2010-04-06 Joint CC ARRA CIC MinutesMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL JOINT CITY COUNCIL, ALAMEDA REUSE AND
REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (ARRA), AND COMMUNITY
IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION (CIC) MEETING
TUESDAY- -APRIL 6, 2010- -7:01 P.M.
Mayor/Chair Johnson convened the meeting at 10:35 p.m.
ROLL CALL - Present: Councilmembers / Board Members / Commissioners
deHaan, Gilmore, Matarrese, Tam and Mayor/Chair
Johnson – 5.
Absent: None.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Gilmore moved approval of the Consent
Calendar.
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Tam seconded the motion, which carried by
unanimous voice vote – 5. [Items so enacted or adopted are indicated by an asterisk
preceding the paragraph number.]
(*10-155 CC/ARRA/*10-15 CIC) Minutes of the Regular ARRA Meeting of March 3, 2010;
and the Special Joint City Council, ARRA and CIC Meetings of March 16, 2010. Approved.
(ARRA) Recommendation to Approve a Waiver of License Fees for Pacific Skyline Council,
BSA Sea Scouts, Ancient Mariner Regatta. Accepted.
CITY MANAGER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMUNICATION
(10-156 CC/ARRA/10-16 CIC) Update on SunCal
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director and Deputy City Manager – Development
Services gave a brief presentation.
In response to Mayor/Chair Johnson’s inquiry about what is meant by negotiating a
Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) based on prior efforts, the Deputy City
Manager – Development Services stated the City was in negotiations with SunCal on the
DDA based on the plan proposed in the initiative; negotiations stopped when the initiative
failed; until the City has a pro forma and defined project description, the City cannot
negotiate on aspects of the DDA; aspects of the DDA, including transfer provisions, force
majeure, and term, can be negotiated without knowing the actual financial deal or project
description.
Special Joint Meeting
Alameda City Council, Alameda
Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, and
Community Improvement Commission
April 6, 2010
1
Mayor/Chair Johnson inquired whether staff is waiting on the pro forma; further inquired
whether SunCal is working on the pro forma.
The Deputy City Manager – Development Services responded staff is waiting and has
requested the pro forma.
Mayor/Chair Johnson inquired whether there is a time frame when the document will be
provided, to which the Deputy City Manager – Development Services responded staff has
not been given a specific time frame for when the information will be provided.
Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner deHaan inquired when the Exclusive Negotiation
Agreement (ENA) expires, to which the Deputy City Manager – Development Services
responded July 20.
Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner deHaan stated the time line does not seem
adequate to put things in proper perspective; a whole lot of work has not been presented to
staff for analysis; it [the document submitted by SunCal] seems very incomplete and does
not appear close to an “A” paper.
The Deputy City Manager – Development Services stated staff would be meeting with
SunCal on Thursday and would be requesting information.
Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner deHaan provided a handout; stated when the
City started negotiating with SunCal, the Preliminary Development Concept (PDC) was
used as the baseline to make determinations regarding the number of residences,
commercial use and various land use issues; the handout breaks down the PDC, the
Measure B Specific Plan that was voted down [February 2, 2010], and the modified
Optional Entitlement Application (OEA); the OEA could generate more residential units
than the Measure B Specific Plan because of the Density Bonus, which was not requested
in the [Measure B] Specific Plan; that he compared the PDC and the residential project
grew 144% under the modified OEA; the PDC included 2,116 residential units; the
maximum SunCal could have [under the modified OEA] is 5,162, which is a substantial
growth; in the commercial area, 3.4 million [square feet in the PDC] has been moved up to
4.6 million square feet [in the modified OEA], which is a 34% increase according to his
figures; questioned whether the [modified OEA] path is repeating the [Measure B] Specific
Plan, which is not what the City requested; further stated even though the modified OEA is
going to be Measure A compliant, the project is incompatible with the 2006 PDC; the
direction seems bizarre and out of line with what the voters voted against; everything goes
up; there are more houses than the [Measure B] Specific Plan; the details of the plan are
so important at this stage; there are only a couple of months to put the project together,
which is a concern.
Special Joint Meeting
Alameda City Council, Alameda
Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, and
Community Improvement Commission
April 6, 2010
2
The Deputy City Manager – Development Services stated staff would review the
comparison [submitted by Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner deHaan].
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director stated there has been a lot of discussion
around the issue of transparency and disclosure; sharing information in a public forum is
not necessarily standard operating practice; the Alameda Point project is not normal for
Alameda; the City is trying to come up with the mechanism and type of reporting out that
can be done regularly [at City Council meetings] every two weeks; stated that she would
read a letter that she would send tomorrow as a follow up to Frank Faye’s presentation on
March 16.
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Matarrese inquired whether the offer
constitutes a proposed change to the current ENA; stated that he believes the Council
voted on whether SunCal was willing to change the restrictions in the ENA regarding what
is proprietary; nothing is different unless a modified ENA is presented to Council.
