Another lawsuit threatens $6B Oakland stadium project

Two lawsuits are now threatening to derail a $6 billion waterfront ballpark project intended to keep the Oakland A’s in town.

A month after the City of Oakland approved an environmental report for the 35,000-seat stadium at Howard Terminal, Union Pacific Railroad filed a lawsuit that comes on top of another pursued by a coalition of port workers, truckers and cargo terminal operators who have filed separate legal challenges to the analysis, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The Howard Terminal stadium project calls for “a next-generation urban ballpark” with a mixed-use development of 3,000 homes, offices, restaurants, hotel rooms, an entertainment center and public parks in West Oakland.

The stadium development aims to prevent the Oakland As, who have played in the East Bay city for more than half a century, from leaving for Las Vegas. It would also transform nearby London Square.

The shipping and trucking companies have filed a suit claiming the environmental impact report didn’t address how the ballpark and mixed-use development would affect port operations.

Union Pacific’s lawsuit against Oakland and the Oakland A’s also challenges the project’s environmental analysis.

Its complaint alleges the city didn’t sufficiently analyze and present ways to mitigate public safety risks from the large number of cars, bicycles, and people that will have to cross railroad tracks stemming from two busy yards and a passenger station in order to get to the stadium and its homes and shops.

“We are asking that the Oakland A’s and City of Oakland go back and diligently study a grade separated access plan to properly mitigate the risks,” said Robynn Tysver, a spokesperson for the railroad, in a statement.

Dave Kaval, president of the Oakland A’s, criticized the lawsuit and said the current railroad situation is “completely untenable.”

The City of Oakland also stood by its environmental review.

“One of the key parts of this project is maintaining railroad safety,” Kaval said. “Our project is going to do so much to make Jack London Square safer.”

Kaval said the environmental analysis looks at building a bridge for vehicles and a bridge for people to get them both safely over the train tracks. He also said the project would invest millions of dollars into safety and infrastructure upgrades.

The city is currently trying to raise regional, state and federal funds to pay for more than $350 million in infrastructure upgrades in the Jack London Square area.

“This is just absolutely crazy that these lawsuits are even possible,” Kaval said. “We are going to prosecute this and defend it and do what we can to demonstrate our project is going to be a huge net benefit.”

[San Francisco Chronicle] – Dana Bartholomew

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