Kaplan Brings Legislation to Purchase County’s Share of Raiders Training Facility and Malibu Lot
Legislation from At Large CM Rebecca Kaplan will be presented at Tuesday’s meeting that would authorize the city to purchase Alameda County’s [ALCO] 50% interest in the former Raider’s training facility in Alameda and the Malibu lot adjacent to the Oakland Coliseum. Both properties are central to the City’s plan to create a home base for the Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul soccer teams.
The terms for a high profile sale of the Raider’s facility—referred to as the Harbor Bay Property in the legislation—to Prologis were passed by Council in February. The sale came with a stipulation that Prologis contract with Roots/Soul to use the facility as a training site. But ALCO's Board of Supervisors also had to approve the sale. To date it hasn’t.
The Malibu lot was envisioned as a site for a temporary Oakland home stadium for the teams last year by Council. But in this case too, the County’s interest presents a significant level of concern because the County could sell out their share at any time to an owner with their own vision for the site. Despite an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement [ENA] to negotiate a long-term lease recently inked by Oakland and ALCO for the team at the Malibu lot the County last year, ALCO signaled its intent to put the property up for auction.
The state of California mandates that any agency selling public land give first right of negotiation to nearby jurisdictions and agencies for a 60 day period—Oakland’s request came in a day before the end of the period, and just days before the BOS introduced legislation to sell the land at auction.
The City of Oakland has run into several issues over the years in its 50% land ownership partnerships with ALCO, including the County’s sale of its share of the Coliseum to the A’s. Since the sale, Oakland has been unable to get the A’s to cooperate in the development project for the site led by African American Sports and Entertainment Group. A similar potential has been brewing for Oakland at the Malibu and Harbor Bay properties. The Harbor Bay property, the City has contended in reports for the sale to Prologis, is being contemplated as a local partner site for the 2026 World Cup, but without the sale to Prologis, the team can’t prepare its facility to be considered as a contender for the role. A sale to a third party before the City has even begun its stadium project at the Malibu site would mean complicated and possibly frustrated outcomes.
Kaplan’s legislation depicts a beneficial agreement with the County, however, not an adversarial one. According to the legislation, the Malibu property will be financed by the County, basically a long-term payment plan where the City will use 50% of proceeds from the lease with Roots to pay off the $8.7 MM cost of buying ALCO out. For the Harbor Bay facility, the City will use its proceeds from the sale to buy out ALCO.
Both plans are likely to face some scrutiny Tuesday, as the drain from the sale and lease will mean less revenue for Oakland during a period of increasing budgetary problems.
Contract for Police Chief Floyd Mitchell
The hiring agreement for incoming Police Chief Floyd Mitchell comes before Council on Tuesday. The Council must pass the legislation before the City Administrator’s office can present it to Mitchell for execution. According to the accompanying report, Mitchell’s total salary will be $365K and the contract for a renewable three years. $32.5K of the salary is an education premium. Mitchell will also receive a six month, $3.5K rental allowance while he searches for a local residence and a one time $10K relocation payment.
Floyd’s starting date after announcement of his hire in late March was pushed back several weeks after a death in his family, according to a source with knowledge of the matter at the City of Oakland.
Ongoing Mid Cycle Budgeting Discussion
The discussion on Mid Cycle Budgeting continues with a question and answer session originally scheduled for the 4/16 Council meeting. At the time, the Finance Committee neglected to include the report on Business Tax delinquency and thus it couldn’t be discussed during the meeting—the report is now included, along with answers to questions from CMs posed at the last meeting. The discussion currently centers around tens of millions in Business Tax revenue that is currently delinquent. Nearly 7,000 businesses have not paid their business tax for FY 2023-24, according to finance reports that will be discussed on Tuesday. But the dire fiscal emergency the City finds itself in has led to a renewed focus on finding revenue to fill the gap, and Council President Bas has been agendizing the delinquent business tax amount for several weeks.
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