Delay on Berkeley Lab Site Selection Until 2012

A decision on where to put a satellite campus for the Lawrence Berkeley Lab will not be announced until next year, despite an earlier notice saying it would come this month, the University of California said this week.

Among the six sites that UC is considering for the Berkeley lab's auxiliary campus are two that are close to El Cerrito: Golden Gate Fields on the Albany-Berkeley border and UC's Richmond Field Station. The latter lies 1.2 miles from El Cerrito City Hall, while the former is just under two miles.

Several of the communities with sites under consideration — including and — have demonstrated a high level of community zeal in competing for the selection.

The new campus is expected to provide an economic boost to its surrounding community as well as possible synergy for local cutting-edge industries and research in science.

The other four sites are Alameda Point in Alameda, Berkeley's Aquatic Park, Brooklyn Basin in Oakland and a site on the Berkeley/Emeryville border.

UC officials now plan to release their decision in "early 2012," according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Berkeley lab.

"We have been overwhelmed by the positive and extremely thoughtful responses from the communities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond," Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos was quoted as saying. "We are deeply grateful for such well-formulated responses, but find that we need a bit more time to fully evaluate our options and to confer with stakeholders in order to arrive at the best possible decision."