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A second community meeting about the East Campus playing fields was held Thursday to give residents another chance to comment on the plan to possibly close Derby Street for the installation of a regulation-size high school baseball field and the proposal to keep the street open with the “curvy Derby plan,” which would bend the street to accomodate the field. 

Michael Parenti, a neighbor of the proposed development, proposed that the school district should alter the dimensions of the baseball field to keep the street open. 

“You could have a baseball field if you move home plate up 15 feet,” said Parenti. “It would save money, leave Derby open, and would prevent taking trees out from King CDC’s space.” 

Doug Fielding, chairman of the Association of Field Users, responded, “You have to have a 315 feet field to have a home game on the field. Otherwise, the team can’t play.” 

Peter Waller, co-architect of the Curvy Derby plan, presented the plan to the audience, many of whom were not present at the last community meeting. He reiterated that two-thirds of Derby would stay the same, but the last third would curve through the space currently occupied by King CDC. 

Waller further explained, “I live on Carleton. Our block is currently 70 feet wide, much wider than necessary to accommodate two-lane traffic. This plan would extend the field 30 feet into the 1900 block of Carleton.” 

Betsy Thaggard, a member of the East Campus Neighborhood Association (ECNA), an association of neighbors surrounding the proposed playing fields, presented a list of 12 conditions that must be met for the fields to have its support. 

These conditions include integrating community input prior to an enivronmental impact report, keeping the Derby Street famers’ market on the site, banning field lights and loudspeakers, limiting hours of operation, maintaining the field and building restrooms. 

School Board Member John Selawsky, who attended the meeting, commented on the conditions, “I think most of them are reasonable. I’m torn on the issue of providing public bathrooms. Not only is the initial cost high, but the maintenance is high too. If it isn’t well maintained, it could create a public nuisance. I think this issue needs a comprehensive public discussion.” 

Victor Diaz, principal at B-Tech, across the street from the field, raised concerns about what aspects of the field will be tossed out by the board when money is not available. 

“Prioritizing of what gets built on the site is important to me,” said Diaz. “For example, the baseketball court won’t be built in phase one. Basketball courts are important to our students.” 

Fielding responded, “The likely thing they will phase out are restrooms like at the Gilman fields. The next thing would be perimeter landscaping. I think you are going to have a hard time saying you can’t build a field unless you have restrooms.” 

These conditions caused a small debate over whether they were realistic or whether they had already been agreed to previously. 

Mark Coplan, public information officer for the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), reiterated that if people want a field to be built and most of these conditions met that there needs to be a big fundraising drive. 

“The field is going to have to be put in phases,” said Coplan, arguing against one of ECNA’s condition. “The district does not have the money to build a field at this point. We have to do some major fundraising. By the time the money is raised, we might not have enough money to do everything, because the cost will go up. It will definitely have to be phased in.” 

Selawsky thought that whether the conditions will be agreed to is up to the board. 

“I thought it was premature,” said Selawsky.”Mark [Coplan] is not a policy maker. I don’t think he should be negotiating this publicly. The board makes the decision.” 

Coplan responded, “I was merely giving my opinion on the conditions.” 

The school board will take up this issue at their Feb. 21 meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.