Excerpt:

A 112-acre veterans’ cemetery and outpatient clinic the Department of Veterans Affairs hopes to build at Alameda Point won’t have a significant impact on the California Least Tern colony that breeds on the runways nearby, a draft environmental assessment the government released on Friday says – as long as the VA and other agencies follow a list of measures outlined by the federal agency charged with protecting it.

Comments on the assessment, which examines noise, traffic and other impacts the development could create, are being accepted through March 29. A pair of public meetings to discuss it will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 14 at the USS Hornet Museum, 707 West Hornet Avenue, Pier 3.

The preferred plan outlined in the assessment would see the Navy handing the VA 624 acres on the southwest corner of Alameda Point, most of which would remain undeveloped. The Navy’s original plan – which was also studied – was to transfer 549 acres to the VA, but the development was shifted north to address concerns about its impact on the terns.