The Island: On Point: War of the words

Excerpt:

Into the great, screaming yawp that is my overstuffed news hole this week (Or maybe that’s just me screaming?) comes a letter to SunCal from Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant, essentially rebutting SunCal’s rebuttal to a city report that lays out the potential impacts of the developer’s ballot initiative for Alameda Point (that’d be 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." , chuckle, chuckle).

In short: Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong.

My big takeaways from the letter were these: One, that the city is not convinced that issues that it sees in the initiative can actually be fixed, despite SunCal’s assurances that it is willing to fix them. The concerns in question include a $200 million cap on the amount of money the developer must contribute toward public benefits (the city thinks the actual cost could be upwards of $375 million) and developer exemptions from potentially millions of dollars in fees the city would typically charge.