Alameda Planning Services Manager Andrew Thomas said the city lost 16,000 military and civilian jobs when the Alameda Naval Air Station closed in 1997, and the city's primary thrust is trying to create thousands of permanent jobs as well as thousands of temporary construction jobs.
He said the city is planning a mixed-use development that will include housing at Alameda Point, which has 878 acres of uplands and 1,229 acres of submerged lands for a total of 2,107 acres.
He said tonight's 7 p.m. hearing at City Hall, located at 2263 Santa Clara Ave., will focus on a draft environmental impact report, updated zoning and a master infrastructure plan for Alameda Point.
Thomas said the city will spend the next year finalizing its plans for the former naval site and hopes to begin work on it sometime next year.
The Navy announced in September 2011 that it would transfer the site back to the city of Alameda at no cost, but Thomas said the Navy is still cleaning up the site and won't begin giving back the land until this spring.
Thomas said the city approved a reuse plan for Alameda Point back in 1996 and originally hoped to get the land from the Navy in 1999 but he said there's been "a 13-year lag."
