SF Chronicle: Judge issues preliminary injunction to stop UC stadium plan

(01-29) 10:46 PST BERKELEY -- A judge this morning granted a preliminary injunction stopping UC Berkeley's plans to build a training center next to Memorial Stadium, handing at least a temporary victory to a group of environmentalists who have been camping for weeks in old oak trees that would have to be cut down for the development.  In the four-page ruling, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller said the plaintiffs -- the city of Berkeley, Panoramic Hill Association and California Oak Foundation -- made a sufficient case that the project violates the Alquist-Priolo Act, a state law prohibiting new buildings on earthquake faults.  Despite today's ruling, a half-dozen protesters roosting in an oak grove next to Memorial Stadium said they will not be coming down for at least another several months, when a trial will decide the fate of the proposed training center.

Zachary Runningwolf, who has been living in a redwood tree on and off since Dec. 2, choked up this morning when discussing the judge's decision.  "I'm very emotional," he said via cell phone from his perch in the tree. "It's been a long road -- 59 days. But we're going to keep the pressure on. The lawsuits have helped, but we feel that we've been the pressure in this movement."  The Hayward Fault runs under the 84-year-old stadium.  UC drilling found no fault traces under most of the proposed training center, but two of the drilling tests were inconclusive.  The injunction means that UC cannot begin work on the project until after the trial, if at all. The trial likely would begin in early summer.  The delay pushes back the construction schedule at least a year, due to conflicts with the football schedule, costing UC $8 million to $10 million due to rising construction costs.