By Susan Fuller
Mon, Jul. 04, 2005
After
years of work by bird fanciers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
proposed Alameda Wildlife Refuge may be taking a turn south. Some of the 525
acres at the southwest corner of Alameda Point that have been earmarked to
protect an endangered bird may become a Veterans Administration clinic and
cemetery or columbarium.
Talks broke down more than a year ago between
the wildlife service and the Navy over a federal-to-federal transfer of the
refuge land.
Wildlife advocates think the stall is merely a rough patch
on the road to getting a refuge.
"We're still in talks with the Navy and
are happy to talk with them," said Alexandra Pitts, a spokeswoman for the
wildlife service. The agency hasn't withdrawn the request for the land, she
said.
The Navy says the conversation is over.
"We reached a
point where we were unable to reach agreement ... around the environmental
(cleanup) program, who would have responsibility and how it would be executed,"
said Ron Plaseied, the Navy's base closure manager. "I was asked by the folks in
Washington, D.C., to open a dialogue with the Veterans Administration and we
did."
The Veterans Administration has been looking for federal land as a
place to consolidate its outpatient clinic and mental health clinics, said John
Majerle, a planner for the VA. The cemetery service is also looking for land
because the Stanislaus County cemetery doesn't serve the Bay Area well and a new
cemetery planned in Dixon is intended to serve Sacramento, he said.
"The
Navy offered the land (to the VA) about a year ago," he said.
The
environmental analysis of a 70,000-square-foot clinic and 50-acre cemetery is
under way, he said.
"We have no plans other than to construct a clinic
and cemetery on one corner of the parcel, far away from the least terns,"
Majerle said. "We have no plans to go near (the least terns). It's a huge
parcel; the birds are far removed from what we plan to do. One plan for the
birds is to leave them alone; they have what they need."
That won't
satisfy wildlife advocates. They pushed hard, against much local opposition, for
the large parcel and limits on development outside the refuge. Those conditions
were necessary to protect the northernmost nesting site of the least terns in
addition to other endangered and threatened land and marine animals. The
proposed clinic is just west of the old Navy control tower.
The
Endangered Species Act requires that the least terns nesting on the runways be
protected.
The change of course is far from complete.
Washington
VA officials are concerned about taking the whole parcel because of "what they
might get stuck with," Majerle said.
Plus, the Office of Management and
Budget might object to the no-cost transfer that the VA has requested, he said.
"The approach the Navy is taking with federal transfers is that we're
one big federal agency that reports to the same Congress," Plaseied said. It was
that view, and the Navy's reluctance to take responsibility for cleanup,
according to refuge advocates, that caused the breakdown in talks.
Alameda city officials know the Navy and VA are talking, but the city
isn't privy to the details. If a project is proposed formally, Alameda will have
its say in responding to the environmental analysis. Plaseied expects a project
to be proposed in a couple of months.
"The landfill (at the southwest
corner) is probably the most expensive cleanup at Alameda Point," said Debbie
Potter, the base reuse manager for the city. Any VA proposal in that area will
also be included in the city's environmental analysis, she said.
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