By Claudia Eyzaguirre

In what could be another skirmish in the battle between the community and UC Berkeley, urban farmers are organizing against school plans to redevelop Gill tract, a 10-acre parcel of farmland just north of Berkeley in Albany. Planners at the university, which owns the property and an abutting residential development, plan to transform the area as part of an expansion of a graduate student housing village. The school offers just 200 housing units for its more than 10,000 graduate students. "The need for affordable student housing is critical in attracting high-caliber scholars," senior UC Berkeley planner Jeff Bond says. Yet Gill tract proponents say the community, agricultural, and historical value of the land is too high.

"The university has a history of open-space conflict in Berkeley and surrounding communities," Berkeley Parks and Recreation commissioner Marco Barrantes says, citing the decades' long saga over People's Park.

Recalling memories of not-so-distant days when the East Bay was dominated by small farms and orchards, the Gill tract has been under cultivation for almost 100 years. Edward Gill operated a nursery and farm on the original 104 acres. In 1928 the university purchased the Gill tract. It has gradually given away and sold portions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Albany schools to be used for housing, community gardens, and agricultural research. Today, quiet tilled fields, century-old trees, the Gill family bungalow, and dilapidated greenhouses are separated from busy San Pablo Avenue by a high fence. Every summer students work in the community garden there.

The university hopes to develop the 26-acre northeastern portion of the 77-acre University Village with 1940s-style housing units, retail space, a community center, two Little League baseball fields, as well as restore two creeks. But the university's April bid made no mention of agricultural preservation of the Gill tract. The city of Albany has its own concerns, namely, retaining the two baseball fields and restoring the creeks. The Albany City Council hopes the university will help the city pay for fire and police services.

Another group also has concerns about the proposed development, a coalition of UC students, faculty, and community members calling themselves Urban Roots. Urban Roots members say they are interested in working with the university to preserve the Gill tract. "We have been working on a proposal that includes community responses, history, and ideas for future uses," Urban Roots cofounder and UC student Courtney Hall says.

UC Berkeley planners met with the Albany City Council Nov. 19 to discuss the university's plans. Two development agencies, San Francisco-based TMG partners and Allen and O'Hara, showed plans that included 451 to 618 housing units. Urban Roots supporters – local kindergarten teachers, engineers, city planners, community gardeners, and UC students – turned out in the dozens to lobby on behalf of agricultural open space. "This area has a fascination with urban agriculture," said Michael Beirs, an Albany kindergarten teacher, citing chef Alice Waters's Edible Schoolyard program and the Berkeley Unified School District's food policy, which promotes garden education.

Armed with a third development proposal, Hall said, "Little League, housing, creek restoration, and the Gill tract preservation are not competing interests." The plan detailed how garden space, baseball fields, and 330 housing units could be built by restricting the housing and retail development to 16 acres – instead of the 26 acres developers have targeted.

The university plans to choose a developer by January 2003, after which the community and the Albany City Council will get a chance to review the project. "The critical time is after the developer's selected," Hall said. "That's when the details will get worked into the project plan." The demolition of the old buildings is scheduled for spring 2004.

To contact Urban Roots go to www.gilltract.com. To view UC Berkeley's proposed plans go to www.cp.berkeley.edu.