City of Oakland Planning and Zoning Division: Develop the Oak to Ninth waterfront into parkland, not skyscrapers

Oakland's most beautiful, wild stretch of waterfront is about to go under the bulldozer. Notices have been posted around the neighborhood which warn that Signature Properties is applying for special permits to begin development on the land. There is a short window for public commentary on whether to build these 24-story skyscrapers and parking structures which are planned for the currently protected wetland, dog park and open space on the 5th Avenue Point. The only nature which will remain is a 100-foot-wide strip at the beach.

This area has a number of strategic advantages which could make it Oakland's most celebrated park; and a couple of nasty side-effects that will happen if, instead, it gets turned into skyscrapers. Watch the video or continue reading to find out more:

http://youtu.be/VKzPlrh7mv0

Starting with the bad:

The proposed development is environmentally unsafe because the land has been used for the last 150 years as a major industrial shipping yard. The area is wetlands and landfill; when you dig down two feet, groundwater seeps in. Signature Properties will have to pound and drill very deep into the earth to lay the foundations for these 200-foot-tall commercial/residential/parking structure mega-buildings. This activity will disturb tons of contaminants which lie in the soil. To compound the potential problems, a major sewage line lies roughly100 feet away from the site. This serene and semi-wild area is a home to snowy egrets, cormorants, coots, pelicans, pipits, ducks, crows, and hundreds of songbirds who will be at risk when the groundbreaking begins. This heavy construction in the estuary is counteractive to recent efforts to widen the waterway and improve the smell and ecosystem of Lake Merritt.

The construction activity and road blockages will create huge backups on the already awkward I-980 to I-880 interchange; affecting commuters who need to travel from San Francisco to Oakland, Alameda, Hayward, and parts further south for the next 15 years. The skyscrapers, once finished, will probably add to the 880/980 bottleneck in perpetuity. This condensed traffic pattern will worsen the air quality for East Bay residents. Oakland will begin to feel like downtown Los Angeles with the new heavy traffic and smog.

On the other hand, if we turn the area into a park:

There are ambitious plans to join the future San Francisco Bay Trail and a pedestrian bridge from Lake Merritt at the 5th Avenue Point. The trails are not built yet; but roads improvements are also planned to provide safe access for families to come enjoy the Oakland waterfront. If the recommendations of the 1998 Estuary Policy Plan are followed, the peninsula will have wild muddy banks and new boat slips for recreational use. Dogs are welcome off leash here; and some locals even go swimming on warm days. Despite the toxic leftovers of 130 years of industrial shipping, birds, plants, and bees do well here in the sunny, beach-studded tidelands. The original Estuary Policy Plan, published by the City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland in 1998, called for a preservation of the local artist and artisan community at the Fifth Avenue Point; and expanded parkland. In the words of the 1998 Estuary Policy Plan:

"To complement Estuary Park to the West, the [Fifth Avenue Point] should be converted into a major park suitable for passive recreation. Promenading, viewing and other contemplative activities should be emphasized. Shoreline areas should be restored to tidal wetlands." *

The new proposed Brooklyn Basin development could not be further from this recommendation. Major remediation (removal of huge piles of toxic dirt) is planned to start soon in order to lay groundwork for the next phase of construction. When the highrise condos and retail spaces come, the parkland will be reduced to a 100-foot wide strip at the beach. In the end, the 5th Avenue point will look a lot more like Jack London Square, which once was a quaint tourist attraction called Jack London Village; and now contains giant, barren concrete plazas, ugly condos, and oversize retail spaces. Though the neighborhood is slowly regrowing its commercial base, it has lost much of its charm. The Brooklyn Basin project is a similar concept; but 20 stories taller.

The big investor for this project is the Zarsion corporation from Shanghai, China; which is putting up 1.5 billion dollars. Clearly, the investor lives nowhere near here; because the new development proposal creates problems which would prevent most sane locals from carrying out a plan like this. Somewhere, someone is making a lot of money; and they don't care much about the needs of the people or the wildlife or even the investors. The final problem is a real coup; the whole area is at risk of being underwater soon with global warming. This project has trouble, stink, and strife written all over it.

Please help us preserve this land for the benefit of the people and wildlife of Oakland.

We have until April 7th to contact the Oakland City Planning Department. Please sign the petition asking Catherine Payne to endorse the 1998 Estuary Policy Plan instead of the new skyscrapers.

Thank you! Together our voices can make a difference.

*Since 1998, the Estuary Policy Plan has already been amended to allow for higher density; we are now at revision 4 which is endorsing skyscrapers on the spot. Our petition asks the Oakland City Council to develop the original 1998 Estuary Policy Plan.