The Cordornices Creek Daylighting Project, Berkeley-Albany
The Cordornices Creek daylighting project began in 1995, when a West Berkeley landowner petitioned to pave over a small open section of Codornices Creek and construct an office building. An alert neighbor spotted the notice posted on a telephone pole and notified Berkeley’s Urban creeks Council, which decided to explore alternatives. A deal was eventually worked out that not only saved the open portion but daylighted an additional 290 feet of Cordornices Creek.
Urban Creeks Council President Carol Schemmerling did most of the negotiation. Since the creek crossed University of California land in Albany and the landowner’s property was in Berkeley, Schemmerling had to go back and forth with the landowner, the university, the City of Albany, and the City of Berkeley. In addition, a streambed alteration permit had to be secured from the department of Fish and Game, along with a similar permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The university felt that nearby student housing residents would enjoy a creek more than what was there at the time—part parking lot, part vacant lot overgrown with eight-foot-tall fennel. The City of Albany waved the project through, agreeing that an expanded creek would be good for the neighborhood. After some minor friction, a deal was finally reached whereby developer’s office building would be erected on the south side of the new creekbed. And, in exchange for Shcemmerling’s help obtaining some construction permits from the city, the developer agreed to help with a part of the restoration costs.
Once permission was granted, the hunt for money began in earnest. Schmmerling was eventually able to secure a $25,000 grant from the state of California’s Department of Water Resources. Local landscape architect and creek enthusiast Gary Mason was hired to design the profile for a new creekbed, and Schemmerling asked Ecocity Builders to help with the physical reconstruction.
A bulldozer and four weekends were all it took to make the initial cut. But it took five years and 375 volunteers to do the rest, some working just a day or two, but many contributing once or twice a month for many months. They cam from all over: Ecocity Builders. Urban Creek Council, Friends of Five Creeks in Albany, the East Bay Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps, the public schools and the neighborhood itself. The result is a beautiful pocket park with a newel of a creek flowing through. Since the daylighting project, Ecocity Builders has continued to gather volunteers on Sundays to care for this urban oasis.
Visit us any Sunday between 11am and 1pm in West Berkeley. From Gilman Street, head North on 8th Street for two blocks and veer right, before Albany Village. We're tucked in by the baseball fields.
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