Special Concurrent City Council and Redevelopment Agency Meeting January 5, 2009

0:03:58mus I can do it I'd like to convene the special concurrent Redevelopment agency and city council meeting for January 5th 2009 uh and to note that the city council met um to conduct commission interviews earlier and that all council members are present except for council

0:04:20member anqing who is ill tonight and so please join me in the [Music] pledge pledge of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we had the privilege tonight to

0:04:52interview many talented and experienced people for a number of openings on our boards and commissions and um we did not make all of our appointments but we do have several to announce tonight we have reappointed Manish Doshi to the Park and Recreation Commission and have appointed

0:05:09Steve Lipson to the Park and Recreation Commission and we have also appointed Amy kot to the Planning Commission in addition I would like to announce uh the mayor's appointments to the West Contra Costa Unified School District school closure committee um representing the

0:05:28Elser High School attendance area and we had requested letters of interest for this appointment to the committee and we received two and we are making those two appointments tonight Todd wolf and Bill breeding so we appreciate all um everyone's interest and willingness to

0:05:47serve and we'll continue with interviews to complete our appointments in the coming weeks I have uh one announcement and then we'll ask for staff Communications I wanted to congratulate the community and ELO high school they opened today at the new campus this morning and despite the rain and the fog

0:06:13everyone was very enthusiastic to be in the new building and so congratulations to all the folks at Elso High School there any other Council Communications yes I uh just wanted to announce under the ab um 1230 for requirement that I attended some things and um they all uh relate to uh

0:06:37environmental issues uh and in particular ab32 uh the environmental legislation um passed by the assembly several years ago so I attended a workshop put on um by uh the public policy Institute of California on emergency is excuse me emerging issues in climate policy um and they had a um a number of

0:07:06speakers speak on the topic of um ab32 including Lonnie Hancock our um not our but the new Senator uh no longer representing this area but our nearby area and um then um I also testified at the ab32 hearing uh on December the 10th at the air air resources board in

0:07:34Sacramento and um presented uh some points put together by a number of uh council members from cities across the state thank you as a Redevelopment agency chair I wanted to alert the public that a uh agency will be meeting in Clos session tonight after the council meeting uh

0:07:59pursuant to government code section 5495 6.8 uh conference with real property negotiators thank you thank you are there any staff Communications okay we'll now move on to item three which is oral Communications from the public this plac on the agenda is reserved for comments and inquiries

0:08:25from the public regarding matters on the agenda and matters which do not otherwise appear on the agenda all persons wishing to speak should sign up with the city clerk remarks are limited to 3 minutes per person um comments related to the action item or policy matter section of the agenda will takeen

0:08:42at the time the city council deliberates each each action item the first speaker is Al Miller El Miller of el Sero good evening and happy New Year to you and your staff when I was growing up up in a town called wosa Wisconsin which was half again as large as El Sero my mother was

0:09:05a community activist reformer gadfly uh Council Watcher one of the most important things she taught me that if you ever want people who are in Authority uh to pay attention to you when you criticize them and ask them to fix something then you should feel obligated to bring to their attention

0:09:26the good things that happen under their watch and that's the reason for being here tonight I have three items first uh I'd like to recognize and acknowledge again the help of the elrio fire department personnel and other staff in the dismantling of this under holiday

0:09:44display uh that display which I consider to be one of the true Treasures of our community could not happen without the firefighters continued support so we all owe them uh a thanks for their effort you know that we had an electronic waste uh across the street behind your new

0:10:04building this weekend on Saturday and Sunday I had things I haded to do at specific times on Sunday so I showed up there at 8:00 uh for the 9:00 start of the event because I wanted to be first in line about 8:40 uh I'm sorry I didn't get her name but someone who was obviously going to

0:10:26set up and run the event came over over to my car and knocked down the window and we talked and she knew I was there and just about that time a couple of her staff uh the actual people with the orange vest that are going to do the working showed up so she told me to

