After nearly two years of tensions in the Marina, residents and city officials are still no closer to resolving the dispute over a proposal to build a restaurant on the Marina Green.

The controversy began in 2011, when the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department issued a request for proposals to turn the abandoned World War Ⅱ degaussing station on the Marina Green into a public amenity. Out of the many proposals submitted to the department, Woodhouse Fish Co.’s plan for a seafood family restaurant was deemed the most appropriate use of the space.

Prior to the proposal, the degaussing station was put out of service after World War Ⅱ and served no real use in the community. Though it now stands fenced off from the rest of the shoreline in the Marina Green, it has become a hotspot for the local bird population to excrete waste.

Rather than letting it continue to be a rest stop for pigeons, Ariel Kelley, president of the Marina Community Association, believes the abandoned building could be put to a “good and positive use.”

“One of the things we thought would be a benefit was actually doing something with the space,” Kelley said.

Though the association had their reservations on the project during the early stages of its progression, Kelley stated the community association has since changed its stance and has thrown their support behind the idea.

But as the project started to work its way up through departments and hearings, Recreation and Parks and Woodhouse soon found themselves in a heated debate with residents who had grievances throughout the process.

Christianna Reinstein, who has managed and worked at the Woodhouse Fish Co.’s
restaurant on Market Street for more than a year now, argued the company and other parties involved went out of their way to address concerns opponents had on the project.

“I think it’s a bit ridiculous that everyone had such extreme thoughts about it,” Reinstein said. “All the concerns that everyone had, they had an answer to them.”

But residents opposed to the project beg to differ, arguing city officials and leaders steamrolled the proposal and gave it the green light before certain concerns were even addressed.While the distribution of alcohol near a public playground and the noise level becoming a potential nuisance have always been a concern, opponents have refocused their attention on the community association’s alleged failure to keep residents notified of the proposal’s progress and usage of the space for non-recreational use, which they claim violates the Open Space Element of the city’s General Plan.

The fear that the introduction of one commercial space in the Marina Green could be the beginning of a wave of other businesses opening on the shoreline is another concern shared by residents. While some have argued against the possibility of such a scenario, others see it as a real possibility and believe the idea of a restaurant in the location destroys the beauty of the shoreline and is completely unnecessary.

Arthur Scampa, a Marina resident, believes that there are already plenty of restaurants in the area people could go to, and building one on the waterfront would turn the Marina into another Fisherman’s Wharf.

“There are 10 coffee shops/restaurants within a 5 to 10 minute walk, and there are 126 coffee shops and restaurants within a 15 to 25 minute walk,” Scampa said. “So it is not that we are short of restaurants in the area that we have to spoil this beautiful waterfront.”

The supposed failure of community and city leaders to address these issues have residents like Nicole Prieto outraged.

“I’ve never been involved in anything political, but this is just heart wrenching,” Prieto said.

A San Francisco native and spokesperson of Save Marina Green, a resident group created to prevent the building of the restaurant and preserve the Marina Green, Prieto noted the community association and city leaders have not represented the neighborhood fairly.

“You’ll probably hear from Rec and Park that it’s an amenity and we’re hysterics,” Prieto said, who feels like-minded residents and citizens have been unfairly misrepresented in the past.

In an effort to create and bolster discussion of the proposal, Prieto and other concerned citizens throughout the city have banded together to put up Save Marina Green signs in their windows saying “Stop Restaurant on Marina Green” with the organization’s website, which provides the public with an in depth explanation behind their opposition for the project.

Save the Marina launched a petition drive at the beginning of the controversy advocating for the dismissal of the proposition, which has garnered nearly 3,000 signatures to date, according to Scampa.

With the discourse going in the direction it is going, the Marina area will probably never be the same again as residents and their community leaders will have to learn to cope with whatever the final outcome will be. Unless efforts are made to satisfy both parties, tensions among residents and leaders will persist in the community for some time to come.

The project was set to be completed on time for the 2013 America’s Cup, but has been placed on hold until further notice.