The Island: On Point: Meanwhile, in Oakland

Excerpt:

If you don’t already have whiplash from the last few weeks of Alameda Point developments, the next month might just do it: the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and Asian Health Services are not happy about the SunCal initiative going to the ballot without a completed environmental impact report they say is required under a lawsuit settlement agreement, and they say they may sue.

“We’ll probably have to file a writ within 30 days of the City Council’s action on Tuesday,” said Oakland attorney Alan S. Yee, referring to a 3-2 council vote to hold a special election on February 2, 2010.

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Yee said the second amendment to the agreement, adopted when hedge fund D.E. Shaw entered the picture in 2008, added the option for SunCal to get its land plan approved at the ballot rather than through Council. The amendment scrapped part of the original entitlements language - Section 3.2.5 for those playing along at home - and replaced it with language allowing SunCal to pursue entitlements by initiative as well as through the more common application process.

Yee cited this as evidence that “the city was aware of the initiative process and that SunCal was planning to do this.” Highsmith countered that the amendment simply allowed SunCal to seek an exemption to Measure A(1973) The actual text of what is known as Measure A is article 26 of the Alameda City Charter. It reads as follows: "Sec. 26-1. There shall be no multiple dwelling units built in the City of Alameda. Sec. 26-2. Exception being the Alameda Housing Authority replacement of existing low cost housing units and the proposed Senior Citizens low cost housing complex, pursuant to Article XXV of the Charter of the City of Alameda. Sec. 26-3. The maximum density for any residential development within the City of Alameda shall be one housing unit per 2,000 square feet of land. This limitation shall not apply to the repair or replacement of existing residential units, whether single-family or multiple-unit, which are damaged or destroyed by fire or other disaster; provided that the total number of residential units on any lot may not be increased. This limitation also shall not apply to replacement units under Section 26-2." .