The Alamedan: ELECTION 2014: A detailed look at your three City Council candidates, September 29, 2014

Excerpt:

ALAMEDA POINT: The City Council has signed off on a development envelope for Alameda Point that will allow up to 1,425 homes, 5.5 million square feet of commercial space and 291 acres of parks, and they’re looking at finalists to develop commercial space on an 82-acre parcel and a mixed-use development with up to 800 new homes on another 68 acres. Chen voted in favor of the plans and has expressed support for them. He’s also touting a compromise he brokered between council members who want to stick to the plan and others who want more homes built at the Point that would allow additional developers to build additional housing on the 68-acre site beyond the 800 units permitted if they pay a $50,000 per unit fee ($50,000 is the amount the Navy demanded for every home that’s built over the total cap of 1,425). Oddie said he’ll evaluate any proposal for the Point based on whether it generates revenue to pay for roads, utilities and other infrastructure at the Point, has a concrete traffic mitigation plan and is green and provides parks – most of which is already required of development there. Matarrese, who originally supported developer SunCal’s plan to build more than 4,500 homes at Alameda Point, is now advocating jobs-and-parks-only development there; he doesn’t want any homes there except for the ones already built and required housing for formerly homeless people. When questioned by a reporter regarding the about-face, Matarrese said he concluded SunCal’s plan was bad for Alameda Point after learning details on costs and that visits to other shuttered bases and further research convinced him job replacement should drive redevelopment at Alameda Point.