Richmond Field Station

The Richmond Field Station (RFS) is a satellite campus of the University of California, Berkeley located in Richmond, California. The name was changed to the Richmond Bay Campus (RBC) in 2012 and then Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay (BGC) in October 2014, reflecting plans to expand the site to address global issues, first as a second campus for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), then as an expansion of the main campus in Berkeley itself. In 2016, the expansion plans were suspended and the name reverted to Richmond Field Station.

For the adjacent industrial site to the east formerly owned by Zeneca, see Campus Bay, Richmond, California.
Richmond Field Station
RFS is bounded approximately by Richmond Bay (on the south), Interstate 580 (north), S 46th St (east), and Marina Bay Pkwy and Regatta Blvd (west)
Location
1301 South 46th St
Richmond, California
Coordinates37.915°N 122.335°W / 37.915; -122.335
Information
Former name
    • Richmond Bay Campus
    • Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay
AffiliationUniversity of California, Berkeley

Site

The Richmond Field Station is in the South Shoreline neighborhood of Richmond, just north of Albany and west/south of I-580, approximately 15–20 minutes away from the main campus in Berkeley by car. The site is 125 acres (51 ha) in total, including the adjacent Regatta Industrial Center purchased by the university.[1] There are three distinct habitats on site: the Upland Area, Transition Area, and Western Stege Marsh.[2]: 3  The marsh area is further subdivided into low, middle, and high salt marshes and tidal wetlands with native species including the endangered California clapper rail.[2]: 6 

A wooden seawall was constructed along the tidal mudflat prior to 1950, including a wooden pier that extended south, possibly before the acquisition of the site by California Cap.[2]: 9  The Stege Marsh was formed after the Southern Pacific Railroad Company added fill to the site to build a rail spur in 1959.[2]: 8 

History

Native Americans used the site for fishing and shellfish harvesting, as evidenced by the presence of neighboring shellmounds, some of which were removed in 1915 for the development of the Harborgate tract in Richmond.[2]: 7  It was part of the Rancho San Pablo land grant given to Francisco Maria Castro in 1823, which was subsequently subdivided and sold in the 1850s. One of the owners was Richard Stege, who raised bullfrogs for sale to San Francisco restaurants.[2]: 7–8  By the 1880s, the site was acquired by the California Cap Company, which manufactured explosives and blasting shells alongside smaller companies such as the U.S. Briquette Company and Pacific Cartridge Company. California Cap ceased operations in 1948.[2]: 8  Explosive manufacturing activities included the production of mercury fulminate and has resulted in mercury contamination at the site.[2]: 11 

The first 100 acres (40 ha) of what would become Richmond Field Station were acquired from California Cap in 1950;[2]: 2  the western section (between Regatta Blvd and Avocet Wy) was acquired in 1951.[2]: 8  An additional 25-acre (10 ha) parcel (formerly the neighboring Regatta Industrial Center, just west of the original site) was acquired after 2008.[1]

Starting from the 1950s, UC Berkeley conducted large-scale engineering research at RFS for projects which were not suited for the central campus in Berkeley, including research in solid waste and sewage, transportation and lighting, and beach erosion.[2]: 12  For sanitary engineering research, the laboratory established at RFS has been called the Sanitary Engineering Research Laboratory, Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Health Research Laboratory, and Environmental Engineering and Health Sciences Laboratory; its activities included construction of a rectangular oxidation pond, a circular digester, and treatment of chicken wastes, which included an on-site chicken coop.[2]: 13  RFS also includes the Earthquake Engineering Research Center, with a large earthquake shaking table to simulate seismic events.[2]: 14  In addition, the Northern Regional Library Facility is located at RFS; NRLF is a cooperative library storage facility encompassing more than 4.7 million items in three buildings, storing some of the holdings of the libraries of the University of California campuses in northern California, including Berkeley, Davis, Merced, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and the California State Library.[2]: 16 

Several tenants lease space at RFS from the University of California, most notably the U.S. EPA, which operates its Region 9 Laboratory at RFS.[2]: 21–22 

Second campus

On January 3, 2011, UC Berkeley announced a request for qualifications (RFQ), soliciting sites for a second campus for LBNL, requiring the new site to accommodate 2,000,000 sq ft gross (190,000 m2) of new research and development facilities; the RFQ included a caveat that UC had already identified Richmond Field Station as a suitable candidate site.[3] The city of Richmond responded by passing Resolution 10–11 on February 1, advocating for the second campus to be sited at RFS[4] after receiving numerous letters of support from the community.[5] Later that month, LBNL and UC Berkeley completed a conceptual plan for the second campus at RFS and issued a second RFQ for developers of its Richmond Field Station Campus Concept Plan on May 12.[1]: 3, 7  Subsequently, LBNL announced the second campus at RFS would be named the Richmond Bay Campus in January 2012, but budget cuts in 2013 forced them to scrap their plans. Despite the budget cuts, the Regents of the University of California approved the long-range development plan (LRDP) and environmental impact report for RBC in May 2014.[6] Under the LRDP,

UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks announced the proposed development would continue as the Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay on 29 October 2014. In an address to the Academic Senate, Dirks stated the new campus would serve as a research hub and education center to solve global problems in energy, medicine, economy, and environment.[7] The stated research mission was similar to that originally intended for the RBC.[8]

In August 2016, just before he resigned as chancellor, Dirks announced that the university would be suspending plans for the project. The name has been suspended as well and has returned to Richmond Field Station.[9]

Transportation

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in California, UC Berkeley operated a Bear Transit route between the main campus in Berkeley and RFS. The route was not resumed when campus operations restarted in June 2021, and public transit users were advised to take AC Transit route 79 to El Cerrito Plaza station, then transfer to route 71 and walk to RFS. AC Transit Route 74 also passed close to the RFS campus.[10]

References
  1. University of California, Berkeley, Real Estate Services (May 24, 2011). "Request for Qualifications for Developers for the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) Second Campus at the Richmond Field Station". City of Richmond, California. Retrieved 17 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Tetra Tech EM Inc (November 21, 2008). "1.0 Introduction and Background" (PDF). Current Conditions Report: University of California, Berkeley; Richmond Field Station, Richmond, California (Report). Office of Environment, Health & Safety, University of California, Berkeley. pp. 1–83. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  3. Crosby, Laura B (January 3, 2011). "Request for Qualifications (RFQ) #0103: LBNL Second Campus". City of Richmond, California. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  4. "Resolution No. 10-11: A resolution authorizing the City Manager to respond to the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory request for qualifications for a second campus". City of Richmond, California. February 1, 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  5. "LBNL letters of support". City of Richmond, California. February 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  6. "Major milestone for Richmond Bay Campus" (Press release). UC Berkeley Public Affairs. May 22, 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  7. Stalcup, Sierra (October 29, 2014). "Richmond Bay Campus to be transformed into Berkeley Global Campus". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  8. "Berkeley Global Campus: a new, bolder vision for Richmond Bay" (Press release). UC Berkeley Public Affairs. October 30, 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  9. Tucker, Jill (August 26, 2016). "UC Berkeley suspends plans to build Global Campus in Richmond". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  10. "Bear Transit - RFS Route (Richmond Field Station) Discontinued". University of California, Berkeley, Parking and Transportation. May 7, 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
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