Warriors Mission Bay Arena Rendering - Southwest Aerial

While the Mission Bay Alliance prepares to mount a legal challenge of the Environmental Impact Report for the Golden State Warriors proposed Mission Bay Arena, the Warrior’s application to have the development certified as an “Environmental Leadership Project” by the Governor of California has taken a step forward.  The certification would streamline the development’s environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

If a development is deemed to promote “environmental sustainability, transportation efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction and job creation consistent with the objectives of the California Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act,” it may be designated as a Leadership Project.  And two weeks ago, the State’s Air Resources Board (ARB) determined that the Warriors’ project would not result in any net additional emissions of greenhouse gases as proposed, clearing one major hurdle for the Mission Bay development to receive Leadership status.

If the Warriors’ arena project is certified by the Governor, parking, aesthetics and the arena’s traffic impacts will be mostly off-limits with respect to any CEQA-based challenges, such as the ones which the Mission Bay Alliance are threatening, and the timeline within which any legal challenges will need to be resolved will be capped at under a year versus being allowed to drag on for years as the Alliance vows.

UPDATE: Governor Brown has officially certified the Warriors proposed arena as an “Environmental Leadership Project.”

74 thoughts on “The Warriors’ Big Play To Steal Their Arena Opponents’ Thunder”
  1. I’d like to see it built, but WTF regarding “transportation efficiency”? MUNI’s pathetic service ain’t gonna measure up. Would like to see how MUNI simultaneously handles Arena and Giants events considering how the MUNI currently re-routes trains from other transit lines for a Giants game, especially during the evening commute. Love that 45 min wait for an L train.

    1. my guess is the T line will get a little faster once the new route up 4th street is completed. Which also makes for a quicker connection to BART. Also the eastern side of the 22 is getting rerouted along 16th street with upgrades to improve travel times along 16th, so that should help there as well.

      1. 18,000 seat arena and each MUNI metro car holds, what, 50 people? As long as we have over 300 T- Line cars going through within an hour during concert events, MUNI is totally a sufficient transit strategy.

        1. what nonsense. some will muni, some cal train, some walk, some bike, some park nearby, some park farther away. grow up with this whiny transportation chicken little silliness, already

          1. Yes, the 10 people that would bike here will surely create a transit utopia and offset all traffic congestion. And driving and parking should not be a viable alternative for a city that thinks it takes itself seriously and pretends to be all grown up. Do you think people drive and park at the Met or Madison Square Garden in NYC?

            Uber will make a killing though, as cars will spend hours in traffic and customers will be paying out heir noses for it.

          2. yeah well your sarcasm is not good enough to rate. nobody said anything about a transit utopia. it will be crowded, sure. so is NYC when the Garden lets out. So is every city neighborhood with an arena when the night’s over. And yeah, uber and taxis will definitely be in use, that goes without mentioning.

          3. OK, then let’s tear down AT&T Park and build this arena. It’s a net improvement in traffic efficiency and baseball is a complete snooze. Win-win.

          4. Beyond laughable to compare SF’s backwater transportation system, particularly around this location, to NYC’s options around MSG.

          5. “Beyond laughable to compare SF’s backwater transportation system, particularly around this location, to NYC’s options around MSG.”

            You taking it as far as calling what I said a comparison is what’s laughable. “Beyond laughable” ? hardly. bad writing from you, as usual.

        2. I think a two car T could crush load more like 500 people so the 9000 people taking transit will just need like 20 trains! Maybe they could even run a few 3 cars shuttles into the Market street tunnel to the arena! whatever happened to that idea?

          But AT&T holds many more people than this arena and people seem to manage. When I lived in SF my strategy was to walk to BART or take a Muni bus to market. People manage

          If they put a temp stop for Caltrain at 16th I see it hardly being different than AT&T except with many fewer people

          1. This arena is nowhere near BART. The only “mass” transit that is viable is the T-Third, and don’t the new central subway stations only accommodate 2 car trains? With the average speed of 10 mph above ground, there is no way these trains will be able to accommodate this influx by itself. ATT has BART (somewhat) and CalTrain nearby. The arena has neither. And what about days with both ATT and arena events?

