City-Manager

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Alameda Point was going to be the largest housing development that the East Bay had seen in years — certainly the biggest on this side of the hills since the 1970s. The 4,000-plus homes proposed for the former Naval Air Station would have housed about 10,000 residents. But last week, the Alameda City Council snuffed out plans for the new mini-city on the island when it voted to kill its deal with private developer SunCal. The 4-0 vote also ended an often-contentious relationship with the Orange County developer that in recent weeks even included allegations of illegal wrongdoing.

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City staff will begin work on a list of options for redevelopment Alameda Point to present to the City Council in the fall.

The council asked staff to get cracking on the list at the tail end of an action-packed, seven-hour meeting Tuesday night, the council’s last schedule meeting until September. The request came in lieu of a proposal by Councilman Frank Matarrese that would have focused the city on exploring the formation of a nonprofit corporation to handle base development and on job creation instead of housing.

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Developer SunCal released three letters last week firing back at the city's handling of Alameda Point negotiations and its investigation of Councilwoman Lena Tam, who was accused of forwarding confidential information to SunCal among other allegations of misconduct earlier this month.

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The City Council is set to decide tonight whether to deny SunCal’s proposed development plan for Alameda Point, effectively sending the developer packing as its exclusive, three-year deal to negotiate a development deal for the Point expires.

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City Attorney Teresa Highsmith said that a series of e-mails flagged by Mayor Beverly Johnson’s executive assistant were what started the city’s investigation into City Councilwoman Lena Tam.

“She saw a couple of e-mails (to the mayor) that concerned her and brought them to the City Manager’s attention, because it appeared there was serial meeting violation of the Brown Act,” Highsmith recalled when a reporter contacted her this week.

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Councilwoman Lena Tam may lose her seat after being accused of official misconduct last week for allegedly leaking attorney-client-privileged and other confidential information via e-mail to developer SunCal and other parties against the city's interests.

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The investigation into whether City Councilwoman Lena Tam leaked confidential information was a blatant attempt by Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant to stop SunCal Companies as a possible developer for Alameda Point, a lawyer for the company says.

SunCal's exclusive negotiation agreement with the city will expire Tuesday unless the council votes to extend it.

Gallant and Tam have been frequent political opponents, including over SunCal: Gallant has criticized the company's effort, while Tam has supported it.

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Suncal Co.s is threatening to take legal action against the city of Alameda and its interim city manager for “jeopardizing its efforts” to redevelop a 770-acre portion of a former Navy base on the island city.

The developer wants the city to investigate Ann Marie Gallant, the interim city manager, for acting in bad faith during its negotiations with the city on the project. Gallant says Suncal’s claims against her are false.

“This is a personal attack against me because (Suncal) holds me responsible for what’s happened with this project in the past year,” she said.

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Our firm represents SCCSunCal Companies Alameda Point, LLCLimited Liability Corporation (“SCC Alameda”). We understand that the
Alameda staff intends to place on the July 20, 2010 agenda of the City, the ARRAAlameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority. The City Council acts in this capacity. and the CICCommunity Improvement Commission (Alameda's redevelopment agency). The City Council acts in this capacity. (collectively, “Alameda”) a vote on whether to extend the term of the ENAExclusive Negotiating Agreement referenced above. This vote on the ENA is wholly unnecessary. The ENA will be extended by its own terms and by operation of law. Therefore, we request that the vote be removed from the agenda.

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Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant intentionally has led the City in the opposite
direction for over a year. She has engaged in a malicious campaign to vilify SCCSunCal Companies Alameda,
destroy the project, impair SCC Alameda’s contractual rights, and slander and impugn its
integrity. By her own admission, the self-serving secret plan of Ms. Gallant is to oust SCC
Alameda from the project and take it over as a “public” project in furtherance of her own
interests with herself as executive director.

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