Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Related to the Northwest Territories Regional Shoreline at Alameda Point, and to Approve the Finding that the Northwest Territories Regional Park Disposition is Exempt from the Surplus Lands Act, as Amended, as the Property is Proposed to be Leased to Another Local Agency (EBRPD) for the Agency’s Use and Because It is Located on Public Trust Lands. (Recreation 280 and Community Development 216)
Okay. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm Debbie Potter, the development director. And I am delighted to be here tonight to talk about the MRU with the East Bay Regional Park District for the Northwest Territory Regional Shoreline. And I'm even more delighted to have my coconspirator here, Amy Wooldridge, the Rec and Park Director. So I'm going to start and then I'm going to hand it off to her so that we're going to we're going to have to team you or whatever. Okay. So open space and parks have been a really important part of the redevelopment of Alameda Point going all the way back to the Community Reuse Plan, which was adopted back in 1996. We have always had a big emphasis on open space, access to the water, more park amenities for the community. And the Northwest Territory has been one of the most important open space features that has been in the mix since the beginning and pretty much since the outset. We have been working with the East Bay Regional Park District to construct and maintain the Northwest Territory. The city has a long standing relationship with the Park District, Crab Cove, Crown Beach and East Bay Regional Park District has also a long standing relationship with the VA, its immediate neighbor. So they make an excellent partner with the city on the development of the regional shoreline. And we are thrilled to say that after a long time of negotiating with the Park District, we have come up with an emoji that talks about what the components of the park are going to be, the shoreline and what are the main essentially the deal terms in the lease that will be negotiated over the next up to 12 months. We hope it won't take quite that long. And the Northwest Territory the the shoreline just high level. It is intended to be a passive park. It's 158 acres. It really emphasizes bicycle and pedestrian trails, viewing and seating. Habitat restoration is an important feature of the regional shoreline. The amenities are pretty basic, kind of reinforcing the idea that it is a passive park and then the VA. Just one of the things to add and acknowledges that the VA is planning on doing a visitor center on its property that is intended to serve both the regional shoreline and the wildlife reserve. So they've offered up that space and they've incorporated that in their plan, which will be a nice amenity and feature. So high level, that's what we're doing. And then I'm going to turn it over to Amy, who is going to talk more specifically about the components of the menu, and then we're happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So what you have before you is the exhibit A from the memorandum of understanding that my view and highlighted is on the northwest corner of the Northwest Territories regional shoreline. Some of the main points of the memo you that you have before you. It's a no cost 66 year lease. This is a long term lease agreement because this is state tidelands. And so we can't actually convey the land to any organization. So that's why it's a long term lease. The intention is for this MRU to be a high level, high concept document so that we will use this as the guiding principle to then over, as Ms. Potter said, over the next 12 months, hopefully less negotiate the actual lease agreement that would then come back before you and the Park District's Board of Directors. This is for the Park District to design, construct and then operate and maintain the Northwest Territories regional shoreline within two years of execution of the lease. So potentially up to three years from now. The Park District would be required to develop a concept plan. That concept plan. It requires that there's is input from the Alameda community. We've I've already talked to them saying I can help them with organizing the Alameda community to provide their their input. And then also it would come to the Recreation and Parks Commission and ultimately to you as City Council for your input on that concept plan. Back in 2008, the voters approved measure WW the park district's bond to build and improve more parkland. 6.4 million of that at that time was allocated toward this project. So it really has been in the thoughts and in the works for quite a while, and that money in this milieu is clearly identified as is being put toward park development. Also in the most recent, recent in past years, Measure C and more recently Measure F, this park is also identified for the Park District to be putting dollars from those measures into maintenance for this park. However, this park will cost significantly more than 6.4 million to design and build and construct. So the menu also speaks to the city and the Parks District, working cooperatively to identify through grants and any other mechanisms to both constructive but also for maintenance dollars in terms of what the area is. It is 100 and x 158 acres of the Northwest Territories. In addition, there's a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail that goes along the regional sports complex that the city is required to build. But once constructed, then it will be as part of this lease will be turned over to the Park District to maintain it as they maintain other areas of betrayal. And the island also has the option term to construct and maintain the seasonal bay trail that goes from