Zusha Elinson/The Bay Citizen

A's fans found the Dec. 1 planning commission meeting to be about as exciting as an A's game

Unlike the lightly attended baseball games at the Oakland Coliseum, last night's Oakland planning commission meeting was packed with A's fans.

Wearing green "stay" tee-shirts, they came to hear about the city's first step in planning a new stadium for the A's near Jack London Square on a site called Victory Court. 

When planning commission chair Doug Boxer asked the crowd if they wanted to keep the A's in Oakland a great cry went up. Boxer, who also heads a group of business owners working to keep the A's in town, then asked who was against it, and there was a smattering of boos. 

The team, under the leadership of Lew Wolff, has been eyeing a move to San Jose, where preparations are being made for a new stadium. But the move has been held up because the world-champion San Francisco Giants have the rights to San Jose.

Oakland, after many years of hemming and hawing, is moving forward with an environmental impact report for the new stadium. Most of those in attendance just wanted the A's to stay. Fan Michael Siegel said, "Oakland is the only home for the A's, but if you want to talk about environmental impacts, I don't know too much about that." 

The report, which will take until 2011 to complete, will outline the impacts of plans for a stadium, retail, office space and residential units on a 22-acre swath of land near the Lake Merritt channel and I-880. Nearby residents voiced concerns about parking and businesses that will be displaced if the project goes forward.  

"A 39,000-seat stadium and only 2,500 off-street parking spaces?" said Bruce Ide, who lives nearby and was especially grumpy. "I'll guarantee you dollars to donuts, more than 2,500 people are going to come by car." 

East Bay Restaurant Supply makes its home in the area, as does a truck yard for a moving company and a mini-storage facility. Sharon Cornu, an Alameda County labor leader, said the report should study the jobs lost and gained by the project. 

But Rick Tittle, an Oakland resident, was of the opinion that these concerns should not stand in the way of a new stadium for the A's. "Are we going to nitpick and worry about whose house is going to get knock down," he said. "You need to break a few eggs to make progress."  

Although the city has selected the Victory Court site to study, Bryan Grunwald, an urban planner, pressed the planning commission on his idea to build a new stadium over the 980 freeway near downtown. He contended that it would be cheaper since the city will have to buy the land for the Victory Court site. One planning commissioner recommended that the report take a look at the 980 ballpark concept. 

Although planning commission chair Boxer told the crowd that the hearing was really about the environmental impact report, the commissioners clearly saw the meeting as a show of Oakland's determination to keep the team.

"Hopefully Mr. Wolff is watching and seeing we have a lot of support in this community," said Vince Gibbs, a commissioner. "This is a gesture in that regard."