Title
PLN24-0145 - Development Plan Amendment - Radium Theatre Performing Arts Center Project - 2151 Ferry Point Way - Applicant: Scott Ward on behalf of Radium Presents, Inc. Amendment to the Site A Development Plan for Blocks 12 & 13 to approve an approximately 600-seat performing arts center and landscaped plaza on an approximately two-acre site on the Seaplane Lagoon Taxiway on the west side of Pan Am Way between the Naval Air Museum and the Seaplane Lagoon Promenade within the NAS Alameda Historic District and Town Center and Waterfront Precise Plan area at Alameda Point. General Plan: Mixed Use. Zoning: AP-WTC, Alameda Point - Waterfront Town Center District. CEQA Determination: The streamlining provisions of Public Resources Sections 21166 and 21083.3 and Sections 15162 and 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines apply and no further environmental review is required. The environmental effects of the Radium Theatre Project were adequately evaluated in the Alameda Point Final Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 2013012043) and the Alameda General Plan 2040 Update Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 2021030563).
Body
To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
From: Steven Buckley, Planning Board Secretary
BACKGROUND
Alameda Point Waterfront Town Center & Site A
In 2014 the City Council adopted the Alameda Point Town Center and Waterfront Precise Plan (Town Center Plan). The Town Center Plan is a specific plan for transit-oriented development of the waterfront lands that surround the Seaplane Lagoon and the property along West Atlantic Avenue which is now part of the 68-acre Site A development. The Site A Development Plan was originally approved in 2015 and amended in 2022. Blocks 12 & 13, as designated in the Development Plan, are located between the Seaplane Lagoon Promenade (waterfront park) and Naval Air Museum and are designated for commercial, entertainment, and performing arts space, including an approximately 53,000 square foot theater.
Land Use and Zoning
The site’s General Plan designation is Mixed-Use, which is intended to support “a wide variety of commercial and business uses”, and it is in the General Plan’s Alameda Point Waterfront and Town Center Mixed-Use Subdistrict, which calls for a “vibrant waterfront experience that leverages the unique character and existing assets of the area to catalyze a transformation of the larger Alameda Point area.” The site is located within the Alameda Point - Waterfront Town Center (AP-WTC) Zoning District, which provides lands for a mix of uses that include waterfront and visitor-serving uses, including retail, service, entertainment, lodging, recreational, and medium to high-density residential uses. Development standards are intended to create a pedestrian, bicycle, and transit supportive urban environment designed to de-emphasize the automobile and create a mixed-use environment that supports the emergence of a transit and pedestrian-friendly mixed-use waterfront neighborhood. Development in this district shall be consistent with the Town Center and Waterfront Precise Plan.
Project Proposal
In December 2023, City Council approved an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with the applicant, Radium Presents, Inc. for the approximately 2.13-acre site made up of Blocks 12 and 13. An entitlement application was filed on March 26, 2024, requesting a Development Plan Amendment and Certificate of Approval (permit number PLN24-0145) to construct a theater and adjacent landscaped plaza on a portion of the former Seaplane Lagoon Taxiway. The proposed Development Plan is attached as Exhibit 1 - Plans.
Historic District Context
The project site between the Naval Air Museum (Building 77) and the Seaplane Lagoon Promenade is within the Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda Historic District, which was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 with a period of significance of 1938-1945.
Review and Approval Process
The Planning Board is responsible for the review and approval of Development Plans and Design Review for all new buildings. In June 2024, Historical Advisory Board (HAB) and Planning Board held workshops to review the proposal and provided feedback on key considerations, including site planning, design, circulation, view corridors and consistency with NAS Alameda Historic District guidelines and requirements. At the June 2024 meetings HAB and Planning Board appointed members to a joint ad-hoc subcommittee to work with staff and the applicant to further refine the project. The subcommittee met three times in the summer of 2024 to review updated plans addressing members’ feedback.
Over the past 18 months, the applicant has continued to refine the plan to address various technical items and the planned roadway design. During the same period, the applicant has been working with Base Reuse and Economic Development Department staff negotiating the final terms of a ground lease with purchase option to be reviewed by the City Council after the HAB and Planning Board complete review of the entitlement application. Attached as Exhibit 2 - Offsite Requirements, plans show the extent of the applicant and City responsibilities for offsite improvements, including an interim parking lot west of the theater and new roadways.