Northwest Territories around the southwest corner of Alameda Point and to Pave Park in this M.O., it details that the Parks District Park District is responsible for design and construction plans as well as for permits and to do the construction . And it's important to us that the community residents have an opportunity to see this what's out there sooner than than when it actually opens to the public as a full park. So there is interim access. The Park District most likely will be doing guided walks. So however often once or twice a month, they'll do guided walks out to Northwest Territories, to the community, can see it and experience it because it really is quite amazing out there in terms of shoreline stabilization with climate change and rising sea levels. This is was an important discussion point. The city is responsible for for the shoreline stabilization along the sports complex in that section of the Bay Trail, because that is part of it as identified in the master infrastructure plan for Alameda point will be a levy because it needs to protect that significant infrastructure of the sports complex. However, the Northwest Territories itself will be what's called resilient design, managed retreat. There's different names for it, but as sea level, it will be designed up front to acknowledge that as sea level rise and as the sea rises, that that that the Bay Trail and other aspects may be moved inward as the level rises. It will not have a formal levy around this shoreline park in terms of naming the park district retains that responsibility to name. However, they will be taking city feedback. They will also be considering names that that have a connection to Alameda and specific. The National Naval Air Station history. And in regards to lease revenues, that's something that's important to us. We have a number of of leases, leases out there and both short and long term uses. And so the city will be retaining that lease revenue until they actually are breaking ground for construction. So with that, the next steps are for this body to consider this this MRU. And then if approved, it was already approved by the the Park District Board of Directors on February 4th. So yours would be the final vote on this issue. And then we staff would be working on the negotiating the detailed lease agreement and bringing that to you within the next year. So with that, my partner and I are both available to answer any questions. Thank you. I feel like I'm under interrogation with that light shining in my eyes. I'll tell you anything. Okay. Thank you. Great presentation. Exciting project counsel. Do we have any clarifying questions from four staff on this report before we hear from the public speakers? I'm going to hold mine till later. Okay. So let's hear from. And how many public speakers did you say we had last year? Five. Five. Okay. So everyone gets up to 3 minutes. Okay. So we have Richard Bangert, Mary Spicer and Amy. Burns are the first three. Thank you, Mayor, and staff members of the council. Thank you for moving this forward and please continue to do so. It's been a long time coming. I just have a couple of comments. I would hope that before we get to a year from now, before a year passes, that there is some sort of workshop check in on this IMO you process, let's say in the fall just so the public is apprized that we're not suddenly reaching an impasse because this is what happened with the wildlife refuge. There was there was essentially an understanding between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Navy to have a national wildlife refuge until there wasn't. And it was really because of a few people that couldn't come to an agreement. And the public had no input on that. The city had no input on that. It was just we woke up one day and found out that it was going to be given to the VA. Now, I have no problem with the veterans facilities being there. It is what it is. But I if this deal is not going to be consummated a year from now, I think the public has a right to weigh in because it's not like one of one of the parties is a private developer with proprietary financing information that they don't want to divulge. It's to public agencies that we both pay taxes to. So I hope that we could have a check in if maybe in the fall some workshop or an agenda item where we can weigh in and find out if things are going smoothly. One other thing I'd like to comment on is in the staff report, it said something about the public being able to go out during construction. I'd just like to acknowledge what the Navy has been doing for the past five years or so. And in effect, construction has been going on for about five years. And and it will continue this this year and perhaps a little into next year. And that involves about two thirds of this regional park area. And so some tens of millions of dollars have been or will be by the time they're done, put into re landscaping and re-engineering two thirds of this area, including a shoreline stabilization plan for everything essentially from about where the sports complex ends out around the tip. So that's also going to happen probably a year from now. So I think during the course of this, we should acknowledge what the Navy has done to bring it to where it is , because they could have done much less and still pass muster for safety, but they went beyond what they needed to do. Thank you, Mr. Boehner. Our next speaker. Mary Spicer, then Amy Barnes, then. Pat Lamborn. Hi, Mary and hello City Council. I just want to say, last time I spoke, you unanimously voted against the server farmer out there on insulin. And I wanted to say thank you so much for that. I spend a lot of time on the water out in the estuary and insulin on Killarney. These the paddle