Title
Adopt the Draft Resolution recommending that the City Council Hold a Public Hearing and Adopt a Negative Declaration, Introduce an Ordinance Amending Chapter 30 of the Alameda Municipal Code Section 3-4.21 E, Estuary District, and approve Tentative Map #8337 (PLN16-0240) for a 105 lot subdivision Located along the Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal from approximately 1,800 Feet Northwest of the Park Street Bridge to approximately 2,300 Feet South of High Street Bridge.
Body
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrico Q. Penick, Assistant City Attorney
BACKGROUND
On September 15, 2015, the City Council (by unanimous vote) directed the City Attorney to pursue a real estate transaction whereby the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”) would transfer, at no cost, the Alameda side of the Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal (“Tidal Canal”) to the City of Alameda (“City”) and the City would then immediately sell some of the property to adjacent private property owners. To minimize the City’s potential liability and costs, the City Attorney determined that the best way to fulfill the conditions set by the City Council was to structure the transaction so that the City is in the chain of title for the shortest period possible. Thus, the City proposes to subdivide the Tidal Canal into 105 parcels while it is still in Army Corps ownership. Once the property is subdivided, the City plans to immediately transfer most of the 105 new parcels to the adjacent property owners, at fair market value.
The proposed Tentative Map #8337 subdivides the Army Corp land into 105 individual parcels. As proposed, the Army Corps will retain five parcels: the Oakland side of the canal (Parcel 1), property adjacent to the federally-owned Navy Operational Support Center (Parcel 3) and bridge footings for the High Street Bridge (Parcel 103), the Miller-Sweeney Bridge and the Fruitvale Rail Bridge (Parcel 104) and the Park Street Bridge (Parcel 105). The City will retain the two open water parcels (Parcels 2 and 102), which will be preserved for open navigation though the Tidal Canal. The City will offer at fair market value the remaining 98 parcels (Parcels 4 through 101) to the adjacent property owners. These 98 parcels have historically been used by the adjacent property owners through lease, license agreements or other approvals with the Army Corps to support their docks, piers, boathouses and/or commercial activities. The proposed Tentative Map is attached as Exhibit 1.
DISCUSSION
Since the City Council’s September 15, 2015 hearing, a multidisciplinary team of City staff and City consultants have:
• Prepared and circulated a draft Negative Declaration for the proposed project consistent with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The draft Negative Declaration (Exhibit 2) finds that the proposed subdivision will not cause environmental damage or substantially and avoidably injure fish or wildlife or their habitat. The project is being proposed for the simple transfer of land from a federal agency to a combination of public and private entities. No new development of the land is being proposed or contemplated as part of the project, and the project is not being pursued to facilitate new development of the primarily submerged lands. Further, any future development proposed on any of the proposed parcels will be subject to a discretionary decision by the City, which will require a review of potential environmental impacts.
• Prepared and circulated a draft amendment the Estuary Zoning District Regulations. The draft amendments are designed to ensure that the future property owners and the larger community understand that the submerged lands can only be used for maritime structures and uses, such as docks, piers, and boathouses, and that all future proposals will be subject to discretionary review by the City. The draft amendments are attached as Exhibit 3.
• Met with the adjacent commercial property owners and the representatives for the adjacent 98 residential property owners. To date, all of the commercial property owners and the representatives for residential owners have expressed their support for the project and their desire to acquire the adjacent parcels.
• Met regularly with the Army Corp and periodically with San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) staff. Both agencies are in support of the proposal.
• Prepared and circulated the proposed Tentative Map for public review. The Tentative Map retains all known and recorded easements, including a pedestrian easement on Parcel 10. The proposed subdivision will not conflict with easements acquired by the public at large for access through or use of property within the subdivisions. All existing public access easements are to be retained. As described above, the City will retain the open water parcels along the Oakland/Alameda city line to ensure that the navigable portion of the Tidal Canal remains open to recreational and commercial traffic. The Army Corps plans to convey the Oakland portion of the Tidal Canal to the East Bay Regional Parks District in a separate transaction.
There is strong community and regulatory agency support for the Project. The transfer has support from Congress, the Army Corps and the property owners who have been requested the City to take action for over 15 years.
At this time the applicant, City of Alameda, on behalf of the owner, the Army Corps, is requesting that the Planning Board hold a public hearing and adopt a resolution (Exhibit 4), which recommends that the City Council:
• Adopt the Negative Declaration,
• Amend the Estuary Zoning District, and
• Approve the Tentative Map.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Property owners and residents within 300 feet of the project's boundaries were notified of the public hearing and given the opportunity to review the proposal. City staff has also coordinated additional outreach with WHOA (Waterfront Homeowners Association), a voluntary homeowners association formed over a decade ago to address the transfer of the Tidal Canal. The association has provided email notice (when email addresses have been provided) and hand delivered flyers to each home along the Tidal Canal alerting homeowners to all the Planning Board meeting related to this subject, and most recently met with homeowners on June 16 to discussed the pending subdivision map and zoning amendment (over 50 were in attendance). In addition, the association contacts homeowners and provides information by email and social media and has recently initiated a process of reaching out by phone and in person individually to previously disengaged homeowners and has successfully contacted over 75 of the 90 homeowners.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
A Draft Initial Study/Negative Declaration (“IS/ND”) for the Project was published on June 1, 2016, in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which addresses all potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed transfer and subsequent transfers into private ownership, amendments to the Estuary District Zoning, and the proposed subdivision map application. The IS/ND concludes that the proposed project would not cause any potentially significant environmental impacts, and accordingly, no mitigation measures would be required as part of the Project. Any proposed future improvements along the Tidal Canal will be subject to separate review and discretionary approval by the City.
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a public hearing and Adopt the Draft Resolution Recommending that the City Council Hold a Public Hearing and Adopt a Negative Declaration, Introduce an Ordinance Amending Chapter 30 of the Alameda Municipal Code Section 3-4.21 E, Estuary District, and approve Tentative Map #8337 (PLN16-0240) for a 105 lot subdivision Located along the Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal from approximately 1,800 Feet Northwest of the Park Street Bridge to Approximately 2,300 Feet South of High Street Bridge.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Kern, City Attorney
By:
Andrico Q. Penick, Assistant City Attorney
Exhibits:
1. Tentative Map prepared by Ruggeri - Jensen - Azar
2. Draft IS/ND prepared by Douglas Herring & Associates
3. Draft E, Estuary District Amendment AMC 30-4.21
4. Draft Planning Board Resolution