In an effort to resolve the impasse between the A’s and the big box triumvirate of Costco, Lowe’s, and Kohl’s, Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman spoke to the retailers last week. The A’s were not directly involved in the discussions. Via Matthew Artz in the Argus’s Tri City Beat blog:

Wasserman said he and ProLogis talked about a couple of proposals to put the stadium a little further from the stores, one idea would be to put it closer to Interstate 880, and the other further south from the stores, which, admittedly wouldn’t have the best freeway access.

The “closer to 880” option may be the simplest since it involves land the A’s already own, particularly the 8-acre concrete plant next to the freeway. Then they’d have to redesign the village and residential areas to work with the new ballpark site. Integration of the village and the ballpark wouldn’t be as good because the ballpark can’t face west, which would be the best direction to have the ballpark face into the village as it does in the original plan.

Pushing the ballpark to the southern edge of the project area is likely a nonstarter for environmental reasons. The combination of light, noise, and a heavy supply of congealed nacho cheese sauce don’t make for a healthy environment for all of the critters in the wetland preserve next door.