Port pursues plans for hotel in spite of H. (Port of San Francisco; Proposition H)

Port pursues plans for hotel in spite of H

SAN FRANCISCO - The Port of San Francisco is pressing ahead with plans for an international cruise terminal near the Bay Bridge, even though Proposition H on the San Francisco ballot threatens to ban hotels on the waterfront.

In that uncertain climate, only a handful of potential developers for Pier 30-32 have put down $95 for a bidder's packet, and only one was identifiable at an Oct. 17 prebid conference.

That developer, Erik Norgaard, said the next day that his plans for a cruise terminal, hotel and Scandinavia Center at Pier 30-32 can't be built if voters bar hotels from the waterfront.

Other developers that have paid for bid packages include Halcyon Ltd. of San Francisco, Lincoln Property Co. of San Francisco and P.R.P. Development Inc. of Riverside.

Prop. H would ban hotels from San Francisco's piers and postpone development until the Port of San Francisco writes a new plan for the waterfront.

The spark that set off Prop. H was the proposed development of Piers 24 and 26 by the Koll Co. as a mixed-use sailing center project that includes retail space, restaurants, a conference center, office space and a 170-room hotel.

After the Port selected Koll as developer, San Francisco Tomorrow, other environmental groups and neighborhood associations petitioned to put Prop. H on the ballot.

Proponents of the hotel ban argue that hotels …