0:10:41drive down he said the truck's going to be down there drive down there and they'll take the stuff out of your car so you don't have to wait until we get the truck here and set up I have no reason to believe that the rest of the day wasn't as run in the same efficiency

0:10:56as that was so I wanted to thank you on that and quickly I had the opportunity to take part in the osita High School ptsa's uh safety uh committee effort at the opening of The High School uh they call them the Safety Committee I call them the adult home monitors and the

0:11:15thing that I noticed there is that the admiration and respect with which the two School uh school resource officers uh officer Caputo and jelica uh is should be a source of Pride to all of us uh the way they have developed their ability to relate to the kids uh the kids know they're there not

0:11:38only for the school's interest and our interest but for the kids' interest and they handle that very well I've only spent two hours there today and it was clearly obvious to me that their job they're doing brings credit not only to themselves and our police department but

0:11:53our whole Community for supporting this effort so thank you thank you next speaker is Yu wo could you the water thank you can I have that one during the pause I forgot to mention we have a speaker timer up at the front of the D here when you um when you see the light go green you know that you can

0:12:36begin and when you see the light go yellow you know you have 1 minute to conclude your your comment and when the red light goes on um the time is up in 2004 I was study the of colle the teacher said that my designer yeah for the [Music] godhead sorry I forgot this

0:14:11what uh my examination P twice I thought I was this PR the one of my life the this and the ni the my appointment twice in of 2006 I had twice opportunity to par in the C POS my study a class of fashion designer the First Comm possession was holding in Los anges

0:15:37California Mar 11 Mod Dr by my dress from the side the back she made me last and over brother on me the second conversation was holding on me SE CH for California Miss it's time the 3 minutes is up and time to finish up so we appreciate you sharing your ideas and earlier we had

0:16:44received a written correspondence and and I would welcome you to offer the city clerk what you have in writing and she'll be able to make copies for all the city council members I I I could I have is for on last year December I bought a computer but the keyboard color is same

0:17:15this color the white words I can see the words I I another one on December 1 I uh computer I want to buy new one I use same [Music] American PR cre card use that card I buy new one I want to use the same card but when I pay the money the people said that I don't have money

0:18:01on my cor card I I I don't know I feel I computer why money could not me back thank you thank you there any other speakers from the consent calendar or non consent so we're we're done with the public and um we don't have any presentation scheduled for today so our

0:18:33next item is to consider the consent calendar some people tell me need with 24 hours or uh 72 hours the Mone can give me back to my credit card I I feel I borrow the money from Bank I wrote a check I forg I don't have enough money in the bank but I get over over okay I'm I'm going to have to ask

0:19:08you to finish up so thank you and you can have a seat okay thank you thanks um the item of the consent calendar today I wanted to bring to your attention item 5B which is a proclamation proclaiming January as the Red Cross National Blood Donor month in the city of

0:19:29elero and although we'll approve it on the consent calendar I wanted to urge all residents in good health to donate blood regularly and especially at this time of year it's much needed okay I'm sorry we' we've moveed on to another item thank you I move adoption of the consent

0:19:48calendar items uh 5 a b c and d second it's been moved and seconded all in favor say I I I oppos motion carries um with four eyes and one absent okay we'll move on now to uh policy matters regarding the Redevelopment agency and I'll um let the Redevelopment agency chair

0:20:19take this item if you thank you okay thank you if I could ask the city clerk to announce the Redevelopment item seven item s on the agenda request for housing fund assistance for affordable rental development at 6431 and 6495 Porta Drive staff is not requesting any agency board

0:20:39action at this time staff is currently considering the request by resources for Community State development and the Hatland center for the blind formerly the living Skills Center for the visually impaired for 3.5 million permanent loan to fund the housing portion of the proposed development at

0:20:556431 and 6495 fora Avenue staff anticipates coming before the board with this request at the January 20th meeting in advance of that request staff would like to take this opportunity to present the proposed project the developers funding request in the housing fund

