The Golden State Warriors have leapt yet another legal hurdle when the California Appeals Court upheld a prior ruling that the Environmental Impact Report for the team's proposed arena in downtown San Francisco met all required standards, according to Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area.
The Warriors faced a lawsuit from Mission Bay Alliance (a coalition of UC San Francisco stakeholders, donors, faculty, and physicians), which has vigorously opposed plans to break ground at the proposed Chase Center. Their primary concern was restricting access to the UCSF Medical Center.
“Our legal team is reviewing the ruling and considering options,” the MBA said in a statement Tuesday. “We believe that the proposed Warriors' arena is incompatible with the Mission Bay South neighborhood and would result in blocked access to UCSF hospitals, dangerous air pollution, and traffic gridlock throughout the community.”
The Warriors, meanwhile have been throughly pleased with the result.
“We're very pleased by the Appellate Court's ruling. We engaged in an extensive public planning process and we were approved by every board, agency, and regulatory body we went before,” Warriors president and COO Rick Welts said in a statement. “Now our project has been upheld by the trial court, and the court of appeals. This decision clears the path for us to build a new state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue and bring the Warriors back home to San Francisco. We look forward to breaking ground soon.”
The Warriors plan to move from their longtime home, Oracle Arena in Oakland, and move into their new state-of-the-art one at Chase Center in San Francisco in 2019.