|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The report is required by the California Environmental Quality Act and analyzes potential effects of the project on the environment near it.
The final report does not include any significant changes to the draft version, which means the report will not have to be recirculated. More than 400 comments were made on the draft version, and city staff responded to each one.
"Releasing the final Environmental Impact Report is a major milestone on our path to build a new waterfront ballpark district that will create up to 18 acres of beautiful public parks, more affordable housing, and good jobs for Oaklanders," Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement.
"The 3,500-page document is thorough and exhaustive, and it ensures that the project is environmentally safe and sustainable," Schaaf said.
"The completion of the EIR also keeps us on track to bring the project for a final vote to the City Council in 2022 — and brings us one step closer to keeping our beloved A's rooted in Oakland," the mayor said.
A's president Dave Kaval also called the release of the report a milestone, one that is three years in the making. But the team needs a decision from the elected officials in Oakland ASAP, he said.
The A's are also considering moving the team to Las Vegas, paving paths for the team in both cities. He said there is momentum on both paths.
Kaval said the A's are in the final stages of selecting a potential site in Las Vegas, which he thinks will be announced in the next month or so.
He said the A's want to be where they can get a new home most quickly.
"We don't have another year or two to wait," Kaval said. "We've been waiting a long time."
The A's lease at the Oakland Coliseum is up in 2024.
City officials will recommend to the Oakland Planning Commission that it certify the report and send it to the City Council for approval.
The Planning Commission will take up that recommendation on Jan. 19, and the City Council may approve the report in February.
Approving the entire project consists of an environmental review, project review and project agreements. The city and the A's are far along in the approval process.
Approval of the final environmental impact report would complete the environmental review process.
City officials are waiting for the A's to revise and submit plans to the city as part of the project review process. The two are now drafting and negotiating the project agreements, which are financial in nature.
Separately, the Port of Oakland on Friday released a list of measures to ensure the new ballpark does not affect port operations, including land and bay operations. Port officials are recommending that city officials include and adopt all 21 measures listed.