            The traffic and cluster*** that happens on game days at ATT is maddening and should not be a model for the arena, especially when you consider most of the mass transit alternatives won’t be available to it. This is why the Pier 32 spot was so perfect. Total fail here.

          2. Agree completely. As I pointed out on the other thread, google maps puts the walk from Embarcadero BART to this location at 42 minutes.

          3. Caltrain could have a stop at 16th on game days

            3 car trains could possibly run along the embracedero to BART

          4. In the other Warriors arena thread, I proposed a quick and dirty Muni upgrade. In essence, you could have three Muni lines servicing this location (T, K, E), all two car, and providing transfer access to both BART and ferries. Add in a temp CalTrain stop at 16th and some pressure will be reduced.

        3. The new Siemens LRVs that should be in the fleet by the time this arena opens have a capacity for 225 passengers in a “crush load” scenario, e.g. post arena events. You have to remember these T-line trains will be heading downtown through the new Central Subway, while AT&T Park will be served by the existing N-line tracks along the Embarcadero. I’m surprisingly optimistic that it will work pretty well.

          1. hopefully the private shuttles that are running in the marina for rush hour can also take people to the warriors game

      1. Explain how that’s a non-issue? Does it say somewhere that they are planning the 205 annual arena events so that none of them take place at any of the times that any of the 81 (plus playoffs, if we’re lucky) home Giants games are happening? Possible, I suppose, but I don’t remember seeing that.

        1. Many events are expected to attract many fewer than capacity and quite likely at different peak times

    2. 1. The Central Subway will be completed around the same time that the Warriors Arena will be completed. Maybe 1 year later. This will enable the T-Third to run trains straight to Giants Games / Warriors Games. People coming from BART will be able to get on the train at Powell Station. People coming from Caltrain will be able to transfer onto the T-Third from 4th and King.

      2. New Trains. MUNI has approved and is buying new trains. They are buying more than their current fleet, which means they will be able to handle peak rushhour on all lines along with game day rush on T-Third.

      3. Express Busses. though not stated, just as Candlestick used to do, they could run a few express busses from throughout the city to get people down to the arena.

  2. This move by Governor Brown towards the Warrior’s stadium project being certified as an “Environmental Leadership Project” makes me he like him even more.

    He manages to govern our fairly dysfunctional State, and now our definitely dysfunctional City of San Francisco. This is one way to insure this project moves forward over last minute anonymous objections

  3. Let spokesman Sam Singer know (singer@singersf.com) that their opposition does not reflect actual San Francisco residents. We don’t need some billionaires that are worried about their own interests in Mission Bay to speak for the rest of the population. Just let me walk to a basketball game in SF.

  4. CEQA is bullshit at this point, only a tool for wealthy people to shit on projects not to “protect the environment.” Sam Singer can take his paid talking points and go F himself with all that rich loot he got paid to say this BS.

  5. Jerry Brown continues to embarrass every other politician in the state. Man got the new Bay Bridge redesigned to his aesthetic liking on the state’s dime when he was merely Mayor of Oakland.

    Maybe when he terms out, he can run for Mayor of SF. Even if as a floating head in a jar a la Futurama.

    1. Who says Brown is on board with this scheme to limit the length and scope of CEQA litigation? Professional sports is not his bag. Look how he left the A’s hang out to dry. All he had to do was lend his support in spirit and there would be a new, marvelous ballpark in downtown Oakland today. I have had to abstain from the last two gubernatorial elections because I just can’t bring myself to put my check next to his name for that.

      I don’t think the Warriors should put much stock in this so-called “Big Play.”

  6. This belongs in Coliseum City which, if it develops as envisioned, will become the entertainment center of the Bay Area over time. Rumblings already of maybe a grand symphony hall on/near the Bay a la Sydney. Central location – build it in Oakland.

    Of course San Jose I am sure is putting feelers out too as this deal dies a slow death in SF.

