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There’s an idyllic piece of unoccupied land with a creek running through it, just across the way from Live Oak Park. 

The building on the property at 1301 Oxford St. was once occupied by a small church, which shared the land with a group of community gardeners who grew native plants and vegetables. 

Just blocks away is another house of worship. The Beth El congregation was splitting the seams of its synagogue, built years ago for 250 members. Membership is now at about 600 and some 750 people come to the temple during the highest holy days celebrated in September. 

When the temple board learned that the property with a creek running through it was for sale, it believed the perfect solution had been found. They purchased the land.  

But neighbors were used to the little church and its small congregation and the friendly community gardeners who made the property beautiful. And they hoped one day the creek, buried in a culvert on part of the property, would be opened up. 

So when they found that the temple had bought the property and was planning to build a large house of worship, classrooms and a nursery-school – and pave over the culvert to create 35 on-site parking spaces – they were very unhappy. 

They said they feared the noise the crowds would bring. They were afraid that the congregation’s cars would overrun the neighborhood and add to parking and congestion problems in the area. 

They asked the temple to perform an Environmental Impact Report. After many meetings, some of them rather contentious, the Beth El leadership agreed to have the EIR done.  

Beth El is paying for the study which is done by Pacific Municipal Consultants. It is done through the city’s Planning Department, so that a distance is maintained between the developer and the professional who writes the EIR. 

The EIR is out and available in libraries. It can be purchased for $56. It will eventually be available on line on the city’s website at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Some of the EIR’s conclusions match the neighbors’ concerns: citing Beth El on the property would cause significant impacts to the area, the EIR says. 

However, the EIR concludes that by following through with a number of measures it prescribes, the impacts would be minimized and considered “less than significant.” 

The project that Beth El hopes to build would consist of a two-story almost 35,000-square foot building containing a sanctuary, social hall, 14 classrooms – three nursery school classrooms and 11 religious school classrooms – administrative offices and a library. 

There would be 35 parking spaces on a one-way road that would allow traffic to move from Oxford Street to Spruce Street. 

Outdoor space would be used for services, children’s play and social gatherings. 

While neighbors have argued that the increased traffic on Oxford and Spruce would impact the area, the EIR says it “will increase the amount of vehicles on local roadways, but is not anticipated to cause significant congestion at local intersections, or along the fronting roadways.” 

Neighbors had argued that the synagogue would create a parking problem in the area, but the EIR says its impact on parking is “less than significant.” 

The project will include stabilization of the open portion of the creek and the EIR says that will have a “positive impact” by having a “net benefit to fish habitat on the portion of Codornices Creek within the site.” 

The following are among the impacts noted by the EIR: 

• There could be congestion at the entrance and exit of the project, but by implementing staggered pick-up times and places, this could become insignificant. 

• The noise level in the children’s play area will exceed the allowable level under the city’s laws; however, building an eight-foot sound barrier will block the noise. 

• The noise level along the site’s parking and circulation route will exceed that permitted by the city, but a sound barrier will satisfactorily mitigate the problem. 

• The construction of the site, including demolition of the existing buildings will create noise and a potential hazard due to asbestos removal. To blunt the impact, work hours will be restricted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and hazardous materials need to be removed in a legally-required manner. 

• Construction may impact the Coast Live Oaks, a protected tree species. Specific landscaping measures can be used to make the impact insignificant.