Title
Recommendation to Receive an Informational Report on the Public Access Pathways Associated with the Tidal Canal Project. (Public Works/Recreation and Parks 310)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jill Keimach, City Manager
Re: Recommendation to Receive an Informational Report on the Public Access Pathways Associated with the Tidal Canal Project
BACKGROUND
The Oakland Inner Harbor Tidal Canal (Tidal Canal) is a 1.8 mile long, 400 feet wide portion of the waterway between Oakland and Alameda that was dredged between 1882 and 1904 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) to create a tidal effect throughout the Oakland Estuary. The Tidal Canal covers 85 acres and until recently was owned by the Army Corps. Twenty six years ago, the United States of America, through the Army Corps, offered to convey half of the Tidal Canal to the City of Alameda. After many City Council meetings and years of work, the City gained ownership of the Tidal Canal, subdivided it into ninety-nine lots, sold all eighty-four residential lots and six of eight commercial lots, and retained nearly $1 million in proceeds to help complete the next two phases of the project.
On April 18, 2017, the City Council discussed the Tidal Canal project and the related public access points. At that meeting, the Assistant City Attorney requested direction and authority to move forward with staff's plan for Phase II of the Project. Phase II was an attempt to address a number of long standing issues: (i) cleaning up the encroachments on the three (3) public access points; (ii) disposition of the submerged property (now owned by the City) adjacent to those public access points; (iii) keep open reasonable and feasible options for increasing public access into the water at one or more of these points; and (iv) clearing title to the docks and piers that have been built and used by the adjacent property owners, consistent with the previously stated goal...
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