[CPEO-IRF] Former Alameda Naval Air Station (CA) redevelops

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[This is an important milestone for the former Alameda base. Just
remember, $1 million for a home in the Bay Area doesn't mean as much as
it does elsewhere. - LS]

'New Beginnings' for Island, Navy
In shadow of successful development, city restarts talks for Alameda Point

By Laura Ernde
Alameda Times-Star/Inside Bay Area (CA)
June 6, 2005

ALAMEDA ? People are lining up for a chance to buy a $1 million home in
Bayport, the first major development on the Island since the Navy left
eight years ago. 

But on the other side of Main Street, on the former Alameda Naval Air
Station, it's a different story. 

Island officials and their team of developers have been unable to
capitalize on the valuable piece of real estate now known as Alameda
Point, with its four miles of waterfront property and sweeping views of
San Francisco. 

As the housing market continues to boom, much of the old military base
sits empty, with weeds growing in the cracks of expansive concrete
parking lots and rust collecting on the abandoned warehouses, airplane
hangars and barracks. 

...

Environmental issues also have plagued the Navy's efforts to relinquish
ownership of a 565-acre wildlife habitat along the shore to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The base's concrete runways serve as a prime nesting site for the
endangered California least tern. 

While the birds and other critters have thrived since the base closed,
the federal agency has been reluctant to take over the animal refuge
unless the Navy agrees to pay for any future environmental cleanup. 

Just this winter, a long-buried fuel tank surfaced at the refuge,
requiring the Navy to step in. That one expensive cleanup operation
alone would be enough to devastate the budget of the already-bare-bones
wildlife service, said Leora Feeney, who chairs Friends of the Alameda
Wildlife Refuge. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://insidebayarea.com/ci_2781867

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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