"Good evening Chair, Planning Commission, and staff.
Tonight is an important juncture in redeveloping Alameda
Point, in evaluating a proposed plan in front of you from
SunCal.
There will be no doubt many, many detailed points that you
will review, try to reconcile, perhaps even reject and / or
accept.
As you approach your work, I ask that you bear in mind
years of community input in producing a vision of a
world-class mixed-use transit-friendly community, one in
which job generating uses, residential uses, and public
recreational amenities are balanced with fiscal and transit
questions.
To this end, a critical part in any mixed-use plan for the
Point is the residential piece. I'm proud to have played the
leading role in getting Bayport going. Bayport proves that
the City of Alameda has the experience to plan and
redevelop the rest of Alameda Point.
But here's why I'm here tonight. As we move forward with
the rest of the Point, let's plan for a mix of housing types,
certainly upscale single-family homes, but also stylish
townhouses, condos, and lofts. I love Bayport; but let's
now do something different this time.
Let me end by saying this:
Tonight is an important juncture in redeveloping Alameda
Point, in evaluating a proposed plan in front of you from
SunCal.
There will be no doubt many, many detailed points that you
will review, try to reconcile, perhaps even reject and / or
accept.
As you approach your work, I ask that you bear in mind
years of community input in producing a vision of a
world-class mixed-use transit-friendly community, one in
which job generating uses, residential uses, and public
recreational amenities are balanced with fiscal and transit
questions.
To this end, a critical part in any mixed-use plan for the
Point is the residential piece. I'm proud to have played the
leading role in getting Bayport going. Bayport proves that
the City of Alameda has the experience to plan and
redevelop the rest of Alameda Point.
But here's why I'm here tonight. As we move forward with
the rest of the Point, let's plan for a mix of housing types,
certainly upscale single-family homes, but also stylish
townhouses, condos, and lofts. I love Bayport; but let's
now do something different this time.
Let me end by saying this:
As you know, there's tremendous up-front hard costs
involved in getting the rest of the Point going. These costs
are infrastructure costs; the Navy's sales price; and the
cost of public and recreational amenities that we all want,
to name a few.
Because of these costs, we need to seriously analyze and
quantify the economics of the residential component [of
SunCal's plan], because it's the residential more so than
the commercial and industrial uses that will pay for all the
things that we want at the Point, i.e. the world-class
recreational uses, the quality business districts, as well as
help pay for the steep upfront infrastructure costs.
In regard to these upfront costs and recreational
amenities, is the right number 3,700 housing units? 4,000
units? 5,000 units? What's the right mix of price points?
What are the trade-offs you need to evaluate? Tonight, I
am not at liberty to say what those numbers are, but your
analysis, as the Planning Board and city staff, can help us
in this regard.
But I am very certain that the number is not the 1,800
PDC-units that I voted for when I was on City Council,
largely because of the Navy's $108 million price tag.
So tonight, let's move forward with Alameda Point. Yes,
Measure B happened last February, but this is not about
last February. Rather, this is about what we as a residents
of Alameda want at Alameda Point and making sure that
whoever the developer is, we get it. Thank you."
involved in getting the rest of the Point going. These costs
are infrastructure costs; the Navy's sales price; and the
cost of public and recreational amenities that we all want,
to name a few.
Because of these costs, we need to seriously analyze and
quantify the economics of the residential component [of
SunCal's plan], because it's the residential more so than
the commercial and industrial uses that will pay for all the
things that we want at the Point, i.e. the world-class
recreational uses, the quality business districts, as well as
help pay for the steep upfront infrastructure costs.
In regard to these upfront costs and recreational
amenities, is the right number 3,700 housing units? 4,000
units? 5,000 units? What's the right mix of price points?
What are the trade-offs you need to evaluate? Tonight, I
am not at liberty to say what those numbers are, but your
analysis, as the Planning Board and city staff, can help us
in this regard.
But I am very certain that the number is not the 1,800
PDC-units that I voted for when I was on City Council,
largely because of the Navy's $108 million price tag.
So tonight, let's move forward with Alameda Point. Yes,
Measure B happened last February, but this is not about
last February. Rather, this is about what we as a residents
of Alameda want at Alameda Point and making sure that
whoever the developer is, we get it. Thank you."
SunCal EIR Planning Board Speech
May 17, 2010
Below is a speech I delivered on May 10, 2010 to
Alameda's Planning Board, on the night that this
board officially began envaluating the range of
environmental impacts stemming from SunCal's
proposed approach to redeveloping Alameda
Point. I urged the Board to understand what
amount of housing is needed to pay for the
hard-costs associated with building the wide
range of public and recreational amenities the
public has demonstrated strong interest in,
balancing this quantity with other factors such as
traffic, so as to fulfill our vision for a world-class
amenity-rich mixed-use transit oriented
development at Alameda Point.
May 17, 2010
Below is a speech I delivered on May 10, 2010 to
Alameda's Planning Board, on the night that this
board officially began envaluating the range of
environmental impacts stemming from SunCal's
proposed approach to redeveloping Alameda
Point. I urged the Board to understand what
amount of housing is needed to pay for the
hard-costs associated with building the wide
range of public and recreational amenities the
public has demonstrated strong interest in,
balancing this quantity with other factors such as
traffic, so as to fulfill our vision for a world-class
amenity-rich mixed-use transit oriented
development at Alameda Point.
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