Excerpt:

Laura Kelly, a planner with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), told about the VA’s plans for a clinic and columbarium on the north side of the airfield. Due to the pressing need for new burial space in the Bay Area, Kelly explained, the columbarium will be completed first, and then construction will begin on the medical services building and conservation management building.

The VA received $70 million in the 2016 budget, and work is expected to begin soon on laying infrastructure to the site. Kelly said that the current projected completion date for the $240 million project is 2021. An initial $17 million was budgeted in 2011 for design and other work. Budget allocations will come in phases.

The group also heard a presentation by Susan Euing with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Euing is the biologist in charge of managing the endangered California least tern bird colony, which nests on the old airfield between April and August each year. It is one of the most important nesting sites in the statewide effort to foster a sustainable population of terns at diverse locations. The VA funds the least tern management program at Alameda Point.