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An interim parking plan for Berkeley High School approved 4-1 by the Board of Education Wednesday night provoked acrimony between school representatives and neighbors of the school, who feared it would compound an already dire parking situation.  

The plan would allow the school to apply for up to 110 residential parking permits to be issued to staff and designates 70 additional parking spaces around the north, west and south perimeter of the school for exclusive use by the staff. 

Construction of a new physical education building and a new administrative building and student center will usurp 150 staff parking spaces now on the school campus. Originally, the school had planned to provide parking on the blacktop during the construction, which is estimated to take three years.  

But after a fire destroyed one of the major buildings earlier this year, the school had to locate portable classrooms on the blacktop. This has left BHS with  

little staff parking during the new  

building construction, scheduled to start early next year. 

“This is a crisis situation and an interim situation,” said School Board President Terry Doran. 

Doran said the board had searched for alternate solutions but found none that were realistic.  

A significant number of Berkeley High staff members live in areas not served by public transit, said Principal Frank Lynch. “The bottom line is that with all our good intentions to get people to use alternative methods of transport, there are still people who out of necessity are going to drive.” 

More than a dozen area residents came to the meeting to protest the plan, which they said would create vicious competition for an already limited number of parking spaces. “We are being told that we won’t be able to unload our groceries so that teachers can unload their teaching materials,” said area resident Wendy Alfsen.  

Councilmember Dona Spring said, “If we give stickers to everyone who wants them, we don’t have a permit parking system anymore.” 

Opponents of the measure had suggested the school use a lot off site, perhaps at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, and offer shuttle service to the school. But several members of the school board rejected this plan, as did a teacher representative. 

“Who is going to drive all the way past Berkeley to Albany and then have to wait for a shuttle?” said Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers and a Berkeley High neighbor as well. “Or should we ask our teachers to disrupt our classes and play the two-hour shuffle?” he said, referring to requiring them to park in spaces that have a two-hour limit. 

Residents said the measure would strain relationships between neighbors and the school. “I don’t like to complain about the presence of the high school in my neighborhood,” said Nick Bertoni, who lives across the street from Berkeley High. “But this is our home and our neighborhood and we have to live here. Many residents don’t have garages or driveways and there is no other place for us to park.”  

“There’s something about an inconvenience like this that really gets to you and makes you feel like you’re getting screwed,” said Jason Bathrick, who testified that when he takes his wife to work in the morning, he cannot find a place to park when he returns.  

Some Berkeley High teachers also had concerns. “Providing teachers with permits in a neighborhood where there is no parking isn’t giving them anything,” said Berkeley High teacher Julie Gilfoy. “By giving us permits you are giving us nothing but anger and frustration.” 

Defenders of the plan said they had searched for a better alternative, but found none. “We’ve been in discussions for a long time with city staff and that didn’t generate solutions,” Doran said. He said the school was simply exercising its right to the parking spaces allotted them through the residential parking permit system, which allows permits for 60 percent of school staff. 

Newly-elected Board Director John Selawsky, who was sworn in at Wednesday’s meeting, cast the one dissenting vote. “Just because we are an educational institution and we have a laudable mission does not mean we can ignore the issues of the community,” he said. “I have a gut feeling the district hasn’t done its homework on this and that some of these problems could have been foreseen.” 

The board unanimously approved a recommendation to offer other trip reduction incentives. These included building a bicycle storage area, providing employees information on public transport and carpool programs, assigning priority parking spaces for car-poolers and participating in a program which allows employees to get tax write-offs for public transit costs. Doran proposed an amendment to the plan that would reimburse staff who use public transport for up to $65 a month. “We have to show we are willing to absorb some of the problem,” he said. Board members declined to pass the proposal on the spot, but approved an amendment to investigate such a subsidy. 

The deadline for resolution of the parking issue may be pushed back a bit, as construction is expected to be delayed from its original January start date to February or March of this year.