At its Oct. 20 meeting the Alameda City Council voted unanimously to begin implementing an environmental study of SunCal's plans for Alameda Point.

Although California law does not require an environmental impact report (EIR) for the pending initiative, SunCal says that it has agreed to pay some $2 million for the report "in order to assure that the environmental impacts of the whole of the project will be addressed prior to construction." The city, not SunCal, will manage the process.

According to SunCal, the report will exhaustively study "all aspects of the project, will provide an in-depth analysis of the potential environmental impacts and will identify mitigation measures that the city can require the developer undertake to reduce or eliminate those impacts.

"By funding this study, we are once again declaring our long-term commitment to the city of Alameda, to building the best possible project at Alameda Point and to addressing the environmental impacts of the project," said Pat Keliher, SunCal's regional president.

This is not the first time such a report has been done at the Point. In August 2001, the city council selected Alameda Point Community Partners as the master developer for the Point. This was a partnership of financier Morgan Stanley, Shea Homes of Livermore, Centex Homes of Dallas and the Industrial Realty Group.

A draft environmental impact report (DEIR) Alameda Point was drawn up in November 2001. The Sierra Club criticized that report, and that organization's past criticism might shed some light on some of the issues Alamedans would hope to see addressed in the 2009-2010 version. "Questions that the Sierra Club raised earlier about ommissions in the 2002 plan deserve repeating this time around.

For example will the 2009 report thoroughly address local air-pollution issues? Will the EIR investigate increased incentives for mass-transit use and will it address the effects that the demolition of older buildings might have on the enviroment and the Point's future?

The Sierra Club also asked how development at Alameda Point would affect rents not just at the Point but also in Alameda. And what about home prices on the island as a whole?

SunCal promises that the new EIR studies air and water quality, traffic, climate change, geotechnical issues and the health of wildlife in the area.

Soon, the city council will select an election date for the Revitalization Initiative and then voters will be able to decide for themselves whether it should be implemented at Alameda Pont.

A careful study of the brand-new EIR report should be part of that decision.