Abandoned land in Alameda could help city meet goals

On the city of Alameda’s north shore, an abandoned former shipping terminal sits behind a long chain link fence. Home to a dilapidated dock, a few deteriorating buildings and a large pile of dirt, the 32-acre lot has sat empty for a decade–a small piece of forgotten local history.

Known as Encinal Terminals, the empty industrial site is an anomaly in an otherwise dense and bustling community. There’s a neighborhood park just blocks away. Grocery stores and shops are found within a few miles. A protected bike lane leads right up to the fence.

Locator map of Encinal Terminals in AlamedaIn a Bay Area desperate for housing and open space, it might seem odd that such prime waterfront real estate could sit empty for so long. Now, as a result of a deal brokered between the state of California and Alameda, which was just last week signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the property will finally be developed. The plan includes 589 housing units, about 15% of which will be affordable.

Alameda’s housing goals require it to build 5,300 units over the next decade, but new housing proposals are almost always controversial. Residents have concerns about increasing traffic congestion, and the fact that there are only so many lanes on and off the islandcreating anxiety about evacuations in the event of an earthquake. And yet, there was no major local opposition to the Encinal Terminals project.

The Oakland skyline is seen from the abandoned Encinal Terminal in Alameda, Calif., Mike O'Hara, Director of Forward Planning, looks on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2023. The city plans to develop waterside parks, a marina berth, a 580 unit building and commercial retail space on the 32-acre land. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
The Oakland skyline is seen from the abandoned Encinal Terminal in Alameda, Calif., Mike O’Hara, Director of Forward Planning, looks on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2023. The city plans to develop waterside parks, a marina berth, a 580 unit building and commercial retail space on the 32-acre land. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) 

Alameda’s success with Encinal Terminals is not a result of a shifting mindset in regards to building new housing, said Michael Lane, the State Policy Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, a non-profit public policy organization. Lane, who has worked in this field for decades, said housing opposition is as strong as it’s ever been.

“When you have infrastructure that’s already there, you often have neighbors who oppose it,” Lane said. “Anything that changes the existing neighborhood is oftentimes met with opposition.”

But the Encinal Terminals deal is evidence of a housing development strategy that Alameda is employing to counter local opposition to new housing: build on abandoned land.

“People are worried about their neighborhoods, but we have these big vacant sites, so let’s start there,” said Andrew Thomas, Alameda’s Planning Director and Interim Base Reuse Economic Development Director. “We’re doing this in the context of our housing element. People understand we have to find space.”

That reality is apparent across the broader Bay Area. In Berkeley, residents have objected to planned development in a BART parking lot station. On the Peninsula, housing mandates have led to political turmoil in San Mateo City Hall. Wealthy residents of Atherton, including Steph and Ayesha Curry, have objected to zoning that could increase housing density in parts of the town. A recent poll showed that fully one-third of Bay Area residents object to building “significant quantities of new housing”.

That’s why tapping sites that operate outside of the orbit of what residents consider their traditional neighborhoods may head off local opposition. Building on existing sites also help maintain open space and allow developers to create denser, walk and bike-friendly communities — what Lane referred to as an “urban villages.”

“You get a second chance because some of our other earlier developments have been far less pedestrian-friendly,” Lane said.

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