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Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission gave their blessings Monday to the Ed Roberts Center, a starkly modern building planned for the western entrance of the South Berkeley BART station. 

In a lengthy session preceding the vote, commissioners blasted city Housing Director Tim Stroshane for presenting the issue only after the city Zoning Adjustments Board had voted authorization to build the project. 

The center will house a consortium of disability rights and training organizations, and because some of the building funds come from federal coffers, the city has to demonstrate that building the facility won’t adversely impact structures or a district that might qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. 

That requirement is spelled out in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. 

The center’s proposed location at 3075 Adeline St. is in the heart of a district built at the start of the last century when the area became a hub for street car lines. Many of the structures are built in the Colonial Revival Style that became popular after the Spanish-American War. 

A nearby building, the Webb Block at the southwest corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street, had been landmarked by the commission in December, and other structures in the area are cited on a state list of buildings that may be eligible for the National Register. 

Monday night’s hearing was prompted by a Nov. 17 letter to Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks from state Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson, roasting the city for failure to respond a letter sent to Stroshane 13 months earlier asking for specifics about the project and its surrounding area. 

That Oct. 21, 2003 letter from Donaldson’s predecessor, Knox Mellon, notified Stroshane that “At this point, I cannot concur with the city that the Ed Roberts Center will have no impact on historic resources.” 

Mellon also faulted the city’s designated area of potential effects for the project and urged Stroshane to consult with the landmarks panel and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

All the commissioners made clear their disappointment with city staff’s handling of the state agency’s concerns—most particularly Stroshane’s failure to bring them into the process well before the project came up for ZAB’s approval. Many also voiced frustration with Stroshane’s written submissions to the commission. 

“I was really, really disappointed at the lack of information in the packet,” said Lesley Emmington. “I was really surprised not to find something as basic as a map. There are some pictures of some things, not of others,” she said, 

“The information wasn’t comprehensive,” added Commissioner Carrie Olson. “This is very out of the ordinary. Very disappointing.” 

“Didn’t the State Office of Historic Preservation ask that the Landmarks Preservation Commission be a consulting body?” asked Patricia Dacey, a commissioner. 

“Yes,” said Stroshane. 

“It seems the first step is to identify and document the historic resources and determine their elegibility” for the register, said Jill Korte, commission chair. “I’m having difficulty understanding how we as a commission can accomplish that tonight.” 

“How do we define the area of potential effect? Is there an official standard? You defined it more broadly than” Page & Turnbull Inc., the architectural consultants hired by the center. 

“It’s not like a legal property definition,” said Stroshane. 

“The language about a historical district defines quite a formidable process in itself. I don’t think it’s possible in a short period,” said James Samuels, the newest commissioner. 

“What I’m having difficulty getting my head around is what kind of effects it could have on buildings. I’m having a hard time understanding,” said Commissioner Aran Kaufer. “I’m really eager to hear from the public.” 

Monday’s meet drew a large turnout of center supporters, including Zona Roberts, the mother of center namesake Ed. She became a disability rights advocate after her son was stricken with polio at age 14 and went on to become a counselor for Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living—which her son ran for years—and for UC Berkeley’s Physically Disabled Students’ Program. 

Ed Roberts is credited as the founder of the independent living movement, and had become a world-renowned figure by the time of his death nine years ago. He served as director of the California Department of Rehabilitation for eight years and won numerous awards, including a MacArthur grant. 

Residents of a nearby apartment praised the project. Other neighbors and BAHA activists, including President Wendy Markel, said they had no objections to the center’s location; their issue was the architecture, a glass-fronted curvilinear design many compared to an airport terminal. 

The design, they said, was too strong a contrast with the historic structures in the area, both the nearby residences and the potential landmarks immediately to the north along Adeline Street. 

Architect Bill Leddy defended the design, citing it as an example of universal architecture, fully accessible to the disabled and welcoming to all in stark contrast to the dark, closed institutions where the disabled had been warehoused throughout much of American history. 

The design impressed commissioners, too. And when it came time of vote on a statement declaring the project wouldn’t have negative impacts on the neighborhood, only Emmington, a BAHA employee, voted no. Two other commissioners, Korte and Dacey, abstained. ?