sued the university in late December 2006 to try to stop the project on environmental and safety grounds.
After losing their case last month before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller, the two groups - but not the city - filed the petition rejected by the appellate court Thursday.
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