the outrigger team out there. And I also stand up paddle and I'm very familiar with the land and of the Northwest Territory from the water. And I'm really coming here to to just give a little bit of future input on potential potential things that I think might be important. Some of the teams are some of the teams out there are very excited and wanting to get into wanting to get involved in some of the park development ideas out there. One thing that we're really interested in is potentially having a landing spot on the Northwest Territories, not something where boats can park, but places where sups stand up paddlers and kayakers and people that go around the island all the time, a place that we could land there and really enjoy the nature out there. And I also organized large garbage cleanups at Jack London Aquatic Center. I call it I Heart Alameda Oakland Estuary and we pull out £2,000 of garbage every six months out of the shores of the estuary. And I really would love for the support to start to think of the garbage out there along the shoreline. There's so much garbage and also the garbage from the ferry parking lot that blows into the ocean, into the estuary that we end up cleaning up. I really would love for that to start to be if it could somehow be involved or some future thought on how we could start to clean up that garbage out there. And then also space for nature. I spend so much time paddling right in that area and I get knocked down all the time on my board because the boats go so quickly. And we've seen a lot of seals out there. My friend saw a big turtle out there once. We don't know how it got there, but I really think it's important that we make space for nature. With all the park development and all the development that's going in at the base, that we really start to think about how many boats we're going to put out there, how are we going to manage wildlife and what the seals, the dolphins, the turtles, the fish need, as well as how we're going to develop a lot more potentially a lot more people using the water out there. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker. Then Pat Lamborn, then Irene Dieter. Is a recreation and Parks Commission member. Hello. Hello. And Miss Brian, going to pull the microphone down so we can hear you. Thanks. I. Uh. Right. Good evening, Mayor Ashcraft. Council members, staff and members of the public. My name is Amy Barnes. I grew up in. Alameda and now live on the West End with my family. I spent my career working on climate change, including serving most recently as a senior advisor to Governor Brown on the issue. And as Mayor Ashcraft mentioned, I also serve as a member of the Recreation and Parks Commission, although tonight I'm speaking in my personal capacity. So I'm here to speak to you this evening about the recommendation regarding the Memorandum of Understanding. With East Bay Regional Parks District on the Northwest. Territories M.O.. You first, I wanted to just. Acknowledge Amy Woolridge, our recreation and Parks Director for all of the incredible. Work she's put into this menu and for. Everything she does for our parks in general. We are so lucky to have her in Alameda. As you review this menu, I would like you to consider this context. Our planet's changing climate. Based on current projections and guidance from the state of California. All projects under development should assume 6.9 feet of sea level rise by 2100. That's in 80. Years. But my son, who's. Five, will still be alive. At that point. So not too far in the distant future. At these values for sea level rise, we can expect complete submersion of the. Northwest Territories. And the via lands previously proposed as the Wildlife Refuge at Alameda Point and possibly. More for the. Packets. You can see FIG. two on the handouts I provided. There's a map showing this level of inundation. These estimates don't include water. Table rise. Which will undoubtedly. Further exacerbate the. Situation. With this in mind, I've. Developed a proposal that the Northwest. Territories be turned into a first of its kind climatological adaptive. Park that would be returned. To wetlands and shallow bay as sea levels rise due to climate change. I've developed this idea in the proposal before you, which recommends that you designate the Northwest Territories Rewild Park. The idea of Rewild Park is, which is to return the land at the. Northwest Territories, which was historically either shallow bay or tidal mudflat to wetland. You can see FIG. one for a historical historical. Map of the point circa 1800. It will be rewild it and planted with salt, tolerant natives and other species that attract and support local wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. The restoration of wetlands in this area. Which is. Expected to be inundated from sea level rise due to climate change, will help with flood and. Storm surges protecting Alameda, particularly its West End residents. Like me. There are a number of additional environmental, public and equity related benefits. To the projects that are included in the proposal. But that would be too long to read. In my remaining 21 seconds. I realize at this point that it is too late to include language on this concept in the memo in front of you, but I would like to request that the Council convey this proposal alongside the signed MRU to the East Bay Regional Parks District. With your positive recommendation, I would then plan to present this proposal at the next East Bay Regional Parks District meeting and work closely with Amy to ensure the idea is integrated into plans moving forward. Thank you, Ms.. Barnes. And our next speaker. Pat. Lamborn and Irene Dieter. Good evening. Good evening. Mr. Ashcroft. Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor. John Knox. White Oak. Changing cast of characters, council members. It's late. I'm here. Well, let's see. Who am I? I'm a resident of Alameda. Long term, I am, as you well know, a proponent of parks on our bay. I was recently elected to the. This is going to be a longer, long thing. Northern Alameda County Executive Committee of the Sierra Club. Right. Doesn't make an acronym. That's OC Sierra Club. Sierra Club endorses this. I think if there's anything that Aimee gets up and says, let's sign this memo, you. I would just say just. I agree with Amy. I can't tell you how excited I am to see that Amy has put forward to move forward on this East Bay Regional Park District wants to move forward on this tonight. Please agree and I enthusiastically ask you to sign this memo. You. It says a year we can achieve everything the previous speaker just said, but it will be a step towards that. We can spend $6.4 million, but if we don't sign the memo, you we can't even consider how to spend it. Right. And so I just think it's it's it would be so inspiring to the people of Alameda if you went forward with this. I've seen in the Sierra Club, every city's passed a climate, you know, a climate emergency resolution. Well, what have we done about it? We're starting to do some things, but that's about the future. But what have we done about the kind of inundation, sea level rise, etc.? This is positive. This would be a shoreline resilience approach. We can look at the kinds of things the previous speaker talked about. We can do other things. We'll do this in cooperation with the East Bay Regional Park District. And as Richard said, and, you know, what an advocate has been will include the public will go out there, will have guided visits, you'll have a voice in that . But we can't do it. If you don't sign the MOU, you please sign it. Say yes, sign it tonight. Um, and the last thing I'd say is there was this amazing article in the New York Times about and it compared us to Manila, you know, the whole San Francisco Bay in terms of sea level rise. It was a phenomenal article. There was nothing in there as amazing as as these kinds of actions in our area. So let's be let's be the first city to do it. And let's be in The New York Times next year or the year thereafter. Thank you. Our next speaker is Irene Peter. Hello. Council and mayor. I am Irene Dieter and I am a member of the East Bay Regional Park District's Advisory Committee. The Park Advisory Committee was appointed by Director Ellen Corbett, and I am here to wholeheartedly support you signing the menu tonight. This has been a long time coming. I have personally been lobbying each of you for this moment and lobbied your predecessors. So for the last decade we have been trying to get a park out on the Northwest Territories and it is becoming real and it is exciting. And I encourage you to sign the menu this evening. Thank you. Thank you. This beaver. Okay. Um. Okay, counsel comments. So, to the left, Councilmember Violet. We'll move right. Along. Okay. I just want to keep this brief. I intend to support this tonight, and I think that this has been a long time coming. I know that this council, as well as previous councils, have spent a lot of time on this. I want to thank Amy for all of her work. I think a lot of times there's we all know how much work you do, Amy, but there's a lot of work that you don't get credit for that you spend a lot of time on. And navigating between two agencies takes a lot. And so thank you so much for for putting in the time and making sure that this is going to become a reality for Alameda. So thank you. Vice Mayor next week. Great. Thank you. I'll be brief as well. It's been a long time going. One of the first projects I got involved with when I moved here in 2001 was fighting against the golf course in the convention center, at least ensuring that we had access, public access to the to the edge of this property, enough that my father in law still thinks I hate golf. So I will be enthusiastically supporting this as well as I just want to give a shout out to Miss Barnes and her proposal. Well, we won't be hearing that or talking about it tonight. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness of it and it looks like a great plan. Thank you. Councilmember Desai. Well, thank you. This is going to be absolutely beautiful project overall and I really look forward to the Bay Trail extending southward outside of the area that we're discussing tonight, the bay trail particularly extending in the part of alameda that is San Francisco County. Um, that area is absolutely beautiful. I haven't been there since I think December 1996, but I remember when Captain Dodge was driving me around there, um, being able to see just the panoramic of the whole day with San Francisco in the distance. Um. This is going to be a beautiful project. And I all of Alameda will be proud about this. I like the idea of that was mentioned of allowing. Paddleboards or stand up boards at park places. That's a great idea. I guess I just want to end by saying when I look at the visual of the Northwest Territories, it really looks like a piece of the puzzle that is called Alameda Point. And more and more now, so much of those pieces of Alameda Point are falling into place and we're able to see it coming and achieving the vision that we had way back when. So thank you for the staff for bringing us here. And let's move forward with our M.O.. You with the East Bay Regional Park. Councilmember Odie. