Excerpt:

Alameda’s Planning Board offered critical approvals Monday for a plan to develop a 68-acre slice of Alameda Point with new homes, commercial space, acres of parks and transit.

The seven-member board voted unanimously to move forward with a development plan for Site A, which is expected to serve as the long-awaited catalyst for revitalization of the former Alameda Naval Air Station.

“I am in support of this project,” Planning Board president Mike Henneberry said just moments before the vote. “It respects the past and positions us well for the future.”

City Planner Andrew Thomas cast the proposed development as an “important milestone” for the city and the culmination of more than two decades’ worth of planning for the future of the former Naval Air Station.

“This is an easy one for us. We are absolutely recommending approval of this development plan,” Thomas said.

The Site A proposal now moves to the City Council, which is expected to consider final approvals on June 16.

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Separately, the Planning Board signed off on a recommendation to cap the amount of housing that can be built on the 36-acre North Housing site at 435 units. Under the current zoning, a developer or developers could theoretically build as many as 1,473 homes there.

The move is seen as one that could address that concern and potentially win a crucial fourth vote needed to move the Site A proposal forward. Vice Mayor Frank Matarrese, who like Spencer promised to slow growth during campaign season, said he couldn’t support Site A development unless the city took 800 homes off the table elsewhere.