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Last night, the Berkeley City Council voted to authorize a historic agreement governing future growth, city services and more with the University of California at Berkeley. The agreement represents one of the largest financial settlements a UC campus has provided to a host city and paves the way for expanded educational opportunities while balancing community concerns and prospective impacts on City services. More importantly, the agreement assures a voice for the City and Berkeley community in the University’s future development.

“At its core this agreement is about enabling a world-class education in a world-class city. It will enable the City to continue to provide quality city services and maintain the character of its neighborhoods while extending UC’s renowned education to the next generation of students. This agreement is the culmination of years of negotiation and community input, and it’s a reflection of the mutual relationship and ongoing cooperation between the City and the University of California.” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin.

On the agreement, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said, “pending approval by the Regents, this agreement lays the foundation for a new era of city-campus collaboration and cooperation that will greatly benefit the members of our respective communities. We are thrilled to have the city’s support for our efforts to address an urgent student housing crisis, just as we welcome the prospect of working with our municipal partners to address shared challenges and opportunities. I am grateful for Mayor Arreguin’s efforts that have allowed us to arrive at a true win-win agreement, an outcome that is indescribably better than the prospect of costly, lengthy litigation”.

[CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM MAKING THEIR DEAL] 

The tentative agreement approved by the City Council calls for the University to provide annual payments to the city for a total amount of $82.64 million over the next 16 years. The funding will support fire and city services, and projects supporting residents within a half mile of the UC main campus and Clark Kerr Campus. In addition to the annual payment, the agreement calls for a stronger cooperative relationship including: voluntarily honoring the City’s zoning standards in the design of off-campus projects, creating a collaborative planning process for projects in the City Environs, meeting and conferring around suspending master leasing of private housing, a commitment to work with the City around the closure of Alta Bates Hospital, and a willingness to work with the city to require commercial tenants to obtain permits and pay city impact fees. 

The tentative agreement also provides that the city will drop its litigation over the Upper Hearst Housing Project, discontinue litigation over an intercollegiate volleyball facility at UC’s Clark Kerr Campus and an agreement to not challenge the upcoming 2021 LRDP and UC’s Anchor House and People’s Park housing projects. This agreement enables the City to retain its rights to challenge certain off-campus projects. 

Next week, the University of California Board of Regents will discuss and potentially vote on final approval of this tentative agreement. The final language of the agreement will be available after final adoption and execution by the parties.