DISCUSSION
Purpose
The Development Plan Amendment provides an updated, detailed block-level plan for Blocks 12 and 13 of the Site A Development, superseding the previous Planning Board approval (Resolution No. PB-22-11) for this area west of Pan Am Way.
By obtaining a Certificate of Approval from HAB and the proposed Development Plan Amendment from the Planning Board, two primary goals are achieved:
• The applicant attains a level of certainty that their project can move forward, making fundraising and planning easier.
• Assurance that the proposed project has been vetted by the community and is consistent with adopted plans and policies prior to the City Council considering approval of a ground lease and purchase option, which is expected to be considered in April 2026.
Design Review, Use Permit and Parcel Map Required
The Development Plan Amendment locks in the broad strokes of the project, such as location, orientation and size of buildings, roads, and landscaping. The proposed plans (Exhibit 1) include highly developed conceptual designs and project features, such as the elevation of the theater’s finished floor and plaza, which will be elevated to roughly match the adjacent park. Further, the proposed landscape plan anticipates redesigning the portion of the City park north of the Bay Trail to better integrate the two spaces. In the future, the project will need to return to the Planning Board for approval of formal Design Review and a Use Permit, governing outdoor uses in the plaza, once financing is in place. Additionally, a parcel map will be required.
Infill Design Guidelines and Precise Plan Consistency
The MMRP and Alameda Point Zoning require new buildings within the contributing portion of the historic district to be consistent with The Guide to Preserving the Character of the Naval Air Station Alameda Historic District as amended (the Guide), the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, and the Town Center Plan’s infill design guidelines, which implement and further develop the broader policies of the Guide.
Within the vicinity of the proposed project, the character-defining features of the designed landscape, as designated by the National Register Nomination, include:
• Paved open spaces between buildings
• Orthogonal layout of roads and buildings
• Deep building setback of Building 77 (museum)
• East-west views along row of Seaplane Hangars
• North-south views along Lexington and Saratoga
• Panoramic views south across the Seaplane Lagoon
The infill guidelines of the Town Center Plan are intended to ensure new development along the Seaplane Lagoon Taxiway and around the Seaplane Hangars is consistent with the character-defining features of the Historic District. The Town Center Plan infill guidelines also facilitate the introduction of new uses in new and existing buildings and support the creation of a vibrant waterfront destination.
Key concepts of the infill guidelines include:
• Maintenance of view corridors to Seaplane Lagoon
• A continuous view along the northern edge of Seaplane Lagoon
• Consistency with The Guide, as amended.
• Maintenance of Building 77’s visual relationship to Seaplane Lagoon with a minimum 40-foot view corridor and limiting development on either side to 50 feet in height.
Architectural Resources Group (ARG) was engaged to provide independent, expert analysis to assist HAB and Planning Board in determining the project’s consistency with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. ARG evaluated the project and provided the attached Standards Compliance Analysis (Exhibit 3). The Standards Compliance Analysis explains how the project retains and protects the historic district’s character defining features and is designed in a manner that is differentiated from its historic surroundings but compatible with adjacent and surrounding historic character-defining features.
The proposed building design has a generally square footprint, approximately three stories in height with square massing and rounded features. Between the theater building and Pan Am Way will be an approximately one-acre landscaped plaza. A new access road will be included between the project site and Building 77. The project design reinforces and preserves the Historic District’s orthogonal layout with the building design and location, placement of the plaza, and placement of new roads and sidewalks.
The project maintains the character-defining views of the Historic District, including east-west views along West Tower and along the northern edge of Seaplane Lagoon, and, north-south views along Saratoga and Lexington Streets which are further west. In addition, the project establishes a new axial view on the west side of the theater, centered between hangars 40 and 41 and aligned with one of the four ramps into the Seaplane Lagoon. This new view corridor is consistent with how the area was used during the height of World War II, with many airplanes and flying boats (seaplanes) filling the taxiway, and with an open area for circulation lined up with the ramps and centerline between hangars as shown in Exhibit 4 - Historic Photos. The design maintains Building 77’s visual relationship to Seaplane Lagoon with the 40-foot view corridor through the landscaped plaza centered on Building 77 with the theater framing the western edge and maintains water views toward the USS Hornet and the ferry terminal.
