S.F. officials are asking the California state legislature “to bless" the Warriors' plan to "build a 17,500-seat arena on the waterfront, a move that, if successful, is expected to ease approval by state regulators,” according to John Cote of the S.F. CHRONICLE. An environmental group “opposed to the arena plan, though, says the legislation is an ‘end run’ around regulators.” The legislation recently introduced on the city's behalf by Assembly member Phil Ting “wouldn't eliminate the need to have the State Lands Commission and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission sign off on the $1 billion arena project.” But the legislation would “specifically authorize the Port of San Francisco to approve the deal as long as certain conditions are met.” The Warriors “hope to have the new facility built in time for the 2017 NBA season.” Building on the waterfront “is a complicated matter in the state, and the proposed arena project site has already been the subject of three other pieces of legislation dating to 2001” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/28).
