The city of Berkeley and a local group of Indigenous people have filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court to block an affordable housing development on the West Berkeley shellmound, a sacred Ohlone landmark whose fate is mired in a long-running legal battle.
At the center of the battle is a patch of asphalt, formerly the parking lot for Spenger’s Fish Grotto, the waterfront seafood joint that shuttered three years ago after 128 years in business.
The property’s owner, the Frank Spenger Company, and developer Ruegg & Ellsworth would like to see the lot become an apartment complex housing 260 units, half of which would be designated affordable housing.
But the city and members of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan / Ohlone are fighting to halt the housing development, which they say would sit atop the West Berkeley Ohlone shellmound, an ancient remnant of one of the earliest known Ohlone settlements. The site was named an “endangered historic place” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation last year.
In April, the California Supreme Court approved the housing development, finding that it qualified for streamlined approvals under Senate Bill 35, which overrides local zoning laws in cities and counties that aren’t meeting state affordable housing targets. The court also wrote that “no evidence to suggest that remnants of the West Berkeley Shellmound exists” in the area.
The city and the Indigenous confederation disagree. Their appeal, filed May 28, seeks to reverse the court’s approval and submit the project to the city’s usual zoning process. It’s the latest installment in the years-long legal battle.
“Systemic murder, disenfranchisement, and appropriation of the property of Native peoples was official California policy at statehood, and the City of Berkeley now wishes to protect what little is left of its Ohlone heritage,” the city wrote in its appeal. “But the published decision ...would compel Berkeley to grant ministerial approval of the destruction of a sacred local Ohlone landmark for the benefit of the ‘constitutionally protected’ rights of developers to build a mixeduse project there.”
“We believe that the judges were wrong,” said Johnella LaRose, a member of the Shoshone Bannock and Carrizo tribes. “We have more information to provide. We hope that we will be heard and that our sacred site will be protected.”
LaRose said she hoped East Bay residents would educate themselves about the shellmound. Once a massive heap of shells, the site served as a burial and ceremonial ground for Ohlone fishing villages dating back more than 5,700 years.
“I ask anyone who lives on our territories to stand with the Indigenous people on whose land they live, work and play,” LaRose told The Chronicle on Friday.
Berkeley Councilwoman Rashi Kesarwani, who represents the area, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Nora Mishanec is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com
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Berkeley appeals decision to allow housing development on sacred Ohlone site - San Francisco Chronicle
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