SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Oakland Athletics' proposed $12 billion Howard Terminal waterfront development is a step closer toward obtaining key approval from a state agency.
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San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission staff on Friday recommended that agency officials remove 56 acres at Howard Terminal from port designation when the commission meets on June 30.
The A's would need 18 of the 27 members to vote in favor of doing so in order to apply for a permit with the commission.
"I deeply appreciate the intensive research and due diligence that went into the staff recommendation, which will allow our vision for a new waterfront neighborhood to move forward," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf wrote in an emailed statement to KCBS Radio. "Now I'm asking our residents who support building more affordable housing, creating more good union jobs, and opening our waterfront to the public to call in to the June 30 meeting and make their voices heard."
Agency staff wrote in the report that they agreed with the A’s contention that the region has enough existing terminals to "meet the projected growth in cargo" under slow and moderate growth scenarios, and that removing Howard Terminal's port designation "would not detract from the region's capability to meet the projected growth in cargo" by 2050.
"However, this would leave little room for regional growth beyond 2050," staff wrote, noting that Assembly Bill 1191 – the state legislation setting a July 7 deadline for the commission’s decision – and "the lateness by which the pertinent new information was provided to staff as part of this process" meant staff couldn’t review cargo forecast changes with the commission's Seaport Planning Advisory Committee.
The A's proposal includes a privately financed $1 billion, 35,000-seat stadium, as well as 3,000 rental units and as much as 270,000 square feet of retail space, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space and 18 acres of public open space.
Backers have argued that the project would revitalize West Oakland and the waterfront, while opponents have argued that it is a land grab for John Fisher – the team's billionaire owner – that will result in the loss of jobs and exacerbation of supply chain issues.
Groups opposing the Howard Terminal development have filed multiple lawsuits alleging that approval of the project’s environmental impact report violated state law. A's President Dave Kaval told KCBS Radio in April that litigation is one of the reasons the team is also exploring building a stadium in Las Vegas.
Neither the A's nor the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association – one of the groups suing over the Howard Terminal project – responded to KCBS Radio's emailed requests for comment prior to publication on Friday afternoon.
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