0:21:11financing plan and solicit the board's questions and comments regarding the proposed project thank you we have a staff uh report thanks good evening uh Hildy mile housing project manager um I'm here tonight to walk you through um the progress that the developer and the

0:21:34project sponsor have made so far and to discuss possible next actions for the project first of all I want to mention that the project sponsors um Lisa miyama from resources for Community Development is here tonight as well as Patty Williams from the Hatland Center and

0:21:51Samir shy who is a graduate and instructor at the Hatland Center so if you want to hear from them this evening this would be a good opportunity to do that um so as you recall back on September 15th at the council meeting um the Redevelopment agency board approved

0:22:10the funding of a pre-development loan for this project for $100,000 um so since then rcd and the Hatland Center uh which was formerly the living Skills Center for the blind um have been moving forward with site acquisition activities and uh design and planning for the

0:22:30project um they uh held a community outreach meeting on December 11th uh here in council chambers and uh invited residents and businesses uh that live within a 300t radius of the uh property um we had about four or five residents attend that meeting um sort of a town hall style and ask questions and

0:22:56hear more about the project um and I think most of their concerns revolved around parking I think uh several of those residents live on Rano Court um and I guess they have some concerns about parking on the west side of the BART tracks or east side east side of

0:23:14the BART tracks above um the BART tracks um and they acknowledge that there wasn't much of a parking issue on the E on the west side of the BART tracks which is where the project is located um uh but they shared their concerns and I think they went away fairly supportive

0:23:34of the project and understanding of what Hatland Center and rcd are trying to accomplish um uh the staff permit assistance team also met with rcd and the project architect which is Van Meter Williams and Pollock on December December 18th and discussed a range of

0:23:53planning issues um fire and police and public work works for there as well um and uh rcd which is taking the lead as the developer um and working with the architect on the project is um preparing a planning submitt package which they anticipate putting uh submitting to

0:24:14planning uh very soon early part of this month so that's sort of an update on what has been happening on the project we also um completed um the predevelopment loan agreement so that has formally been executed um so back in September staff performed an analysis um to evaluate

0:24:36this proposal in relation to the city and agency's housing needs I'm not going to review that in depth tonight but I'm happy to answer any questions about it um but at that time um staff concluded that the proposed development um was a sound proposal that it offered um

0:24:54competitive financing that the developer was very experienced um and that the Hatland Center was was a very um uh positive uh presence to have and add to elero um the proposed development just to summarize very quickly it's a mixed use project so it includes 57 units of

0:25:15affordable housing for very low and low-income housing uh households and that would include um approximately 10 units that would be set aside for um for the Hatland Center residential program so there'd be about 20 participants from the Hatland Center that would also live

0:25:33at the at the development um and then in addition it would include um a new um home for the Hatland Center which would be offices and classrooms and Conference space uh the financing plan for the project um is uh there's a housing portion and and a non-housing portion so

0:25:53those are funded separately um the housing portion um in addition to the loan requested by from the agency uh rcd is planning on approaching the county for cdpg and home funds um uh the state prop 1C infill program um which we've currently heard some news from from the state that they

0:26:15have stopped um they're not going to issue any more uh uh funding rounds right now that's sort of Frozen as part of the state budget so we'll talk a little more about what that means um potentially for the project um and they'll also be applying for low-income housing tax credits um administered

0:26:35through the state uh for the non-housing portion the Hatland Center proposes to raise funds privately through a through a capital campaign they've already um planned and mapped out that campaign and and kicked it off from what I understand um in terms of um leveraging the

0:26:53agency's funds the total development cost for the project is estimated to be about $ 27.2 million and the agency loan would represent uh 133% of that total so that's a pretty respectable leverage of agency money um in terms of planning and design um this project does qualify for an

0:27:16affordable housing density bonus um so it it will be um uh applying for that under its planning submitt and that will be evaluated through the drb and Planning Commission process um in relation to that for the the the design and entitlement process for the project

