In Berkeley or in Albany, where will the ferries land?

The Water Transit Authority (WTA) is studying possible sites for a ferry terminal in Berkeley or Albany.

Initially the WTA studied five sites. Three are in the Berkeley Marina: south of Hs Lordships Restaurant, on the west side of the Marina near Hs Lordships, or within the Marina itself near the DoubleTree Hotel. The other sites are at the west end of Gilman and just south of the Albany Beach at the end of Buchanan Street.

An initial study found that the sites south of Hs Lordships, at Gilman, and at Buchanan had too many environmental and other problems to warrant further study. WTA staff and consultants recommended that these three sites not be studied further, but WTA boardmember Ezra Rapaport pushed to keep Gilman and Buchanan in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the ferry - at an additional cost of $500,000. One other boardmember argued that as the WTA was already spending millions on the ferry system, another $500,000 really didn't amount to much. Only the site south of Hs Lordships ended up being dropped from the EIR.

Environmental problems

The different sites raise a wide range of environmental concerns.

• Both Gilman and Buchanan would require large amounts of dredging to create and maintain a deep enough channel for the ferry. A disposal site has not been identified for such a volume of dredge spoils. The dredging would be within protected waters of the Eastshore State Park. Even with a channel, ferries at these sites would have to travel at slower speeds than at the other sites.
• Gilman, Buchanan, and south of Hs Lordships would negatively impact wildlife habitat and especially birds. In particular, ferries would travel in waters where rafting birds rest.
• The Gilman and Buchanan sites have beds of eelgrass, an endangered habitat very important for the survival of Bay bird and fish species. At Gilman the ferry terminal would actually destroy part of an eelgrass bed that CalTrans created as a mitigation for its work on the new Bay Bridge.
• At Gilman and Buchanan the ferries would run through the waters of the Eastshore State Park in violation of the public-trust rights that expressly protect these waters as habitat and bar all but small-craft recreational boating.
• A ferry terminal at Gilman or Buchanan would be contrary to the vision of the shoreline as protected open space in the Eastshore State Park.
• The Gilman site would be adjacent to the new sports-field complex being developed just south of Gilman. If ferry users appropriated the parking for the fields, they would completely disrupt the use of the fields.

The Golden Gate Audubon Society, Citizens for Eastshore Parks (CESP), and the Sierra Club all oppose the Gilman and Buchanan sites. The state Department of Parks and Recreation has also come out against these sites. The new environmental majority on the Albany City Council passed a resolution based upon the WTA's own initial study opposing the Gilman and Buchanan sites. The Sierra Club had endorsed the two new councilmembers Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile, who joined Mayor Robert Lieber in opposing the Gilman and Buchanan sites. Councilmembers Jewell Okawachi and Farid Javandel voted against the resolution, however.

Magna, the owner of Golden Gate Fields, supports the Gilman and Buchanan sites because they could support Magna's plans for developing the shoreline with malls and other commercial development. The Sierra Club along with CESP, Audubon, and Citizens for the Albany Shoreline already helped stop one mall proposal for these lands.

The WTA is likely to complete an EIR by late this year or early next. When that is released, we will need to be vigilant in protecting wildlife, habitat, and the shoreline park from damaging ferry proposals.

For more information, contact Norman La Force, chair of the Bay Chapter East Bay Public Lands Committee, at (510) 526-4362 or email n.laforce -at- comcast.net

Norman La Force