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Despite neighborhood opposition and legal complications, a neighborhood group brought an armload of petitions to the City Council Tuesday to underscore its request that the city continue working for the new hills fire station. 

It has been eight years since funding for a new hills station was approved by the voters – Measure G called for a new hills fire station, jointly funded by several jurisdictions. The city has just hired an architect to put together preliminary design and engineering plans for the station. 

Encouraged by this development, the Neighbors for Fire Safety neighborhood group submitted a petition to the City Council with 735 signatures of north hills area residents urging the city to continue the process for construction of a fire station at Shasta and Park Gate roads, three blocks from existing Station No. 7 at 2931 Shasta Road. 

“It’s more than a fire station at stake here, it’s a question of our lives, our children’s lives, homes, property, our health and income,” said NFS member Collin Murphy. 

The site of the estimated $5 million station, which will be approximately 7,500 square feet, is being opposed by a loosely organized neighborhood group that says the proposed plan does not satisfy the Measure G requirements and should be moved to another location. 

“We oppose this plan on grounds that it does not offer efficient fire protection,” said Andrea Cukor, who lives across the street from the proposed site. Cukor said the group also opposes the station’s cost, size and its deviation from Measure G. 

The Fire Department conducted a study of at least eight sites and determined the Shasta and Park Gate site to be the best suited for fire response time. “It would be our number one choice and we don’t have a number two choice right now,” said Assistant Fire Chief David Orth. 

Measure G, a bond measure for $55 million was passed in 1992 partly in response to the devastating Oakland/Berkeley hills fire in 1991. It called for replacing deteriorated water mains, retrofitting Berkeley’s seven fire houses and the construction of a new fire station that would be jointly funded, staffed and equipped by multiple jurisdictions.  

According to fire department officials, the city worked with Oakland to meet measure G requirements by developing plans for a jointly-funded and staffed fire station. But four years ago, Oakland decided to build its own fire station on Alvarado Road in the Oakland hills leaving Berkeley at the alter without a partner to satisfy the wording of Measure G. 

Now, Berkeley has signed a contract with Marcy Wong Architects for $35,000 to develop the initial architectural and engineering plans for a station at the Shasta and Park Gate site. 

“At least we’ve jumped the first hurdle,” Murphy said. 

If hiring an architect is the first hurdle there will likely be many more to come. 

The architect is expected to consult neighbors of the proposed site to determine what would be an acceptable design. Once there is some agreement and plans are drawn up, an environmental consultant will be hired to produce an Environmental Impact Report. The EIR will have to consider alternate sites that would cause less of an environmental impact and be better suited for purposes of fire fighting. 

According to Cukor, there is at least one site that fits the bill. “There is a site at Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Centennial Drive which is owned by the East Bay Regional Park District and is not environmentally sensitive,” she said. 

Cukor added that the site at Shasta and Park Gate is used as a salamander study habitat by UC Berkeley. 

Once the Environmental Impact Report is ratified by the City Council, the whole package will go before a superior court judge who will decide if the project meets the requirements of Measure G.  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the project no longer meets those guidelines because there is currently no other jurisdiction participating in the new station. If the project is challenged in court, Worthington said it could delay construction of the fire station for at least another year and the judge could possibly throw the whole thing out. 

The seven NFS members who presented the council with the petition were challenged by Worthington who was concerned about the portion of the petition which read “having informed ourselves of the arguments for and against the city’s preferred site for a replacement of Berkeley’s Fire Station 7.” 

Worthington wanted to know specifically what arguments the signatories had been presented with before they signed. “If they were told this is their last chance for a fire station, of course they are going to sign,” he said.  

Worthington was rebuffed by Councilmembers Betty Olds and Polly Armstrong who apologized to the group.  

“I apologize for the public criticism,” Armstrong said. “Petitions are not legal documents and should never held up to legal standards.” 

Councilmember Olds, who is the representative of District 6, where the proposed site is located, said the criticism was a disgrace. “In all the time I’ve been on the council, I’ve never heard a group of citizens attacked who were trying to do their duty,” she said. 

Worthington said on Wednesday that he too is frustrated with the long delay for a new fire station, but said the whole issue could have been settled if the neighbors had put the current plan on the ballot last November. 

“If this is such a great idea why would they trust a judge to decide the matter instead of the voters? I trust the voters,” he said. 

Murphy said a new bond measure would have required a two-thirds vote for approval and the group didn’t want to risk it. “I think it would be a big mistake to lose the bonds that already passed,” she said.