![]() ![]() After installing a mist system inside the station last year to knock the dust particles from the air, Tom Farrell, manager of the city’s recycling and solid waste division, said the city recently erected a 16-foot vine-covered fence to trap some of the dust before it blows to the shelter. To reduce risk to shelter residents, the city has implemented mitigations at its garbage transfer station across the street from the shelter. “It’s healthier than if were out on the street.” “Yes, it’s not wonderful air quality, but the project has overriding social value,” said Berkeley Housing Director Stephen Barton. In July, the city’s Zoning Adjustment Board approved air quality mitigations listed in the project’s Environmental Impact Report, giving BOSS the green light to proceed. The dirty dust, much of it coming from vehicle exhaust, is known to aggravate asthma. While BOSS planners haven’t had to placate any neighborhood groups, air pollution blown in from the project’s closet neighbors-the Berkeley Transfer Station, Interstate I-80 and the Union Pacific Railroad-nearly derailed the project.Īir samples collected last year by the city’s Department of Toxics showed elevated levels of particulate matter-airborne solids or liquids from various sources-that at times exceeded state standards. The shelter’s location on city property away from residential neighborhoods in the heart of industrial West Berkeley has been both a blessing and a curse. The non-profit has secured city and state funding to build two homes to house abut 35 families next to Harrison House, which they also operate.Ī planned community center with some extra housing for residents remains unfunded. They were just the latest in a series of environmental concerns the project has had to overcome since Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) first conceived of it four years ago.īOSS envisions the project as a supportive, self-contained four-building village where about 40 homeless families and 80 individuals can live and receive social services on site. The tanks, discovered when a vent was spotted protruding above ground, were found to contain small amounts of gasoline and required disposal at a state-approved facility, said Deputy Manager of Public Works Patrick Keilch. Removal took five days and cost $75,000, paid for with money from the city public works department and city housing funds that had been earmarked to upgrade Harrison House. removed a pair of underground storage tanks-measuring three feet by eight feet-buried beside Harrison House, the existing homeless shelter at the site of the proposed homeless village at Harrison and Fourth Streets. Two weeks ago, teams from Golden Gate Tank Removal Inc. Ursula Sherman Village-Berkeley’s most ambitious proposed home for homeless families-is two steps closer to becoming a reality, but environmental and funding concerns are forcing an outcome somewhat different than the original design. ![]()
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