0:27:35is completely separate from from this request for loan funds um so any um commitment of loan funds that the agency makes does not commit city council or Planning Commission to approve entitlements or any of any uh anything that's related to that such as squa the in terms of the financing which

0:27:59I think goes to the heart of this the proposed loan structure um the developers requesting a loan of 3 A5 million for acquisition and construction and the the $100,000 predevelopment loan would be rolled into that amount uh the loan would be secured against the property with a deed of

0:28:20trust um probably in a co-equal position with any money that the county um approved for the project as that has been historically been the arrangement between the city and the county um at acquisition the agency would record the deed of trust and be in a senior lean

0:28:39position since they don't expect additional financing to come in until construction would start so what that means is during that period when the developer is assembling their financing our investment is protected by the land essentially um so if the project did not

0:28:56move forward we could either call the loan or take title to the property um or Force repayment of the loan through the sale of the property if that was what we wanted to do um as is typical in affordable housing financings the loan repayment is what is called residual receipts and I'm

0:29:15going to explain that a little bit more this means that there are other senior um lenders and investors essentially in line ahead of the the agency and in head of the county so um if there's sufficient revenues after repayment of those more that more senior debt the agency would see payments on

0:29:37its loan um what is typical is that in the initial years of a project you don't see repayment perhaps in later years you might see some repayment of the loan um and this is consistent with how the agency has provided assistance to affordable housing projects in the past

0:29:55um including um it's either been in the form of of Grants um with a direct cash contribution or a contribution of land with a residual receipts loan um in terms of the housing fund balance um as we I presented in the staff report in September the agency has always assumed that it would need to

0:30:16issue um additional debt um in order to to fund two projects two being something on the tradeway uh chamber site and the second being the rcd Hat Center project um the the current fund balance for projects and programs after we subtract out the acquisition price for the

0:30:38tradeway uh purchase um is approximately 2, 50,000 um and we've anticipated the funding shortfall the difference between the 3.5 and the two, 50,000 and we've been in conversation about how to cover that Gap um what we've been investigating is looking at intern borrowing strategies

0:31:01with um conventional Banks such as the city's bank and other lenders um and looking at what is what is feasible until such time as the financial markets improve and we're able to to issue a bond um we're continuing to investigate that we're also looking at um what you

0:31:20might want to call plan B um which may involve something where um a proposal wherein we could lend what we currently have cash on hand the 2 mil 50,000 and the developers exploring um the possibility of getting uh a bridge loan a short-term loan from a nonprofit

0:31:40intermediary that would allow them to proceed with the acquisition and um keep them working on assembling the other financing they need in the event that an agency borrowing is not feasible or not desirable at this time so we'll come back to you with more information about

0:32:01that um that's that's a synopsis of of the project right now we're happy to answer any questions um uh rcd and the architect has provided some um visuals of what the project is is the site plan and the context of the project which I think was also included in your packet

0:32:20um so we'll be returning to you later in January with a uh a request for find financing after we know a little bit more about uh our borrowing uh uh feasibility thank you thank you uh maybe we should take if uh count the agency has questions on the staff report we can

0:32:43take that now and then we can go to a presentation by the uh organization any questions of Staff right now um what what percentage we have we have an housing obligation in the different classes very low low and and what percentage of our um 10year requirement will this project

0:33:05uh fulfill um let me slice that up a little bit um we have two obligations really we have um our our Redevelopment affordable housing production which is we need to for every unit of housing built in the project area we need to make sure that 15% of that is Affordable as

0:33:33inclusionary um we have histor and that's we we need to hit that Target every 10 years and over the total life of the Redevelopment project area plan um we have met it to date because 19% of there's actually 19% of the units that have been built in the project area

0:33:54are affordable so we're doing well in in that regard um looking into the future um we estimate that we're going to need approximately 39 more affordable units uh based on the development in the pipeline um that pipeline is a bit in flux some projects are as we all know

0:34:20not going forward at this time but Others May pop up on the horizon so um we are so this this project would potentially meet 100% over 100% of that need because it's serving very low and low income and it's providing up to 57 units so your answer is that this would

