History of Master Planning at OAK
Oakland Municipal Airport, the current OAK North Field, was dedicated in September 1927. From its opening through the 1930s, the Airport was the site for many historic aviation events. During World War II, OAK North Field served as the pacific base of the Naval Transport Service and the supply operations of the Army Air Forces. By the early 1950s, nine major airlines served OAK, also the site of a Naval Reserve Air Station.
In 1953, over half a million airline passengers enplaned or deplaned at OAK, and a total of 190,000 aircraft movements were made by air carriers and other civilian and military aircraft. In July 1954, the Port published “Development Plan for the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport” (by Knappen-Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy, Airport Consultants), outlining expansion plans and showing the proposed new South Field with a 10,000-foot-long runway for new jet aircraft. Reclamation work began in 1955, and construction of Runway 11-29 and Terminal 1 began in 1960. South Field was dedicated in September 1962.
In 1977, the Port prepared a master plan and environmental impact report (EIR). The EIR and new Airport Layout Plan (ALP) were approved by the Board of Port Commissioners in July 1977. In 1978, the Board adopted “Oakland Airport Master Plan: 1976-1986.” This 10-year master plan examined a development plan for South Field air carrier facilities, and to a lesser degree, North Field general aviation facilities.
Due to rapid increases in general aviation activity in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a North Airport Master Plan was initiated by the Port to update and extend the analysis of general aviation expansion and development capabilities through 2000. Additionally, a supplemental EIR was prepared to study potential environmental impacts beyond those discussed in the 1977 master plan and EIR. The “Oakland North Airport Master Development Plan” (dated July 1984) and supplemental EIR were adopted by the Board of Port Commissioners in January 1985.
New planning efforts (by TRA Airport Consulting and P&D Aviation) were started in 1988 that culminated in the Airport Development Program (ADP) and related environmental documents, concluding in November 2003 when the Board of Port Commissioners certified a Final EIR, along with several addenda and a first supplemental EIR, and adopted a second supplemental EIR for the ADP projects. The ADP projects are best documented in the various ADP environmental review documents.
Up until this Master Plan, the ADP has been serving as the Port’s planning guidance document. The Port committed to prepare this Master Plan with community participation as a result of various agreements settling litigation over the ADP environmental review documents.