    1. Oakland? Now there’s an idea, I wonder why the Warriors didn’t think of that.

  7. hahahahaha, entertainment center of the Bay Area, Oakland, hahahaha. What does ‘over time’ mean Dave….25, 50, 100 years? Ok maybe in another century….maybe and that would assume a 7+ earthquake leveling SF

      1. Stein was referring to her old childhood home, which had been torn down. Oakland-haters love to misquote her though, and pretend she was making a disparaging remark about Oakland itself.

        1. The first time I ever heard of Stein or the quote was from a multi-generational Oakland resident. Having never lived, walked around, or owned a property in Oakland, what do I know?

        2. Oakland is too dangerous to be the entertainment center. And it’s pretty irrelevant even in the bay area

        1. That’s too bad for her. Most people don’t get to see their childhood home, or get to relive their childhood years. But the memories and spirit live within us, giving us the base and foundation from which we build our dreams and realize them. When it is time for us to pass on, we are grateful for the opportunity to do so and for others to get that same opportunity.

          1. What a strange place to vent existential opinions about the nature and place of childhood recollections.
            You realize this is a real estate blog, right?
            (I’d also love to hear where you got the stat that “most people” are denied a chance to view the house in which they were raised, but only to highlight it as yet another unsubstantiated statistic.)

  8. I wish our neighboring City of Oakland all the best; however, I do not see the Coliseum City happening any time soon.

    Instead of electing to stay, the Warriors made the switch and want to come to San Francisco. The new arena will be a great venue for sports and concerts in the City. With no more trekking to San Jose or Oakland for concerts, ticket revenue stays in San Francisco.

    The arena confirms to the current Planning guidelines, so let the Warriors build the stadium. (Naysayers might even find it is the catalyst forcing MUNI to improve service to the Mission Bay neighborhood.)

  9. Coliseum City is banking on the Raiders staying for the concept (and financing) to work. With two new stadium proposals further along the planning process in SoCal it will be a tall order to expect them not to jump ship to the larger more lucrative LA market. The A’s ownership group are reluctantly circling back to Oakland after flirting with San Jose but have remained mum on Coli City as their site of choice. So the reality is that none of the “Oakland” teams are onboard. That’s a tough sell to investors.

  10. Time for Lacob and Baer to pow-wow.

    By the time all the rounds of litigation are done, there will be a ballot measure for sure. A lot of voters are going to glom onto that kids-ambulance-hospital canard for sure.

    What with the goodwill the Warriors will have generated by withdrawing the Salesforce property proposal and this year’s NBA Championship, the Giants may even be able to sneak through their proposed towers for Mission Rock.

  11. secret group?? pfff. It sounds to me that someone who’s pissed off at Marc Bennioff…cough cough Larry Ellison, is behind this.

  12. Nevius at his absolutely polemic worse this morning. Could there possibly be a less objective analysis of this issue?

        1. “Your glass is half-empty,” Steve Kerr said. “My glass is half-full. I don’t think this is going to be a problem.”

        2. Let’s see. People want it, land seller wants it, land buyer wants it, UCSF wants it, governor wants it, and you’re saying I’m in denial based off this one group of blowhard nobody knew about before last week. I think not.

          1. The subject was Nevius’ piece in the Chron. Idiotic no matter where you stand on the issue.

  13. This just goes show how sick the CEQA process is. Any NIMBY with axe to grind can stop a project in its tracks using CEQA. But for those with political power & money (like the Warriors), you can buy a free pass.

    The correct solution is to streamline CEQA approvals for everyone – not the favored Warriors.

  14. The rendering of the skyline looks unbalanced. The heights should have tapered down on the left towards Third St. and up towards King.

    1. The skyline is not a rendering Dave, it’s a photograph. The project is a rendering photomontaged into the real thing. You may not be happy with it, but it is what it is.

  15. So Jack Davis wades back into the snake pit of SF politics…..as Willie Brown once called San Francisco politics.

    So here we go folks, loud mouth, carpetbagger and hired gun Jack Davis shows up at the last moment to spoil the show, claiming to represent, Big money and…and… “just regular NIMBY’s who are opposed to the Warriors arena”. Really Jack…..just “regular folks”??? How thoughtful of a guy who lives in Sedona Arizona and fly’s into SF, then claims to represent, “just regular neighborhood folks” , then fly’s back home.