0:34:44for what's in the pipeline this is more than 100% of what our requirements are correct and in terms of the other obligation that we have or Target is in relation to the housing element and the Regional Housing needs allocation numbers that AAG uh sort of gives each

0:35:06city um that is a higher number a higher higher threshold to reach um this will help us in that regard as well because historically we've been doing pretty well at producing um moderate income and some lwi income units um of through development agreements such as we had at

0:35:29The Village at Town Center Apartments um but we have not been producing the the units at the deeper levels of affordability um recently the last units we produced were through the um Idaho Apartments rehab which is in 1999 the Genesis of my question is that we have some percentage of our

0:35:49Redevelopment funds that we're using for this project and I wanted to make sure that the percentage of all Redevelopment funds that we're committing is correspond oning to the number of units that we're generating um are you talking to Redevelopment funds there are two I guess let me just

0:36:07distinguish since there are two pots of Redevelopment funds there's the non-housing and then there's 20% of all of our tax increment is deposited into the low-income housing fund which can only be spent to increase improve um and preserve the supply of affordable

0:36:24housing so when I'm looking I'm not I'm looking at spending housing dollars on our housing needs um and I'm analyzing through our housing element and our Redevelopment obligation that that the units that we need to produce to hit those targets are predominantly

0:36:49very low and low income and family units so I am looking at sort of the priority of of how we spend our money is towards meeting those targets um and that's what I was analyzing in the September uh staff assessment does that address your question I believe so are

0:37:10you proposing commercial paper is that what the conventional bank loan is is that weird um what it would be is a a uh potentially and this is just in discussions with our financial adviser and and um our bank is uh a loan that is backed by the housing fund revenues uh that is repayable upon

0:37:37issuance of a larger a bond at some point in the future so it could be something where you pay interest payments but that it is um ultimately repaid by uh the issuance of a tax allocation fond since that has been our our plan but of course you know know the financial markets are worse than we

0:37:58thought um and we are sort of buying time if you will before we knowbody he can really wants to issue in this environment issue debt thank you J um I don't have any questions at this time I just wanted to get clarification that um and I appreciate this discussion tonight that this is to

0:38:25inform the Council and the public about this project and look at options I just want to be clear about what we're going to be considering at our next meeting and whether we'll have enough information on the economic Market the fiscal instruments to close the gap that

0:38:41you mentioned um and will we look at not being able to close the gap and completely closing the Gap and then other options in between and do you think that we'll be ready in two weeks to have that information to evaluate those choices I'm going to do my best to be in that

0:39:00position um part of it is dependent on what we are learning from the banks um sometimes we are getting a clear no uh it is not so easy to get a clear yes to be honest so when we have a maybe we keep following that path um on in terms of us pursuing Al loone um the other

0:39:22Avenue that I mentioned that we're exploring is um uh something where we we don't borrow right now and we use the cash we have on hand uh to help rcd acquire the property um and they essentially um become the entity that borrows the Gap financing needed to assemble the full

0:39:49the full purchase price they need to acquire the land um that allows the project to still be a viable entity um that allows them to acquire the land we are still um have the land is collateral our loan would be secured against the land and allows them to move forward in

0:40:08assembling financing from the county the state um I think uh you know sort of trying to evaluate different scenarios um this Market is a little uncertain um I mentioned that the state has Frozen um all the prop 1C housing funds we don't know when that will clear up um but what

0:40:32we can do is essentially by time if we if we can assist rcd in and Hatland Center in acquiring the property through a loan then we have the time for the market to change for the state to sort of resolve some of its budget issues and see if the project can go forward some of the financing

0:40:55um uh sources and because of RC's experience and existing relationships they can go ahead and assemble some of this financing it may they may not be that impacted by what's going on with the state um that sort of remains to be seen but um what we're trying to do is they sort of have a

