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Members of the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association held a press conference Tuesday at the gates of the proposed site of a synagogue to announce the next steps in their opposition to the project. 

At the historic wrought iron gate in front of the two-acre site at 1301 Oxford St., LOCCANA spokesperson Juliet Lamont said several groups would appeal to the City Council the Zoning Adjustment Board’s granting of a use permit for a proposed 35,000-square-foot synagogue and school. The project includes a 32-car parking lot. 

About 30 people attended the press conference including several representatives from Beth El and six LOCCANA supporters dressed in tree and fish costumes. 

According to the appeal, the permit is being challenged because of an inadequate Environmental Impact Report and ZAB’s “irregular” treatment of the project during the permit process. 

“We are formally filing the appeal on behalf of the 2,300 citizens who have signed a petition opposing the development and the neighbors who have put in their time to try and find an alternative,” Lamont said. 

Beth El spokesperson Harry Pollock said the charge of irregularities was not warranted. He said that ever since the congregation submitted its application in September 1999, the process has been above board and public.  

“This has been a very detailed process and the project has been put under a microscope from the very beginning,” he said.  

The proposed site is the former location of the Napoleon Byrne Mansion, which was a Berkeley historical landmark until it was destroyed by an arson fire in 1985. Despite the loss of the structure, the Landmarks Preservation Commission reaffirmed the property’s landmark status. 

Codornices Creek, partially culverted, runs across the northern portion of the property. Opponents say the proposed parking lot, which will be placed very near the banks of the creek, will preclude the culverted section from ever being daylighted. 

LOCCANA and 11 environmental groups including the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club, The Golden Gate chapter of the Audubon Society and the Center of Biological Diversity, are appealing the March 8 decision by the ZAB to approve the project.  

The appeal, which was filed Tuesday, states five reasons the permit should be revoked including a poorly prepared Environmental Impact Report, violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and procedural irregularities on the part of the ZAB. 

Berkeley attorney Sharon Duggan, who assisted in preparing the appeal, said the EIR was certified despite an inadequate description of some buildings and their uses. “One example is the Social Hall that is normally 3,000-square feet but has the capability to expand to 3,600-square feet” she said. “There was no mention of that in the EIR.” 

The appeal also states that granting the permit was an abuse of discretion because “the ZAB gave this applicant preferential treatment and numerous procedural irregularities impermissible tainted the approval process.” 

“What the neighbors want is a fair forum to be heard in,” Duggan said, “and we hope the City Council can provide that.” 

Pollock said that the process has so far been fair and public. “Of all the accusations I’ve heard since we began this process, that’s the silliest,” he said. “The city has had go before numerous commissions and boards and there has been over 55 hours of public testimony and discussion, I don’t know where the irregularities occurred.” 

Addressing the group gathered at the property gate, LOCCANA member Alan Gould called attention to the “story poles,” a loosely framed structure of two-by-fours that outlines the actual height and width of the proposed project. “These poles give an idea of just how large this project is going to be,” he said.  

Pollock said the story poles show that the height and width of the frontage of the synagogue on Oxford Street is proportioned to the height of the homes directly across the street. 

“It fits perfectly into the context of the residential scale of the neighborhood,” he said. “In fact the building is set further back than most of the homes on the street and doesn’t take up the entire width of the frontage property.” 

But Gould said the building doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood. “This building will be the size of the Safeway at Rose and Shattuck,” he said. “Or another way of looking at it is it has the same footprint of a football field.” 

In a conflicting decision on March 5, the Landmarks Preservation Commission denied a Beth El application to demolish two existing structures that are standing in the way of the proposed development. Beth El is expected to file an appeal with the City Council on that decision. 

Both permit decisions have been sent to the City Council, which was expected to schedule public hearings on both issues at Tuesday night’s meeting.