A California agency on Thursday cleared the way for the Oakland Athletics to continue planning a $12 billion waterfront ballpark project.

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted 23-2 to reclassify a 56-acre terminal at the Port of Oakland as a mixed-use area where a new ballpark could be built. The vote is the first in a series of legal hurdles the team would have to overcome before it gets permission to break ground for the project.