Derby Street Fields
The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) considered two alternate plans for developing athletic fields at its Derby site: The open-street and closed-street plans. The latter would close Derby St between Milvia and MLK to fit a regulation-sized baseball field on the site. The School Board has opted for the closed-street plan, but it requires City Council approval to cede that block of Derby St from the City to BUSD. BUSD's request already came once to Council, on 6 December 2005. Council sent it back to BUSD for more information; specifically, an EIR.
The issue is controversial. The East Campus Neighborhood Association (ECNA), the local neighborhood association, prefers the open street plan.
BFBC member Pam Webster provided the following materials on the issue, most of them from ECNA:
- Area and cost comparison table of Derby Street options (PDF).
- ECNA comparative evaluation of Derby Street options (PDF, 212KB).
- Graphic comparison of Derby Street options (JPG, 920KB).
- Pam Webster's draft letter to City Council and BUSD (MS Word format).