South Berkeley Now!

BART SHOCKS SOUTH BERKELEY WITH POWER STATION PROPOSAL:

10 FOOT HIGH WALL AT ADELINE ST AND ASHBY AVE

NO HOUSING OR RETAIL ON ADELINE STREET

LOSS OF 150-300 AFFORDABLE HOMES

Instead of maximizing housing, neighborhood connectivity, and public safety, BART proposes to maintain the 1960s infrastructure which left the BART entrance below street level in an asphalt pit. Plopping a massive power station right on the corner of Ashby and Adeline is a truly terrible idea, for so many reasons: It reduces the number of homes, it reduces public safety, it eliminates connection to Adeline, it creates dangerous sidewalks.

1. The TPSS location would dramatically reduce the total number of long-promised new homes ( 150-300) that can be built for low-income and working-family residents of south Berkeley;  

2. BART’s current plan pushes the housing back 100ft from Adeline and this eliminates any connectivity to Adeline Street which is critical for revitalization efforts;

3. Ashby is a busy highway (State Route 13) and evacuation route, the other corners include historic architecture, a house of worship, a local retail hub, and brand-new 100% affordable housing;

4. A 300-foot long, 10-foot high wall and 100-foot gap between housing and the street level would have a hugely negative impact on South Berkeley's revitalization efforts;

5. The TPSS location would handicap the flea market’s planned move to the Adeline street level;

6. The TPSS location would create a dangerous place to walk for women, transit riders, and residents, especially at night;  

7. The TPSS location goes against good urban design and, most importantly, Berkeley’s own General Plan and Zoning Code – which all agree that new developments must consider public safety in their design (often accomplished by requiring ground-floor retail space.)

Sadly, the location of this oversized power station is just one of the ways that BART’s proposals seem to be stuck in the past. Instead of maximizing housing, neighborhood connectivity, and public safety, they are maintaining the 1960s infrastructure which left the BART entrance below street level in an asphalt pit. This suburban design has long since been discredited, and the poor visibility around our station has likely contributed to numerous violent crimes, assaults, and robberies in our community.

While it’s great that we are getting help shining a light on this crucial issue – we must continue to push and demand that the South Berkeley community get fair and equitable housing development that provides the maximum number of new homes to enhance our community and for design that supports economic vitality and public safety for years to come. 

MORE BACK GROUND ON BART PROPOSAL:

In April, BART revealed that they secretly decided to undermine the 8+ years of public meetings meant to bring affordable housing and commercial vitality to South Berkeley. (see BART presentation here). Without community input or alternate studies, BART plans to build a massive traction power station at the corner of Ashby Ave. and Adeline Streets!

Their unilateral decision to dramatically enlarge the power supply at Ashby BART means that the Ashby and Adeline intersection will get a 300-foot long, 10-foot high sound wall instead of 150-300 apartments and street-level retail!

STOP BART FROM HIJACKING OUR ADELINE PLAN:

1.     Write a letter to City Council and the BART Board (sample)

2.     Join South Berkeley Now! (link)

Many of you have attended the countless planning meetings held over the last 8 years that eventually resulted in Berkeley’s Adeline Corridor Plan and an agreement between BART and Berkeley to build new housing at Ashby BART.  We thought we were getting close, given the rapid progress on North Berkeley BART. However, we found out that we are being betrayed by BART, and it appears that our Mayor and City Council are letting it happen!

It turns out that, while BART staff was happily attending the Adeline Corridor Plan public meetings, they were planning behind closed doors for an industrial scale, system-wide traction power substation (TPSS) at the corner of Ashby and Adeline. On April 20, 2023, they arrogantly announced that the TPSS expansion was not up for debate, and that new housing would need to be set back 100 feet from the street. This destroys the Adeline Corridor Plan’s call for ground floor retail on Adeline, and degrades the new proposed Ashby Flea Market site.

South Berkeley deserves affordable housing and walk-able streets that support thriving businesses. The goal of the new TOD was to correct the damage wrought by the original BART station design, not to make it worse!

The City and BART must relocate the TPSS and work together to find the funds to do it. The citizens of Berkeley will support funds for a great transit village. We will not accept bad planning, bad faith, and bad decisions made in secret.

Please make your voice heard and demand:

RESPECT for SOUTH BERKELEY!

RESPECT for THE ADELINE CORRIDOR PLAN!

RELOCATE THE PROPOSED POWER STATION!

CONNECT NEW HOUSING AND RETAIL ON ADELINE STREET!

On April 20, 2023, BART revealed that they decided to undermine the 8+ years of public meetings meant to bring affordable housing and commercial vitality to South Berkeley. (see BART presentation here). Without community input or alternate studies, BART plans to build a massive traction power station at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street! BART spent $3 MILLION dollars of public money to design the expansion with no public input. It turns out that, while BART staff was attending the Adeline Corridor Plan public meetings and Community Advisory Group, they were planning behind closed doors for an industrial scale, system-wide traction power substation (TPSS) at the corner of Ashby and Adeline just across from a well-loved historic Hudson’s Building.

At the start of the BART Community Advisory Group (CAG) process in June of 2020, BART quietly filed an Environmental Exemption for the Power Station so that it would be exempt from the on-going Ashby BART EIR process and CAG process. No analysis of the impacts of the Power station expansion were presented to the public during the EIR process. No renderings of the massive expansion were provided. The goals of the Adeline Plan and the context of the neighborhood were ignored. Then, on April 20, 2023, BART announced that the Traction Power Substation (TPSS) design was completed and the decision was not up for debate.

Thank you for your involvement!