PHOENIX - A lawsuit seeks to block construction of an arena for the Golden State Warriors and a related mixed-use development project in San Francisco.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court Jan. 7, charges that San Francisco city officials violated the California Environmental Quality Act by not properly considering alternative locations for the arena and by failing to adequately address the project's environmental impacts, such as traffic, air quality, and noise. The suit was initiated by the Mission Bay Alliance, a group that says it is concerned how the project will affect the University of California San Francisco medical campus in the area, as well as the overall quality of life in the neighborhood.
"The consequences of these oversights could cost lives," the alliance said in a press release. "Parents fear that game time traffic to the Warriors arena, located 1,000 feet from UCSF Children's Hospital, could block life-saving care — a potentially fatal outcome that the City's Environmental Impact Report shockingly fails to adequately address."
The $1 billion Warriors venue is privately financed, but city officials have nonetheless lauded its financial benefits for municipal services. Mayor Ed Lee said in December that fees and taxes from the project would generate $55 million for transit, as well as more than $30 million more for neighborhood development and other city services.
The NBA champions play at Oracle Arena in Oakland, but two years ago announced that they would move to San Francisco.
City attorney Dennis Herrera vowed to defend the lawsuit and dismissed its merits.
"The event center project is an important civic priority for San Francisco, and we're going to defend it aggressively from legal attacks that seek to derail it," Herrera said. "I'm unsurprised by this lawsuit, and I'm similarly unsurprised that the project opponents took the same kitchen sink approach in their complaint that they've pursued throughout the administrative process. Their efforts aren't aimed at improving the project, but simply obstructing it for their own seemingly hidden interests. The fact is that this project has been thoroughly scrutinized under the law, and it has won overwhelming support at every step in the process—including from its neighbors."
The lawsuit also accuses city officials of mischaracterizing the arena as "nighttime entertainment," a category of development akin to a bar and restaurant.
"The categorization is meaningful, because it fast tracks the project and allows it to circumvent a voter referendum," the alliance said.
