A red flag went up recently for those keeping an eye on the goings-on at the Hunters Point Shipyard
By Bill Picture
Published: July, 2006
In the days leading up to the June 12 meeting of the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), rumors began circulating that Lennar was intending to add a high-rise building to Phase One.
Having already made clear their strong opposition to high-rises of any kind being erected on the site of the former Navy shipyard, residents and businesses in the surrounding 94107, 94124 and 94134 zip codes were prepared for a fight. But the rumors turned out to be just that – rumors.
Lennar never had any plans for a high-rise residential building on Parcel A, said Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Lennar Corporation.
Instead, what Lennar proposed was taking 300-or-so of the 1,200 rental units that are being built on Parcel A, which was transferred to The City last year, and converting them to condominiums. The proposal is to be further discussed at the CAC’s next meeting on July 10. CAC members remain open to the idea but have made it clear that the matter must be investigated thoroughly to ensure that Lennar’s proposal is in the best interest of the community.
I don’t really have an opinion yet one way or the other, said Frank O’Neill, a CAC member and Port of San Francisco tenant. I’m waiting to see how the community reacts.
It was also revealed at the June 12 meeting that the transfer of Parcels B and D to The City, which was originally scheduled to happen in late-2006 or early-2007, probably will not happen until late-2009 or early-2010. Ongoing earth and groundwater tests have revealed that contamination is worse than the Navy had originally suspected and will, therefore, take longer to clean up.
The original schedule was kind of ‘pie in the sky,’ jokes Amy Brownell, an environmental engineer with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Brownell suspects that the Navy may be able to clean up small pieces of both parcels and transfer them sooner, perhaps as early as 2008.
It’s like peeling the layers of an onion, she explains. You keep sampling and, as you do that, you get a better picture of what you’re dealing with. So, as the Navy goes through that process, they’re getting more realistic about their schedules.
