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Some neighbors of the old Berkeley High School East Campus say they are afraid that a BUSD school board decision last week on whether to close a block of Derby Street might mean the campus will long remain an abandoned, empty lot instead of the promised multi-purpose athletic fields and community park space. 

Carlton Street resident Peter Waller made that observation in the hallway outside the Old City Hall Wednesday night shortly after BUSD board members accepted a staff recommendation to hold off on ap proving final plans for the South Berkeley property while a new proposal is developed that considers a closed Derby Street option. 

Those closed Derby Street plans are expected to be completed in August. Meanwhile, demolition of the old East Campus buildi ngs will not be delayed, school officials said. 

The BUSD board supports the closure of Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street in order to unite two adjoining district-owned lots, one of which formerly housed East Campus, the ot her occupied by the Berkeley Alternative High School. Board members and district officials have said that the united lot is the only district-owned space large enough to accommodate a regulation sized baseball field for Berkeley High School, which does no t have one. 

But Derby Street can only be closed by the Berkeley City Council—not the BUSD board—and the council has balked at approving the closure. In addition, many neighbors have expressed opposition both to a regulation-size baseball diamond in the a rea and to the street-closure. 

Last fall, the BUSD board appeared to reach a compromise when it authorized the demolition of the abandoned East Campus buildings—which neighbors support—while hiring WLC Architects of Emeryville to develop a temporary solution for use of the East Campus property alone while Derby Street remains open. Last week, after a series of community meetings, WLC presented the board with plans that included a multi-purpose athletic field, basketball courts, a community garden, and a toddlers’ play area. 

At the meeting, several neighbors urged the board to move forward with both the demolition and the development plans. 

Carl Reeh, president of the LeConte Neighborhood Association, wrote that association was asking the district “to f orgo any further study of the closure of Derby Street. Studying Derby closure would derail immediate improvement of the East Campus site.” 

But District Facilities Director Lew Jones told board members that the multi-purpose field alone would eat up the entire budget presently allocated for the East Campus temporary development project. 

Saying that there has been a lot of discussion within his department “about not putting the tot lot in that area,” Jones recommended “not doing any more design of r estroom facilities and the community area at this time because it doesn’t fit within the budget.” 

Jones also asked for approval to develop numbers for a closed Derby Street plan, saying it “makes some sense” to do so. Board members agreed unanimously, di recting Jones to do no further design work on East Campus development until he comes back to the board in August with budget figures for a closed Derby plan. 

Board President Nancy Riddle said that while the district “needs to come to a resolution on this issue,” she hinted that the district may have other possibilities in mind for the East Campus land presently earmarked for the tot lot. 

“I’m reluctant to build any permanent non-field structures until we decide on a location for the early childhood deve lopment center, which we might want to put on that site,” she said. 

Board director John Selawsky voted for the resolution calling for the closed Derby Street study. 

“Although I don’t support the closure of Derby Street,” he said, “I don’t want to want t o withhold any information from the board.” 

Selawsky promised that when the issue came back before the board, “I’m going to make a pitch that the basketball court should be a priority. The Alternative High School needs those courts. There are presently n o on-site PE facilities at the alternative school, and they don’t have access to the facilities at Berkeley High.” 

Outside the meeting, Carlton resident Waller said he didn’t see the sense in halting any further design work on the multi-purpose field whi le the demolition goes forward, saying that was an unnecessary delay. 

“There’s just going to be an empty, unused space there where the buildings now stand,” he said. “Maybe they don’t want people to get comfortable with a big, grassy field until they dec ide what to do.”