Massive waterfront project approved

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 19, 2006 | by Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- A fierce battle over a development that promises to reshape Oakland's waterfront ended Tuesday, with the City Council giving the project final approval.

But not every one was happy -- and some were looking to the ballot box to overturn the council's decision.

Opponents of the project, dissatisfied with the final details of the development, are working to collect enough signatures to place a measure on the November ballot.

In addition, Councilmembers Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) and Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) abstained from the vote. Quan said she could not support the project without a school and Brooks expressed concerns about the cost of the affordable housing to be built as part of the development.

Pleasanton-based Signature Properties plans to build 3,100 apartments on what is now vacant land along the Oakland Estuary. Thirty acres of the 64-acre project will be park land, which also will include two marinas and 200,000 square feet of commercial space.

Councilmember Patricia Ker-nighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown), who faces a November runoff against businesswoman Aimee Allison, said the project will benefit the community.

Allison said the project is too costly and does not include enough affordable housing or open space. She accused Kernighan of letting the community down.

Plans call for the city to purchase six acres from Signature for $29 million to build 465 affordable housing units. The developer bought the entire project area from the Port of Oakland several years ago for $18 million, plus the cost of removing decades' worth of contamination from the land.

The council also ordered the developer not to tear down the Ninth Avenue Terminal for at least a year so other firms would have a chance to suggest ways to preserve the 76-year-old building. If no plans are forwarded, all but 20,000 square feet of the historic structure will be torn down.

Signature also agreed to spend $1.6 million on job training, and promised that 6 percent of construction jobs will go to city residents. An additional $400,000 will be used to improve pedestrian safety in Chinatown, and the developer will fund a shuttle to take people between the project and transportation hubs, such as BART stations.

E-mail Heather MacDonald at hmacdonald@oaklandtribune.com.