Voters in Alameda’s upcoming special election should reject a ballot initiative from a group of residents trying to block a homeless care facility near Crab Cove.

Backers of Measure B are trying to rezone a 3.65-acre U.S. government-owned site on McKay Avenue to public open space. They claim that the site could be used for park expansion. But the East Bay Regional Park District has no interest in the parcel, and the city doesn’t have the estimated $12 million that would be needed to purchase the land, demolish the World War II-era buildings and develop a park there.

The idea of park expansion is a subterfuge. The bottom line is that proponents of Measure B don’t want the planned “wellness center” for the homeless. Not in their backyard. Voters in the city’s special April 9 election should reject Measure B.

And voters should approve Measure A, which reaffirms a City Council zoning change to enable the wellness center to move forward. It’s a humane and socially responsible use for the site.

Plans call for 90 units of assisted senior housing for formerly homeless individuals; a 50-bed medical rehabilitation center for homeless individuals recently discharged from a hospital; a resource center that helps those facing homelessness locate appropriate housing and services; and a primary care clinic that provides outpatient services for assisted living and respite center clients.

Unfortunately, backers of Measure B have put out a flood of misleading information to try to block the wellness center. For starters, contrary to their suggestions, what’s proposed is not a shelter for the general homeless population. Such a use would not be permitted under the city zoning for the property.

And, no, contrary to an opinion piece published by this news organization, the wellness center on McKay Avenue will not endanger the Concerts at the Cove summer music series down the street at the waterfront.

Then there are the falsehoods in the ballot arguments that are mailed to all voters. For instance, backers of Measure B claim the wellness center deal constitutes a “land grab.” Nonsense. The federal government selected Alameda Point Collaborative, a nonprofit organization, to acquire the property and run the wellness center. This is hardly some big, scary developer.

Backers of Measure B also keep insisting that voters already approved taxes for a park on the site. That’s false. To understand why, consider the history of the 3.65-acre site and what voters actually approved.

First, the history: The site was originally part of a 100-acre parcel owned by the federal government, which sold most of the land to the state in 1961. That left 7.6 acres on McKay Avenue near Crab Cove.

Of that, the feds in 2015 sold nearly 4 acres closest to the water, known as Neptune Pointe, to the East Bay Regional Park District. That left the adjacent 3.65-acre site that’s at issue in the April 9 election.

So what have voters previously approved? Backers of Measure B are right that in 2008 Alameda voters, along with voters throughout the East Bay, approved the EBRPD’s Measure WW, a $500 million bond measure to acquire and develop regional park land. Among the listed projects was acquiring “appropriate” surplus federal property for expansion and restoration of the beach and the Crab Cove interpretive center.

But EBRPD fulfilled that promise with its 2015 purchase of Neptune Pointe. There was no promise by the park district to acquire all federal land that was available.

Measure B backers also claim that voter approval of the park district’s Measure FF in 2018 was a vote to further expand Crab Cove. But that parcel tax wasn’t for acquisition of new parcels; it was to maintain those the district already owned.

Voters should dismiss the false and hyperbolic claims of those opposed to the wellness center. This isn’t a vote about park expansion because there isn’t money for it, nor is the park district interested in pursuing it. This is a decision about whether to provide needed services for the homeless.

Alameda residents should do the right thing: Vote yes on Measure A and no on Measure B.