Excerpt:

Members of the City Council are set to discuss future plans for Alameda Point at a meeting tonight where city staff are asking them to okay a contract with a San Francisco-based firm they hope will define a fresh vision and project description for revitalizing the former Navy base.

City staff are asking council members, sitting as the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Agency board, to okay a $200,000 contract with San Francisco’s Perkins + Will to conduct community meetings and to come up with a Point plan by September. The amount would be included in an $887,000 planning budget for the effort.

Staffers are hoping to be ready to move forward on fresh development at the Point by July 2013, according to a staff report for tonight’s meeting.