• Treasure and Yerba Buena Island Development
  • The former Naval Station Treasure Island (which includes TI and most of YBI) has the potential to become a model of sustainable redevelopment. While there are many aspects of sustainability that may be explored at future workshops, this one will focus on the interrelationship between transportation and land use planning and on ways to incorporate the principles of compact development into the agreements currently being negotiated between the proposing development team (Treasure Island Community Development, LLC, or TICD) and the government oversight agency (Treasure Island Development Authority, or TIDA).
  • The 2,800 units of housing planned for the two islands could be compactly situated around attractive, convenient, and dependable ferry and bus links to the San Francisco waterfront. The amount of residential parking could be restricted, and its costs could be separated from housing costs. Visitors drawn to the island by the extensive Bayshore park, including wildlife habitat created by a storm water treatment wetland, could also enjoy restaurants and hotels easily accessed by public transit.
  • But unless the developer's recent land-use concepts are substantially revised, Treasure Island will instead be one more Bay Area development that depends on the automobile, and, along with all the usual negative environmental impacts of the private car, will exacerbate congestion on the Bay Bridge. The plans provide for three to four separate residential neighborhoods spread across the island, isolated from the retail and commercial uses, which would be concentrated at the southern end of the island. Even though ferry service for at least 20 years is planned only from the San Francisco waterfront, the terminal is to be located far away at the southeastern corner of the island rather than on the western shore that faces the rest of the city.
  • Please join with other transportation activists, urban designers, compact-growth advocates, and land-use planners to review current plans for Treasure Island and to explore changes that could bring sustainable, transit-oriented redevelopment.
    For more information, please contact Eve Bach at Arc Ecology at (415) 495-1786; or visit the website at

    http://www.arcecology.org/News-Events/oct_2004.shtml