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll. Before I do my comments, I will move approval of the item. Just so we get that table. I do want to thank Amy and our staff, and I think our city manager actually worked on this as well because we we've kind of had a logjam. I appreciate everything that the community has done to push this forward. It's been ten years, right? I mean, I can't vote for this today without just giving a shout out to one of my former colleagues, Mr. Matt Arrestee, who, you know, when we were walking around town five years ago, he said that $6.4 million is not worth what it was when Measure WW passed. Well, here we are five years later and it's worth even less. So I'm glad we're finally getting this done. Just a few quick notes. I would like to, you know, make sure we have a check in if if we run into snags. And these are two public agencies. So there's in my mind, no need to have, you know, discussions outside of public view because it's all taxpayer money. And I think I shared a concern with the city manager about the use of rodent sites. So hopefully those things will be fleshed out in the you. But this is this is an amazing project. And to follow up on Mr. De Socks comment, I'm glad that we're now spending some time and some effort and input filling in the pieces because these pieces of the puzzle where we have parks, whether it's up in the Northwest Territories or down in the deep park, are just as critical as, you know, site B, inside A and Main Street. So I do see actively and finally happy to say that we're getting this moving after ten years. So thank you. Thank you, council members for your comments. I too am very enthusiastic about this project and Mr. Bangert, when he spoke, mentioned the Navy and the work they're doing. I thought you were maybe going to talk about the tours that they give, because once a year the Navy, along with the RB is Restoration Advisory Board. The RAB does this amazing bus tour out all around to the areas that they've most recently cleaned up and the public can attend. It's anyone remember what tablet month is in July, so let's see if we can post that notice on the city's website closer in time to July, because I've gone for the last few years. The views are amazing and it really gives you a sense, and especially we've gone from year to year just to see how much has been accomplished. I did want to clear up one thing, though, that there was a statement made that someone woke up one day and the land had been given to the VA, the Veterans Administration . So just to keep things in perspective, we're a city, much as I would love to tell the federal government what to do. And I wouldn't I love to tell them a few things these days, but the pecking order just doesn't work that way. This is federal property. Yeah. Some of it's been conveyed to the city, but first and foremost, the feds get to do Fed the Fed transfers, and that's how the VA got the area they have. But that said, we're a Navy town, a former Navy town. We had a military presence here for many years. We're still a Coast Guard city. There will be an adjacent to the Northwest Territories, two very needed resources a vet, a VA clinic, and also a columbarium. And we are very excited that just a week or two ago in the president's budget, I know I didn't think I'd be excited about anything. But in the president's budget was a request for the majority of the funding that it will take to build the VA clinic where we have the funding in place for the Columbarium that I get asked all the time by veterans and their families, When are we going to see this VA clinic? The last time I was in D.C., I met with the VA. Everybody was waiting for this budget, the current budget, and we were really hopeful. But lo and behold, the money was there. But I like to look at it is as we can all coexist. I think for veterans who are out there accessing the clinic, this is a very tranquil, peaceful. You just don't get more beautiful views than that. So there's there's room for all of us. And the only thing I don't think we're wanting to modify anything in this memo you but I think maybe in the least negotiation is when we want to make sure the road and rodenticide is like something that kills. Well yeah. The concern was that if you use that to kill the burrowing rodents, that then the wildlife would eat those and be poisoned. And we don't want to. So, so and again, because the the regional parks district has already signed the memo, you we don't want to been in the lease negotiation. It's just a lease term, not a lease to turn. Right. But anyway, the and then the one item that I want to include in the lease. Yeah. And yeah. We've got to vet. It was a joke, a little inside joke. Okay, my and my ask this is important to people opening restrooms. There is. Because I emailed with staff today and said, okay, I get we're going to have restrooms, but who's building them? Where does it say. Well, it could be the VA or it could be the East Bay Regional Park District. By the time the lease comes around, I want to have specifics, please, about who's building the restroom facilities. But otherwise, I think this is really exciting. Bless you. And so we have before us a motion to authorize the city manager to execute an MRU with the East Bay Regional Parks District related to the Northwest Territories regional shoreline. It's been moved and seconded. So all in favor. I. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Of course not. The motion passes unanimously. Good work, everybody. Thank you. You know, we're going to save time. We've it's almost it's after nine and we just finished our first item and we've now separated B and C. So with that, thank you, everybody, for coming out and speaking. Could we have item six B, please. Recommendation to review the Planning and Building Code Enforcement Program in response to the City Council's November 19, 2019 referral and provide direction on potential future changes to the existing enforcement program.