Bill Seeks to Force Navy to Lease Land to San Francisco

A measure passed shortly before Congress adjourned last weekend seeks to force the Navy to lease half of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to the city of San Francisco--over the Navy’s objection and to its apparent surprise.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Thursday that she sponsored the brief amendment to the massive Defense Authorization Act partly in an attempt to end an effort by the Navy to evict 300 artists and small business operators who have been leasing studio and work space at the shipyard.

“Now, we just have to make the Navy do it,” Pelosi said. Her measure will require the Navy to enter into negotiations with the city for a 30-year lease on at least 260 acres of shipyard land. The amendment says the deal must be struck within a year.

In a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee, the Navy expressed its opposition to Pelosi’s amendment, noting that such a lease “could preempt” other uses that are “now under review.”

“We certainly haven’t designated any property for lease. We’re still looking at the legislation,” said Randal A. Friedman, a Navy employee in charge of coordinating the restoration of naval bases slated for closure in the Bay Area.

Artists and business owners, ranging from painting contractors to a mushroom farmer, set up shop and studios in space leased from the Navy after it abandoned barracks and most other buildings at Hunters Point in the 1970s.

The Navy began trying to evict the tenants in the mid-1980s when it had hopes of basing a flotilla of warships at Hunters Point, which is at the southern end of San Francisco. The home-porting scheme was abandoned, although the Navy maintained its position that it wanted the commercial tenants out.

The Navy continues to operate repair facilities at the shipyard, and has embarked on a major cleanup of toxins that were dumped and spilled over the decades. Pelosi’s amendment allows the Navy to continue its ship-maintenance operations at the base.

“It is a major breakthrough in bringing the Navy to the table to sit with us and plan what is going to happen on almost 300 acres of Navy property,” Mayor Art Agnos said at the press conference.

Agnos said that he expects ship repairs to continue at the shipyard and that the amendment will “protect the artists and provide other economic development opportunities” to his city.