Oakland A waterfront baseball plan hits issue, draws criticism from city council for lack of affordable housing

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Oakland A’s plan to build a waterfront stadium ran into a problem Wednesday when members of Oakland City Council strongly berated the organization for not including affordable housing in its massive development plan – a point of friction for the leaders of the city before a critical vote on July 20 on the project.

Criticism surfaced at a special meeting on A’s $ 12 billion project at Howard Terminal near Jack London Square, which includes a stadium and 3,000 residential units, among other plans. The meeting marked the first time council members discussed the project which, if approved, will radically change the city’s waterfront and generate jobs and tax revenue for Oakland.

City Councilor Dan Kalb asked A’s chairman Dave Kaval if the A’s would commit to including affordable housing or, as an alternative, paying an impact fee to the city. Municipal law requires developers to build a number of affordable housing in housing projects. Developers can choose not to build the unit if they pay an impact fee.

In response to Kalb’s question, Kaval pointed to a $ 450 million community benefit package offered by A’s as part of the development agreement. The package would be financed by tax revenues from two infrastructure financing districts. Kaval said the city has the discretion to use the $ 450 million as it sees fit.

Kalb responded that it appeared the A’s were asking the city “not to enforce its current law” regarding impact fees or building affordable housing on site.

“I don’t support this,” Kalb said. “It sets a bad precedent. It’s a bad idea. To me, that’s a shocking part of it. I have trouble swallowing.

His criticisms were echoed by other council members who said having affordable housing was essential to move the proposal forward. Councilor Loren Taylor said he was “surprised it’s even a request.”

Councilor Carroll Fife, who represents the neighborhood in which the Howard Terminal baseball stadium project and its surrounding development will be built, said the project could be a “major bargain in affordable housing.”

“To ask to give it up and then to say that the city can use its own tax revenues that are ours to decide how we will use our own money… is absurd,” she said.

By the end of the meeting, a majority of board members had expressed concerns over A’s proposal – and Kalb said he was not optimistic that a deal would be reached. Without the support of the council, the project could die. Council is due to vote July 20 on a condition sheet setting out expectations between the city and the A’s on the project proposal.

The As’s said the vote is key to understanding whether council “shares their vision” for a waterside baseball stadium project. The As said “Howard Terminal or bust” and threatened to leave Oakland if a stadium was not possible at Howard Terminal.

Kalb asked Kaval if he was ready to return to the table to negotiate a deal over the next two weeks that would benefit both the city and the A’s.

Kaval said the A’s are ready to negotiate some aspects of the list of conditions they released in April, but not in a substantial way.

A’s project features a $ 1 billion privately funded stadium that can accommodate 35,000 participants, 3,000 residential units, up to 1.5 million square feet of commercial use, up to 270,000 feet retail squares, an indoor performance center for up to 3,500 people, 400 hotel rooms and up to 18 acres of open space accessible to the public.

The A’s proposed creating two infrastructure tax funding districts to raise $ 450 million in taxes for a “community benefit package” to help the city – funds that would be raised over the next 45 years. The organization also agreed not to move for 20 years.

The city has proposed to use an infrastructure tax financing district with Alameda County, affordable housing on and off site, and a no-relocation agreement of at least 45 years.

“We are happy to negotiate, but it must be an economic negotiation that leads to a derivative very close to what we have proposed,” Kaval said. “This is the limit to how this project works. “

Oakland, like the rest of the Bay Area, has suffered from a housing crisis that has only exacerbated a growing problem of homelessness. Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said the city is lagging behind in building affordable and highly affordable housing.

“We must take every opportunity to catch up,” she said, adding that tenant protections and anti-displacement measures must also be in place.

Molly Maybrun, the city’s project manager for the Howard Terminal project, noted that the revenue generated by the tax districts would slowly build up at first and increase over time as the new development is completed and placed on the banks. tax rolls. Without another source of early funding, most of the benefits of the community benefits package – as currently stated in A’s financial plan – would not reach the city for many years, she said.

City staff recommended approximately 450 new affordable units on-site and off-site during full construction of the project.

Additionally, the city administration advised against using two infrastructure funding districts and instead recommended teaming up with Alameda County to have a tax district on the site of the Howard Terminal baseball stadium.

But the county has yet to agree to join the city in a fiscal infrastructure finance district. Supervisors delayed planning a vote until at least September to give their staff enough time to analyze the project. A specific date has not been set.

Sarah Ravani is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @SarRavani

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