Equitable Development Watch: July 10, 2002

New investment in Oakland can result in more affordable housing for low-income neighborhoods, more and better paying jobs for Oakland residents, new business opportunities for Oakland entrepreneurs, and the clean up of environmental hazards in the community. But, it won't happen by accident. Over the past year, Urban Strategies Council has been following development activities in Oakland, making connections with partners and investigating strategies to promote equitable development. Equitable Development Watchis an effort to provide concise information regarding recent and upcoming events related to economic development in the City. Items in this update include:

On June 25, the Oakland City Council approved a housing linkage fee that will require some commercial developers to pay into an affordable housing fund to offset the impact of their projects. The new fee will be $4 per square foot for new warehouse and office developments. It will take effect in three years, exempt the first 25,000 sq. ft. of each development, and be paid over time at different stages of the development process. The fee approved is much different from the one proposed last October by the city's Housing Task Force. That proposal faced stiff opposition from business and development groups. The original proposal set the fee at $6 per sq. ft. It would have come into effect in 2003, included coverage of retail and hotel developments and required upfront payment. The approved fee is lower than those imposed by many other Bay Area cities. San Francisco charges $17.34 per square foot and Berkeley charges $5.00 per square foot for a 100,000 square foot prototype office building. The official ordinance establishing the linkage fee is due to be completed before the City Council's summer recess in August.

On July 9, the Community and Economic Development Committee moved forward a proposal to grant a third one-year exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA) to Forest City Residential West, Inc. with a provision allowing the city to negotiate with the Oakland A's for a baseball stadium on the same site. Forest City 's plans for developing the Uptown project area (bounded by 18th Street, 20th Street, Telegraph Avenue and San Pablo Avenue ) call for mixed use housing and retail. While details of the plan keep changing, they recently included approximately 800 rental units and 55,000 square feet of retail space. Approximately 160 units (20%) were to be reserved for low-income households (earning 50% or less of area median income -which is $37,500 for a family of four) and 40 units would be reserved for moderate-income households (earning 120% or less of area median income - $89,400). In late June, the Oakland Tribune reported that Forest City was asking for a $41 million subsidy from the city, which was 96% of the cost for building the affordable housing portion. The city typically limits the use of affordable housing subsidies to a maximum of 40% of affordable housing costs. This site has also been identified as a possible location for a new downtown baseball stadium and entertainment district. While a Forest City representative did say the company would consider a baseball stadium, it is unclear if the company will agree to an ENA which allows the city to conduct separate negotiations (Oakland Tribune, 7/10/02). The City Council is expected to take up the Forest City ENA on July 23.

The West Oakland Project Area Committee (PAC) is scheduled to hold its third meeting on Wednesday, July 10. PACs provide official public voice and representation in developing and implementing redevelopment plans. The city is hoping that the West Oakland redevelopment plan will be completed and filed with the state by August 2003. Agenda items for this meeting include an overview of redevelopment, discussion of environmental impact reports, community outreach strategies, forming committees and project timelines. The PAC will meet at 6:30 PM at the West Oakland Senior Center - 1724 Adeline St. For further information, please contact Elois Thornton at the Community and Economic Development Agency, (510) 238-6284.

The Central City East Project Area Committee (PAC) met for the first time on Wednesday evening, June 19. At the meeting, PAC members were presented with general information, approved by-laws and selected agenda items for the next meeting. The Central City East redevelopment area will be Oakland 's largest, covering over 90,000 residents and stretching from just east of Lake Merritt to 106th Ave in East Oakland, touching part of five different City Council districts. (See our website www.urbanstrategies.org for more information on the Central City East Redevelopment Project Area.) The next PAC meeting will be August 5, from 7:00-8:30 PM in the Patten College activity room, 2443 Coolidge Ave. Contact Theresa Navarro at the Community and Economic Development Agency, (510) 238-6250, for agenda and other public information.

Urban Strategies Council and the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at UC-Berkeley are proud to announce the unveiling of a first prototype of the Oaktown Datahouse, a community data warehouse and map service. This Web-based data and map system allows the user to find data on particular neighborhoods in Oakland, make comparisons between neighborhoods and to Oakland as a whole. More functionality and choices for the user will be added soon and several demos and hands-on classes are planned over the summer. Please contact us at steves at urbanstrategies.org or visit the website, hosted by the GIS Center at UC-Berkeley http://oakland.gisc.berkeley.edu. The warehouse grew out of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making Connections Initiative in the Lower San Antonio and the Hewlett Foundation's 7th-McClymonds Neighborhood Improvement Initiative in West Oakland.

The Community and Economic Development Committee has postponed discussion and implementation of the Oakland Community Land Trust, a $5 million program to promote affordable homeownership. Instead of being addressed in July, the committee's calendar now lists the topic for September 17. Community land trusts (CLTs) provide mechanisms for neighborhoods and communities to purchase land and reserve the use of that land for community benefit. Often CLTs partner with non-profit developers to build housing and other improvements on purchased land. In some cases, people who buy homes on CLT land purchase only the structure, not the land, helping maintain affordability for the future.

July 12th from 8:30 am to 12:00,Welfare Reform - Round Two, a morning of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) education and action. State Assembly Member Dion Aroner, Margy Waller of the Brookings Institute, employers and TANF participants will discuss proposed TANF changes. Participants will have the opportunity to send a letter to their representatives at the event and make their voices heard in other ways. The event will be held on the first floor of the Elihu Harris State Building, 1515 Clay St. in Downtown Oakland. Registration is at 8 am. Please contact Robin Faraone at (510) 238-2420 or rfaraone@uwba.org .

August 8th and 9th The Neighborhood Reinvestment Training Institute is hosting a two-day training on "Community Land Trusts: A Tool for Neighborhood Revitalization" at its Institute in San Francisco on August 8th and 9th. The course is intended to provide class participants with a comprehensive overview of the CLT model, how it works and the critical decisions to be addressed in the start-up and operation of a CLT. Registration forms are downloadable at www.nw.org by following the link to the San Francisco Training Institute. Pre-registration deadline is July 22nd.

Editor: Jeff Abramson
Urban Strategies Council
672 Thirteenth Street
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 893-2404 * Fax (510) 893-6657

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EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT WATCH

July 10, 2002