BCNA news: Port says new 8 Washington proposal coming

OFFICIAL BCNA NEWS

(Editor’s note: This is part 1 of a two-part article on the Northeast Waterfront Advisory Group meeting held Oct. 1. Part 2 will be posted on Oct. 3.)

The disjointed Wednesday evening meeting of the Northeast Waterfront Advisory Group was enlivened by a vocal audience of community residents.

They outnumbered the NEWAG members, having decided to forgo the big San Francisco Giants game because of the meaty agenda.

The result was feedback time at Pier 1. Much attention was paid to Port staff members when they were referring to the Port’s further plans for Seawall Lot 351. This also occurred during a discussion of Pier 29, near waterfront neighbor to the sparkling new James R. Herman Cruise Terminal at Pier 27.

As for the wildly controversial 8 Washington project that was soundly defeated in the last Citywide election, Bill Hannan, president of the Golden Gateway Tenants Association, informed the GGTA Board members on Thursday:

“Port staffer Jonathan Stern announced that developer Pacific Waterfront Partners ll (Simon Snellgrove, et. al.) has informed the Port that it will present a new 8 Washington proposal to the Port Commission by the end of 2014.

“The new proposal will reportedly be different from the old one in two respects: height and affordability. No specific information was provided.”

Hannan said, “Stay tuned.”

Central to this issue and its scrappy history is that Snellgrove’s Exclusive Negotiating agreement with the Port is still in force and has at least two more years left to run.

In regard to the historic shed at Pier 29, it is of wide interest because of its significant site, as well as that it was speedily rebuilt and made ready for reuse after extensive damage in 2012 – in time for the 2013 America’s Cup 34.

It is apparent that the Port is, justifiably, eager to put this property to work.

Both NEWAG members and residents attending supplied a great many ideas for what should go into the revivified bulkhead and perhaps its environs – but not anything resembling a mall.

These ideas and the presentation of the Ferry Building “Subarea” of the Port’s Waterfront Land Use Plan Review will be reported in Part 2 of this account of the meeting that coincided with the super Giants win.