Politics & Government

City To Lose $2 Million From Redevelopment's End

Shortfall affects 9 full-time positions and many programs. Legal questions surround Village Marketplace project.

As its redevelopment agency dissolves San Leandro will get about $2 million less to support tasks that it used to perform, the City Council learned Monday night.

The meeting was informational and the council took no action.

Redevelopment agencies throughout the state are being shut down under legislation upheld by the state Supreme Court.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Monday night the council heard that, under the new law, San Leandro will get about $1.3 million to pay for city jobs and programs that had cost about $3.243 million under redevelopment.

That larger sum had included $1.14 million in salaries and benefits, $1.434 million in programs and services, with the rest going to administration and overhead.

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

About nine city staff positions are covered by the salary component.

The two biggest programs affected include first-time home buyer's assistance and loans to help rehabilitate single family homes. Together they cost $975,000.

The loss of funds will affect another dozen smaller initiatives totaling $459,000.

They include the Farmer's Market, which got $9,000 from redevelopment, and the twice-annual cleaning of downtown sidewalks for $22,000. The largest expenditure in this category was $130,000 to improve commercial facades.

Staff tasks would include attracting new business to the city and shepherding large projects like the proposed Village Marketplace development.

Now city leaders must decide which activities and positions to continue with about one-third as much money.

Village Marketplace in legal limbo

The city council controls the old Albertson's site on East 14th Street where developer David Irmer wants to erect a $10 million grocery, restaurant and retail plaza dubbed .

The city wants to sell the property to Irmer so his project can proceed but must figure out how the new law comes into play, said community development director Luke Sims.

The end of redevelopment makes the city's authority less clear.

For instance, reader Marga Lacabe recently wondered aloud in an e-mail whether the city was  required to offer the property to other public agencies before selling to a private party. Her question revolved around city and state rules for selling off surplus land that did not apply to redevelopment agencies. (See her reasoning and references under the footnotes below.)

At her urging, Patch put the question to City Attorney Jayne Williams, who said, no, San Leandro does not have to declare the Albertson's site as "surplus" and therefore is not under an obligation to offer it to other agencies.

Williams said the city has the discretion to dispose of property as it sees fit so long as long as the new use is for the common benefit.

"In this case, the Albertson's parcel will be used for the Village Marketplace project, a city economic development effort, and its sale and disposition is is for the common benefit," Williams  said.  (See longer note from Williams under the footnotes below.)

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Footnotes

Marga Lacabe wrote in part:

I was poking around the issues involving the sale of the old Albertson's site, and came across a section of the CA Government code which seems to require that before a city gets rid of a surplus property (i.e. one it no longer needs), it must first offer it to other local agencies, in particular the school district, park agencies and groups that build affordable housing.  Now, it seems that this was not a requirement that the redevelopment agency had, but now that the property belongs to the city, things are different. I thought you might want to pose the question to our city officials.

Here is the section of the code: http://law.justia.com/codes/california/2009/gov/54220-54232.html


City Attorney Jayne Williams replied to Patch:

Thanks for touching bases with us regarding the inquiry from the reader regarding the laws pertaining to the disposal of surplus property. Here's some background and explanation.

The sections of the Government Code that you have cited are known as the "Surplus Land Act"  and they  apply to the disposition of "surplus" property.  In addition, the San Leandro Administrative Code includes relevant regulations regarding the disposal of "surplus" city property within the City.  Both the Surplus Land Act and Chapter 9 of Title 8 of the San Leandro Administrative Code, regarding surplus land, apply only to City land that the City has declared as surplus or excess and that is no longer necessary for public purposes. Neither law requires the City to declare all City land not in use as "surplus".  The Albertson’s property has not been declared "surplus" and therefore the Surplus Land Act and Chapter 9 of Title 8 of the San Leandro Municipal Code do not apply.

Additionally, as a charter city,  San Leandro has the authority to adopt regulations governing the disposal of city property.  As such, the state law provides that a city may dispose of real property essentially in any way it chooses if the disposition is for the common benefit. (Cal. Const. art. XI; Cal Government Code 37350.)  In this case, the Albertson's parcel will be used for the Village Marketplace project, a city economic development effort, and its sale and disposition is is for the common benefit.  


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