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Mini-city will face critics, planners
Oakland Tribune, Mar 15, 2006 by Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Debate moves to the Planning Commission tonight on a plan to build a mini-city of high-rises, storefronts and parks along Oakland's waterfront on land with historic connections to the city's maritime past.
The 62-acre Oak to Ninth development by Pleasanton-based Signature Properties would be the largest housing project currently being planned or built in the city.
The development would include 3,100 apartment units,
20 acres of parks and more than 100 small boat berths in two refurbished marinas. Once complete in 2029, the developers say, it would transform what is now a vacant tract of polluted land along the Oakland Estuary between Oak Street and Ninth Avenue into a bustling waterfront community.
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But it will not benefit the city as much as it should, the plan's critics say.
Its size and location -- on property once owned by the public -- have many in the city concerned about a wide range of subject, from historic preservation of a former shipping terminal to affordable housing.
The debate has raged since Signature Properties won the right to buy the land from the Port of Oakland in 2001 for
$18 million, plus environmental cleanup costs.
Planning commissioners tonight are to decide whether Signature Properties has done enough since the debate first aired to satisfy the concerns of city residents.
Many argue it has not. Groups such as the Oakland Heritage Alliance, the Oak to Ninth Community Benefits Coalition and Waterfront Action are among them.The development does not have enough open space or affordable housing, activists argue. The plan fails to properly alleviate traffic problems and calls for destruction of the Ninth Avenue Terminal, a building that symbolizes Oakland's growth as a maritime city, they say.
The fact that the development is being built on land owned by the public only increases the importance of why it should include benefits for the community, they argue.
"There is enough room in this development that they can satisfy everyone," said Naomi Schiff, president of the Oakland Heritage Alliance.
"We need all (the benefits asked for), and we should have it all because it is our land; this is not private land, this is public land," she said.
Oakland Heritage Alliance objects to the developer's plan to demolish 90 percent of the Ninth Avenue Terminal. Instead, the group says, Signature Properties should investigate ways to reuse the building.
To be sure, Signature Properties has made changes to its original plan in hopes of appeasing critics.
The developer will reserve up to 20 percent of its 3,100 units for affordable housing and has set aside 20 acres for parkland. It also has agreed to clean up the waterfront along the property and rebuild two old marinas.
Signature Properties also has investigated ways to save the Ninth Avenue Terminal but could not find a way to do so that would be economically feasible, company President Michael Ghielmetti said.
And, Signature Properties has agreed to reserve 300,000 hours' worth of jobs for city residents who are starting out in the construction trade.
"We think this is a plan that has a broad base of support in the community," Ghielmetti said. "We have really tried to work with a number of groups on a number of issues, but at the end of the day the project also has to be economically viable."
To ensure that, Signature Properties also wants the city to approve a development agreement that will lock in its approvals for 20 years.
The developer says it also wants to phase the construction project so it would not have to have anything completed until 2013.
By that time, Signature Properties will agree to have built at least 1,239 units of housing and 69,000 square feet of commercial space. It also would have a portion of a park done and street improvements will have been made to various intersections.
That deadline is followed by four more that would call for parts of the project to be completed by 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2029.
Critics argue that is too long to wait, especially for community projects such as parks.
"Twenty years is a generation; we can't wait for a generation to get parks done," said Sandra Threlfall, executive director of Waterfront Action. "We need to see benefits in a relatively fast timeline."
But the largest group of concerns comes from the Oak to Ninth Community Benefits Coalition, which argues for more affordable housing.
The group says it wants to see at least 25 percent of the project reserved for families of four making less than $50,000 a year.
While the group says it is pleased with the discussions it has had with Signature Properties, it is not comfortable with the current plan because details have yet to be spelled out.
"We really want to commend the city and the developer for their movement," said Mimi Ho, a member of the coalition. "But the developer needs to make a big contribution here."
The Planing Commission will make recommendations on the project to the City Council. The meeting is expected to begin at
