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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

June 20, 2006

Affordable apartments pledged for big project

Community groups, developer applaud compromise plan

OAKLAND

On the eve of a critical hearing, the developer of a proposed housing and retail project on the Oakland waterfront promised on Monday to set aside 15 percent of the 3,100 units for low-income families and seniors in a city where home prices have risen dramatically in recent years.

The Oakland City Council will hold a public hearing on the planned Oak to Ninth project tonight and take a final vote next Tuesday. The project -- 64 acres stretching for a mile along the estuary south of Jack London Square -- includes condominiums, apartments, retail space, two marinas, a community center, and 32 acres of parks and trails. If approved, it will be the city's largest housing development since the post-World War II era.

After more than a year of meetings with community groups and city officials, the developer, Signature Properties, agreed to build 465 apartments for families who earn between $25,000 and $50,000 a year and to hire 300 Oakland residents as construction apprentices.

"This victory is a turning point for Oakland. It shows we're not giving away the candy store," said Mimi Ho, an organizer with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, one of the groups that negotiated the deal with Signature.

Half the property would be set aside for public open space and would include playgrounds, a dog park, bocce ball courts, a maritime museum, community center, trails and retail space catering to outdoor activities, such as sidewalk cafes.

"I'm really happy with the agreement," said City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, whose district includes the Oak to Ninth property. "There are a lot of stakeholders, all of whom want good things to happen at this location, and we really tried to address all of them."

Environmentalists, labor and affordable housing advocates feared that the multibillion-dollar development would exclude the public and lower-income residents from one of the city's most valuable pieces of real estate.

Both sides made some compromises. Community groups initially wanted 25 percent of the units to be affordable, and the developer had set aside only 20 acres for parks.

"They needed to understand the economic realities, and we needed to understand the community needs," Signature President Michael Ghielmetti said Monday. "They never wanted to kill the project -- we were all working toward the same goal. We're very proud of the result."

The developer has the option of moving 77 of the affordable units from the waterfront site to a different location in the city. According to the agreement, any relocated units would be built in one of the adjacent neighborhoods -- Chinatown, Eastlake or San Antonio -- and the total would jump to about 100 units.

To accommodate families, 30 percent of the project's affordable units would be three-bedroom units and 20 percent would be two-bedroom units.

"To be honest, we wanted a higher percentage of affordable units, but a higher priority was affordability for families," said Amber Chan of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

The agreement would be enforced through the deed, Kernighan said. A nonprofit housing developer would manage the affordable units, all of which would be apartments.

Community advocates, labor groups and environmentalists hailed the plan as a major victory in a city that lacks the strict development ordinances of San Francisco or Berkeley.

"This gives an example of what is possible in a great city," said Rev. Jesus Nieto-Ruiz of St. Anthony's Catholic Church in the San Antonio neighborhood. "We're addressing the needs of the people, not just looking at money."

The plan has been endorsed by the Greenbelt Alliance and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County.

The property, between Fallon Street and 10th Avenue, has been owned by the Port of Oakland since the 1920s, although it has been mostly dormant since the newer container ships outgrew the estuary a few years ago.

If the project is approved, the developer will spend $20 million to $30 million cleaning up the contamination that has accrued there for the past 80 years. The project is estimated to take about 15 years to finish, although the first residents are expected to move in around 2010, Ghielmetti said.

"There are some similarities to Mission Bay in San Francisco -- it's a whole new neighborhood," said Ghielmetti. "What's different is that we'll have a lot more parks."

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