    News flash Jack……most San Franciscans approve the Warriors move to San Francisco. News flash Jack….the sky is not falling when it comes to traffic issues. Why..here’s why, most fans attending games at AT&T park stopped driving to games when it became apparent free on street parking disappeared when the city established event parking rates around AT&T park. ($7 bucks per hour) They now walk, bike, take Muni, CalTrain, Ferry boats, BART. Even the Giants admit the parking demand for off street parking has gone down since the ballpark opened.

    The same will happen at the new Warrior’s arena. People will figure out how to get there. But what should be a bigger concern and issue is the NOISE that comes from the concerts/games. I predict if this gets built, the first concert/game where the roof blows off the arena due to the NOISE will doom the Warriors to endless lawsuits from UCSF and the surrounding neighbors. If Warrior’s don’t address the NOISE issue now the courts will address it for the Warriors in the future. Quite peace and enjoyment of established neighborhoods sets the precedence. It’s not like they moved next to an airport and started complaining about the NOISE. Those nearest the arena will have a solid case in the courts when it comes to quality of life issues…..and excessive NOISE emanating from a new project built within an established neighborhood is now a standard for review in the courts.

    Traffic non-issue….NOISE BIG BIG ISSUE.

    And the idea that two office towers is some big deal…..OMG…not more office towers in Mission Bay….tell me it ain’t so! Jack you can find a better argument….than OMG two additional office towers next to a office park in Mission Bay.

    Waiting to see how the ball bounces……..

    1. Any noise coming from the Arena will pale in comparison to the helicopters they already have flying to the hospital. The hospital has a heli-pad people. The hospital makes more noise than the rest of Mission Bay put together.

      1. Yo Griblble…….you or one of your family members might need to be medic-vac by a helicopter to UCSF one day. How many times will you or your family members need to be medic-vac out of a ear splitting, head banging, body thumping concert?

        Which one trumps public need? Emergency services or lining private bank accounts?

        1. @Keepitup: I think UCSF having the helipad is great. I also think having the arena will be wonderful for San Francisco. Having an arena that has concerts and basketball games will be wonderful for San Francisco. I don’t think the hospital will be affected much by noise. The T goes back and forth in front of the Hospital down third. They have helicopters land on the roof. I haven’t been in the hospital while a helicopter has been landing but I wandered around in there during the construction and couldn’t hear anything going on outside the hospital while inside. Not sure why people think an enclosed arena is going to be so noisy as to be audible a block away. AT&T park is where the noise comes from when they have concerts – it is open air.

  16. Just read that the Giants are supposedly getting ready to put their parking lot A (SWL337) proposal for office towers and condos on the November ballot, per Prop B (if its not overturned by then). They’re being a little cagey about this November or next year, but the article makes it sound like it sooner rather than later.

    For now, it does’t look like the Giants and Warriors will team up on moving the arena to the SWL.

  17. Is there any evidence that “most San Franciscans approve the Warriors move to San Francisco” , that meaning not only the general idea but also the arena built here? I do not happen to be an arena supporter, but would very interested to see any objective evidence that exists of wide spread support. Not a push poll one way or the other. Or is that what a ballot measure is? Anyone have data…. post it here, this is not a sarcastic critic comment.

  18. “, the State’s Air Resources Board (ARB) determined that the Warriors’ project would not result in any net additional emissions of greenhouse gases as proposed” Lemme get this right – it is currently a vacant lot with zero emissions. The Warriors hope to build a 19,000 stadium with a 1,000 space parking garage. And there is “NO net additional emissions”? No wonder citizens trust in government has reached an all time low as measured by the polls. It’s Chinatown Jake.

    1. They’re probably considering the net change of emissions between the Warrior’s current home versus this new location. Its not like we’ll have Warriors fans driving to both SF and Oakland on game day.

      1. Yep. San Francisco may think it lives in a bubble with its own atmosphere and everything, but it’s one air basin.

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