Feb. 23–ALAMEDA — A state commission has rejected a waterfront hotel planned for Bay Farm Island despite the city of Alameda having green-lighted the project.
The Feb. 16 decision by the San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission means city officials cannot issue building permits for the 98-room hotel proposed for a vacant 1.5-acre parcel in the Harbor Bay Business Park near Oakland International Airport.
"Quite simply, the project is too large for the parcel, would significantly obstruct views of the bay and substantially reduce access to the shoreline," said Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, who also serves on the commission.
The hotel would have operated at 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway under the Fairfield Inn & Suites brand as part of the Marriott chain.
The business park is home to the headquarters of The North Face Inc. and the roasting facility for Peet's Coffee & Tea as well as offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and Cushman & Wakefield, the global commercial real estate company.
"They really strongly recommended having this hotel in the Harbor Bay Business Park," Marcy Marks, the park's operations manager, told commissioners. "They feel it will help them, as far as promoting their businesses. And, of course, they have a lot of people who need to come and see them."
A complimentary shuttle would have provided transport to the airport and to Alameda's Park Street business district. Some residents said the 1.5-acre parcel was too small for the approximately 15,850-square-foot hotel.
"No matter what they do, this project will not fit on this site," resident Irene Dieter said. "It's just not compatible with it."
While Alameda's Planning Board approved the project last July, it ended up before the City Council after Mayor Trish Spencer called for a review of the hotel's parking plan.
The union UNITEHERE! Local 2850, which represents workers in hotels in the East and North Bay, also appealed the board's decision, arguing the hotel did not qualify for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for infill projects because the site did not meet the standard set for "no value as habitat for endangered, rare or threatened species."
The commission initially considered the project in August last year. But it put off a decision so that developer Daxa Patel could revise the design in response to concerns raised during the hearing. The most recent design included dropping the number of stories from five to four and reducing the building footprint by about 5,450 square feet.
"We just don't think it belongs on this piece of land," said Gary Thompson of the Cantamar Homeowners Association at Harbor Bay Isle. "It's still a great big building on a little bitty lot. And it will appear to me as this monstrosity on a small strip of land that all of us enjoy."
The commission has 27 members and works to promote maximum feasible public access within 100 feet of San Francisco Bay. Nineteen members attended the Feb. 16 meeting at the Metro Center Regional Headquarters Building in San Francisco.
Eleven commissioners voted to approve the developer's application for a permit to construct the hotel. Six voted no and one abstained. Thirteen votes were required to pass.
Chan was among the commissioners absent. Former Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore, Chan's alternate on the commission, read a letter from the supervisor into the record, outlining her position.
If the hotel had secured backing from the commission, the project would have returned to the Alameda Planning Board because the design had been adjusted since the board approved it in July, according to Andrew Thomas, the city's assistant community development director. The hotel was projected to generate up to $500,000 annually in transit occupancy taxes for the city's General Fund.
