A Wetter Face for Downtown Berkeley

Center Street Project Would Daylight Strawberry Creek

By Johanna Hoffman

Imagine emerging from the downtown Berkeley BART station into a tree-shrouded plaza. Rather than the roar of cars and buses, you would hear the hum of flowing water and chatting people. Groups of musicians might be playing next to the wetland plants that would border the burbling stream curling down the center of the street. If this sounds too good to be true, think again. Thanks to the hard work of local Bay Area advocates and planners, this vision, officially known as the Center Street Proposal, is likely to become a reality in the near future.

The project plans to revitalize Berkeley as a social and commercial center by reintroducing water into the city's urban center. The general proposal, which is still in schematic stages, would divert water from Strawberry Creek to the surface of Center Street, turning the section between Shattuck Ave and Oxford St into a pedestrian-oriented public space. Except for delivery trucks and emergency vehicles, auto traffic would not be allowed.

"It's the result of a lot of thinking and community action," says Kristin Miller, Executive Director of EcoCity Builders. A local nonprofit that addresses harmony between humans and nature in the built environment, EcoCity Builders, with significant help from the grassroots group Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza, has been the driving force behind the Center Street Project since its inception over a decade ago. They have spent years planning, fundraising and gaining support for the idea among the proposal's wide array of stakeholders, including the Berkeley Fire Department, BART, downtown merchants, and UC Berkeley.

In 2007, this coalition was able to bring on Walter Hood of Hood Design to give form to their ideas. For Hood, working on this project has been about creating an urban experience that is honest to the natural history and watershed landscape of Berkeley. "In order to execute the concept," says Hood, "we had to ask ourselves 'How do we make Strawberry Creek revelatory to the downtown and let people know that they are in a riparian corridor?'"

What Hood and his team have devised has great potential to bring Berkeley residents back in contact with their natural landscape. Due to the density of the Center Street block, the project in its current form will grab just enough water from Strawberry Creek's main channel to give citizens a taste of the larger riparian system. Bioswales will be installed to work as buffers along the artificial creek bed to ensure user safety and to convey the power of the creek ecosystem.

The design melds the lines between above and below ground. Porous pavement will replace asphalt, allowing for rain catchment in a large cistern underground. In addition to rain from the plaza, the cistern will catch water from surrounding buildings, mitigating flooding potential in downstream areas and allowing for rainwater re-use. The porous pavement will encourage vegetation to extend throughout the street, giving the plaza a verdant atmosphere. Varied levels of porosity in different areas of the block will allow for truck deliveries, pedestrian and bike traffic, and recreation.

Despite the enthusiasm of its supporters, there are still many hurdles for this project to cross. It lacks a feasible maintenance plan and has yet to get formal adoption by the city. With an estimated cost of $15 million (which, when divided by the approximately 150,000 citizens of Berkeley is only about $100 per person), it also has no present funding. And there is division among downtown merchants on Center Street about the impact such a development will have on their businesses. While some have serious qualms about the proposal, others, like Nam Nguyen, owner of Center Street's Quiznos store, are for it. "It's a great idea," Nguyen says. "It would draw more foot traffic and probably increase business."

One surprise, however, is the near uniform support it's getting from Berkeley City Council. Well known for its opinionated members, the city council rarely agrees on any one issue. When it comes to the Center Street Project, however, attitudes on the council range from open minded to outright enthusiastic. Says councilman Chris Worthington, "This is the most exciting proposal that we've heard in a year."