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director responded the letter asks for additional
clarification to provide the City with a clear understanding of what SunCal is willing to
release; stated [Mr. Faye’s] comments last time in the public forum indicated that SunCal
wants to release information, but has caveats regarding proprietary information in terms of
competition, which is a legitimate request; there are still questions about pro forma
information; the pro forma includes a proprietary model; more information is needed in
order to proceed with an amendment to the ENA; submitted and read the letter for the
record; stated the last paragraph focuses on discussions regarding documenting
predevelopment costs; the City is following up in writing on other requests, which are more
complicated and comprehensive than just the details between D.E. Shaw and SunCal and
the proprietary models used to calculate their pro forma; the City does not want to take the
risk and assume everything else is transparent; listing what should not be disclosed might
be easier; staff is trying to narrow down what transparency means; now that the OEA is
moving forward, the City will look at new pro forma, which will have certain assumptions on
Return on Investment; the City does not want to assume SunCal is willing to put the
information in the public forum.
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Gilmore stated assuming SunCal comes
forward with a pro forma and says it is disclosable, inquired whether staff is anticipating
that the City would handle disclosure or if SunCal would provide a copy or disk for the
public when submitting documents; stated there would be less room for misunderstanding
if SunCal indicates a document should be disclosed at the time the document is submitted.
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director stated that she agrees it has to be the later
[SunCal providing a copy or for the public]; after an operating pro forma is submitted, time
is spent in negotiations addressing details, such as impact fees; the process is dynamic,
not linear; negotiations are not done in a vacuum; things change; the question is what to do
Special Joint Meeting
Alameda City Council, Alameda
Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, and
Community Improvement Commission
April 6, 2010
3
for updates; logistics can be challenging and need to be thought through.
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Gilmore stated there are two issues going
forward: what is disclosable and how is it disclosable; the community has been interested
in the underpinnings of Measure B; the other issue is what prior documents SunCal will
disclose, which might be more straight forward; that she assumes some of the prior
documents are now static.
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director stated in some cases, the documents are now
irrelevant; stated rather than staff taking the risk of defining what is and is not [confidential],
SunCal should say what is and is not [confidential].
Councilmember/Board Member/Commissioner Tam stated the City needs to seek
clarification on the logistics of how information is received and distributed; there needs to
be critical thinking about what is in the City’s best interest as it negotiates with the Navy;
confusion could be created unnecessarily; an example is calculation of conveyance price.
Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner deHaan stated Councilmember/Board Member/
Commissioner Gilmore asking for the static stuff [prior documents] is important; the public
has asked for said information.
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director stated the letter is being provided to ensure
that the Council/Board/Commission understands staff is following up and trying to get
clarification about disclosure, which sounds good on the surface until digging through the
details and thinking strategically; the letter is also being provided to ensure that the City is
not deciding what is and what is not disclosable and confidential.
Mayor/Chair Johnson inquired whether staff plans to provide an update every two weeks,
to which the Interim City Manager/Executive Director responded very short fact sheets
would be provided to avoid hypothetical and incorrect assumptions.
Mayor/Chair Johnson inquired whether SunCal knows about the item being on the agenda.
The Deputy City Manager – Development Services responded staff discussed what
aspects of the conversation [between SunCal and staff] would be made public; stated staff
wanted to ensure that SunCal agreed about what would be reported out publicly and
indicated reporting would be made to the Council and public.
Mayor/Chair Johnson inquired whether having a SunCal representative present to answer
questions makes sense.
The Interim City Manager/Executive Director responded SunCal [representatives] can
speak, if they want to.
Special Joint Meeting
Alameda City Council, Alameda
Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, and
Community Improvement Commission
April 6, 2010
4
Speaker: Philip Tribuzio, Alameda, submitted letter.
In response to Mr. Tribuzio’s comments, Vice Mayor/Board Member/Commissioner
deHaan stated the Interim City Manager/ Executive Director should be able to give an
update on the City’s efforts regarding America’s Cup at the next Council meeting.
ORAL REPORTS
(ARRA) Oral report from Member Matarrese, Restoration Advisory Board (RAB)
representative - Highlights of March 4 Alameda Point RAB Meeting
Member Matarrese discussed the highlights of the March 4 RAB meeting, including on-
going remediation efforts: The Building 5 storm drain sewer lines leading up to the sea
plane lagoon are being removed; the infrastructure did not match the drawings; radioactive
sediments were found in a number of storm drains beyond the drains that are being
removed; the Navy is opening up a new Time Critical Removal Action (TCRA). Ground
water contamination clean up is being done under Building 5 using soil vapor extraction.
The RAB had a long discussion about a benzene naphthalene plume under the Marina
Village housing that is being remediated. He did not attend the April meeting, but would
attend the May meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mayor/Chair Johnson adjourned the meeting at 11:13
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lara Weisiger, City Clerk
Secretary, CIC
The agenda for this meeting was posted in accordance with the Brown Act.
Special Joint Meeting
Alameda City Council, Alameda
Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, and
Community Improvement Commission
April 6, 2010
5