SAN FRANCISCO – Opponents against the Golden State Warrior arena in Mission Bay have filed an appeal to block the stadium from being built at the proposed location.
The Mission Bay Alliance has filed an appeal claiming that that San Francisco officials violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when approving the proposed Golden State Warrior arena. In the appeal, the Mission Bay Alliance argues that building the stadium would have an impact on the community of Mission Bay, causing environmental damage and disrupting the community.
“There would be many serious negative environmental impacts if an 18,000-seat arena/event center and new office towers was constructed in the Mission Bay neighborhood,” Osha Meserve of Soluri Meserve, part of the legal team representing the Mission Bay Alliance in the suit, told the Northern California Record. “Among other impacts, traffic, air quality and noise effects are very concerning, and the environmental review did not properly disclose or mitigate those effects.”
The site for the new arena has been proposed in an area near the UCSF Children’s Hospital - already part of a crowded community. Mission Bay argued that access to the hospital will be fraught with gridlock traffic, impacting patients and was something that was overlooked in the Environmental Impact Report (EIP) officials used from 1998.
At the time of the EIP report, no plans were in place to build an arena that is scheduled to have 225 events a year, which Mission Bay believes will severely affect residents of the area. The Mission Bay Alliance is challenging the EIR and as well as alleged air quality issues that would arise as a result of building the arena.
“Our appeal focuses on the most egregious examples of these impacts, including transportation and air quality impacts that negatively affect the health and well-being of San Francisco residents,” Meserve said. “We also point out that for critical impacts, including hazards and land use, the city relied on an 18-year old EIR prepared for the redevelopment plan that could not have, and did not, address any impacts from the arena.”
Believing that the city officials rushed to their decision of approving the location for the arena, the Mission Bay Alliance wants the court to take its time reviewing the merits of the case for a community that took 20 years to develop in a partnership between private and public entities.
“We are excited to bring our case to the appellate court where there will be a fresh or 'de novo' assessment of the Alliance's legal claims,” Meserve said. “We believe the trial court process, much like the city process was rushed. In addition, we were forced to brief too many issues in too short a time period due to the pressures of the AB 900 (Assembly Bill 900) time frames. While AB 900 contains a goal that these cases should be resolved within 270 days, we believe that the appellate court can take the time it needs to fully assess the Alliance's legal claims, and the evidence supporting it, in the extensive record.”