Excerpt:

Members of the public offered their thoughts Thursday on a planned outpatient clinic and cemetery for veterans at Alameda Point, at a pair of hearings on a former aircraft carrier stationed in another corner of the former Navy base.

The comments, which were offered during hearings on the USS Hornet, will be considered as the Navy and the Department of Veterans Affairs finalize an environmental assessment that looks at the project’s potential noise, traffic, wildlife and other impacts.

Open space advocates have expressed concerns about the project’s impacts on a California Least Tern colony on the base and other wildlife that have taken up residence there, while others said they thought the public should have had more of a chance to weigh in on plans to move the facility onto property that had been slated to go to the city. But at Tuesday night’s hearing, a pair of veterans – one of whom was part of earlier efforts by the VA to get the project moving – said they’re ready to see the new facilities built.