49ers May Look Into Refurbishing Candlestick If Move Is Delayed

Candlestick Park Renovation Could Be Short-Term Solution For 49ers Pending Santa Clara Stadium

49ers President Jed York yesterday "waved off presumptions that the team could turn most of its attentions back to an extensive Candlestick Park refurbishment," though York said that the team, "as it has in the past, will take a look at the viability of refurbishing Candlestick," according to Tim Kawakami of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. York said that a Candlestick renovation plan "could be for the short- or long-term 'if something doesn't happen in Santa Clara,'" where the team is pursuing a potential new stadium. York added a Candlestick refurbishment is "not our priority." But he said of the opening of the proposed Santa Clara stadium, "2012, I don't think we will hit. But Santa Clara remains our top priority and focus." Kawakami writes if the 49ers, "by necessity, are going to keep playing at Candlestick for many more years, shouldn't they take a closer look at the nearby Hunters Point option?" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/15). However, in S.F., Robert Selna reports a 133-page study due today from environmental and planning organizations ARC Ecology and Bionic indicates that a plan for turning S.F.'s Candlestick Point and the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard into a neighborhood and business district that could include a new 49ers stadium "fails to focus enough on the area's natural ecology." The report suggests that the city and Miami-based developer Lennar Corp. "have tried to force their development ideas onto an area that includes important wildlife habitat instead of building a project that prioritizes and protects nature." The city's complete plan is "scheduled to get a public airing before two public advisory groups tonight." Under the plan, 62 acres of sports fields would "sit adjacent to parkland and, possibly, a new 69,000-seat football stadium," but if the 49ers move to Santa Clara, "additional research and development space would be built in the stadium's place" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/15).