Plans could enrich city coffers with millions of dollars

While some communities around San Francisco Bay are looking beyond a landscape of pavement to better the natural environment, members of Alameda’s city staff have decided to shelve a plan for creating wetlands at Alameda Point. Why?

The City of Alameda will be able to use $400,000 to develop policies and procedures regarding transportation at Alameda Point thanks to The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The money comes in the form of two grants. 

The plan for a so-called “De-Pave Park” on the western side of the Seaplane Lagoon would be something to cheer about if the park had any chance of ever being created. The concept behind the park is to remove the concrete tarmac and shoreline boulders, allowing for a natural wetland shoreline.

Extending the Bay Trail around Alameda Point has long been one of Bike Walk Alameda’s long-term visions. When the Alameda Naval Air Station closed in 1997, proponents of the Bay Trail project recognized the opportunity to complete a major section of the San Francisco Bay perimeter trail.

The City Council debate of the requests for qualifications from developers for plans to develop two parcels at Alameda Point and where to put 1,425 houses at Alameda Point sounded a lot like 2007. 

At last Tuesday’s meeting the city council considered a staff proposal to begin a major construction effort at the eastern entryway to Alameda Point, formerly known as the East Gate.

The Planning Board took a first look Monday at a plan intended to blunt the traffic to and from Alameda Point. The Transportation Commission will offer its recommendation on the draft transportation demand management plan on April 23, and the City Council could approve it on May 19.

The U.S. Navy recently published a draft of its work plan for 37-acre industrial waste dump on the northwest corner of Alameda Point. Installation Restoration Site 1 operated from 1943 to 1956 and contains tons of waste.

There’s been a lot of news lately about the draft Alameda Point environmental impact report (EIR), especially its chapter on traffic.