Curious about future development plans for the waterfront in Berkeley & Albany California, I did some investigative research about areas such as the Berkeley Marina, Golden Gate Fields, the Albany bulb.

The City of Berkeley has a Waterfront Master Plan for development of the Berkeley waterfront. It preserves the waterfront primarily for recreation, open space, and environmental uses, with limited commercial development. It was initiated in 1986 in response to a proposed 4.25 million square foot development by the Santa Fe Corporation at Berkeley's waterfront.

The 1998 acquisition of the 170 Acres of shoreline land between the Berkeley waterfront's southern edge (Emeryville city limits) and Virginia Street to the north and from the I-80 freeway to the City-owned marina by the East Bay Regional Park District is considered one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of open space protection.

The Eastshore State Park General Plan identifies the future preservation, conservation, and recreation uses and improvements for the park.

A "new" Marina Plan was prepared by City of Berkeley staff and consultants in 2001. The Marina Plan is an improvement plan for the marina area. Revisions and updates can be found here.

Information about plans for the ferry service to San Francisco can be found here. There is much debate about the location for the ferry terminal. Some of the issues are parking, disruption of recreational activities (boating and fishing on the pier,) environmental problems and disruption of wildlife and peace and quiet in the state parks, easy access to the terminal, and development potential surrounding the terminal.

I was not able to substantiate rumors of Golden Gate Fields shutting down, just that the owner recently declared bankruptcy and that they might be considering selling the facility and the land. The Albany Bulb Blog has some news on the developments.

North of Golden Gate Fields is the "Albany Bulb," another well-loved landfill turned park. This "bitterly debated" piece of land has been a homeless encampment, public art project and dog park, but the City of Albany is formulating a plan to make the land more usable for all its citizens. Here is more info on the plans.