Historic Resources and Environmental Review
Pursuant to the streamlining provision of Public Resources Sections 21166 and 21083.3 and Sections 15162 and 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines, and as documented in Exhibit 5 - CEQA Checklist, no further environmental review is required.
The project is being considered in the context of the Alameda Point Final EIR, which was certified by the City Council on February 4, 2014, in compliance with CEQA, and adopted written findings and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) by Resolution No. 14891. The Final EIR evaluated the environmental impacts of redevelopment and reuse of Alameda Point, including infill development on the Seaplane Lagoon Taxiway, and concluded that certain impacts could be significant and that some of those significant impacts could be mitigated and some of those significant impacts would be unavoidable. The EIR concluded that, even with implementation of the relevant Mitigation Measures 4.D-1a through 4.D-1c, related to historic resources, demolition and/or substantial alteration of NAS Alameda Historic District contributors could result in significant and unavoidable impacts. To the extent that the mitigation measures will not mitigate or avoid all significant effects on the environment, the City Council determined that any remaining significant and unavoidable adverse impacts are acceptable and adopted a Statement of Overriding Considerations.
On March 5, the HAB approved a Certificate of Approval pursuant to AMC 13-21.5, finding the project consistent with the local Historical Preservation Ordinance, the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, the Guide, and the Town Center Plan’s infill guidelines, and with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). HAB’s review also served to implement Mitigation Measures 4.D-1a through 4.D-1c, as required by the MMRP and the Statement of Overriding Consideration, satisfying compliance with the applicable CEQA requirements.
The 2021 General Plan EIR determined that the redevelopment of Alameda Point consistent with the growth assumptions for Alameda Point over the next 20 years would not result in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) impacts. The General Plan EIR evaluated the VMT projected under 2040 General Plan buildout conditions; this analysis assumed that the majority of the City’s household and employment growth would occur in the Alameda Point and Northern Waterfront Priority Development Areas (PDAs) identified in Plan Bay Area, the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy for the San Francisco Bay Area. The analysis determined that the average household VMT per capita is projected to decline by about 3 percent below the 2020 baseline, which would be at least 15 percent below the average Bay Area regional household VMT per capita, the applicable threshold of significance. Further, the EIR identified numerous General Plan policies that would directly or indirectly result in reduction of VMT. The project is also required to participate in the Alameda Point Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program, including Alameda Transportation Management Association membership, which would further reduce project-generated VMT.
Conclusion & Next Steps
The attached Draft Resolution (Exhibit 6) provides the Board with findings to approve the Development Plan Amendment, concluding that the Radium Performing Arts Center is:
• Consistent with the General Plan, Alameda Point Zoning District, and Town Center and Water Precise Plan
• Compliant with the applicable CEQA requirements
• Consistent with the impact analysis and conclusions and incorporates appropriate mitigation measures from the Alameda Point Project EIR (2013) and that further review under CEQA is not required.
In April, it is anticipated that City Council will consider approving the ground lease with purchase option agreement.
PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENTS
Property owners and residents within 300 feet of the project boundaries were notified of the public hearing and given the opportunity to review and comment on the proposal.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The streamlining provisions of Public Resources Sections 21166 and 21083.3 and Sections 15162 and 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines apply and no further environmental review is required. The environmental effects of the Radium Theatre Project were adequately evaluated in the Alameda Point Final Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 2013012043) and the Alameda General Plan 2040 Update Environmental Impact Report (SCH# 2021030563), and there are no new or site-specific conditions that result in a more significant impact than those previously evaluated.
RECOMMENDATION
Conduct a public hearing and approve the Draft Resolution approving a Development Plan Amendment for Blocks 12 and 13 of the Site A Development to allow construction of an approximately 600-seat performing arts center and landscaped plaza on the Seaplane Lagoon Taxiway near Pan Am Way.
Respectfully Submitted,
Steven Buckley, Secretary to the Planning Board
By,
Brian McGuire, Planner II
Exhibits:
1. Plans
2. Offsite Requirements
3. Standards Compliance Analysis
4. Historic Photos
5. CEQA Checklist
6. Draft Resolution