BUSD need not adhere to City’s review processes
This is great for the Berkeley Unified School District, since it can save them time and money, but not so much for the city as a whole. While these processes can be long, drawn out and hard for everyone (look at the West Berkeley Bowl) it does provide moderation that includes the interests of those beyond the immediate developers of the property, in this case the school district. This has become an issue recently because of the pending development of the BUSD’s West Campus site. Read more about it in today’s Daily Planet.
*Per the same Daily Planet article, the BUSD is said to be losing $400,000 a year on their proposed transportation hub/bus yard at Sixth between Gilman and Camelia. Apparently this project did need to go through some City approvals.