The Golden State Warriors are "calling a time-out" on the proposed waterfront arena on Piers 30-32. Nearly two years since the announcement that the team would be returning to the city in 2017, and the Chronicle's mustachioed duo Matier & Ross are reporting the Warriors will be taking a step back and delaying the project by at least a year.

In intervening years since Gavin Newsom stood on the crumbling pier and assured us Red's Java House would be saved, the Warriors and their design team from Snøhetta have submitted three different designs for the arena, the surrounding public green space and the even more contentious condos across the Embarcadero from the pier itself. It probably didn't help that costs to rehabilitate said piers nearly doubled last summer.

While the Warriors are facing reality and hammering out a deal to stay at Oracle Arena after the 2016-2017 season, opponents of tall things have been gathering signatures to potentially block the arena with a new ballot measure. The effort, which is backed by former mayor and friend of low buildings Art Agnos, won't immediately halt project but it did gather 15,000 in just three weeks and will put a new measure on the June ballot. If passed, the new measure would force anyone looking to build along the waterfront to get voter approval before exceeding current height limits, effectively putting the fate of the arena project in the hands of voters.

Previously: All Warriors Arena coverage on SFist
The War On The Waterfront: Development Foes Propose New Height-Limit Restrictions
[Matier & Ross]