0:41:15window of time I think um to acquire this property or not um and we're trying to help figure out how that may best happen while also in you know the city and making a prudent investment with the housing fund monies when you referred just then to cash on hen was that cash in the housing

0:41:35part of the Redevelopment agency I'm only I'm only talking about the the housing fund monies thank you yeah thank you uh couple questions here um first of all at what point in the procedure does the other funding become solid or committed um mhm mhm it's a good

0:41:56question um the the timeline can take anywhere from 18 months to several years the sort of typical um series of steps if you will is that the local jurisdiction is first in because all the other potential funders want to see that the city is supportive of the project um the next

0:42:22funer that that rcd would approach is um the county the county has is it annual or semiannual they have an annual um notice of funding so that timing is something we're trying to uh catch and make sure we don't miss that year um and then they sort of work their way up the last fun

0:42:45that they approach and the most significant fun is the the state allocation committee for tax credits and to be competitive for those those are a very significant portion of the funding I think we're estimating that it's somewhere around 40% or so of the total Project funding

0:43:05but in order to apply to them you need to have your entitlements you need to have all your other sources of financing committed um then you get your allocation from them um and then you go and seek an investor to buy those tax credits um so that's the last funer in

0:43:25line before you start construction um so that whole process and somewhere in there is whether they apply for the prop 1C infil funds they may apply for another source called affordable housing program funds um uh so that process may take 18 months it may take if they miss funding Cycles

0:43:48or or need to come back um it could take two years so that's and then the other piece of that that's going on um on the non-housing side if you will on the Hatland Center side is that they're raising their private they're they're doing their Capital campaign to

0:44:04raise private money for the the the non-housing portion of the project since we can't spend our housing dollars in that part of the project that's funded separately okay so while we're waiting for all this to happen our our housing fund will actually be getting increased

0:44:22revenues correct that's that's what we're hoping yes we will be receiving our annual tax increment dollars each year some of that is paying existing Debt Service and bonds we already have uh will we still need a loan if this takes if this process takes two years will we be able to will we still

0:44:42have to go out to bonding do you you feel I think that we would I not seeing I would have to have a very optimistic scenario very optimistic property tax growth scenario to say that we would have the cash in 2 or 3 years I think we would um probably still need to issue a

0:45:04bond to fund the remain you know the remainder the balance of what they were asking for okay so the $3.5 million loan is secured by the property up until um well is it for the whole project or only up until construction are we still in first in line on the property throughout this

0:45:27whole process we would be first in line pretty much until construction starts the other at that point the construction lender is really first in line through construction so we we essentially stop being senior stop being first in line when construction starts we're still we still have a deed of

0:45:48trust against the land but there's other folks ahead of us um once construction is complete um and the construction lender is taken out there's some other sources then that's when the tax credit investor comes in the prop 1C the state money comes in they are usually ahead of us

0:46:06they usually ask us to subordinate the county and the and the city or agency are typically co-equal we usually have an agreement that says we occupy the same place in line and get paid you know if there's any money left over we share it essentially so let me get this

0:46:24straight construction start suddenly the project for whatever reason blows up other people are in line we may never get our 3.5 million back correct we're in line but we may yeah we're not first and so we're the first to put up let me we're the first to put up money it's essential that the city backs

0:46:48the project but then at some point we fall to the last priority on the uh under this scenario under the scenario we're talking about we are um what we are very focused on is making sure that the financing is committed at the point that the point that we say okay you guys are ready to start

0:47:16construction that's that's the decision we all need to to be comfortable with yes things can go south during construction and yes there is definitely risk there all the projects historically that we've been involved with Del Norte um uh Idaho we've we've had a similar

0:47:38risk um it is not in the developers interest obviously for it to go south so or in any of the lenders so what we really end up depending on is the fact that there are other very big players also at the table that don't have an interest in this going south but that yeah yes that is part of the

0:47:59real estate those other projects though were developed in better times so I I I just wanted to be clear uh if the project is built it starts operating it suddenly goes dark for whatever reason they can't make their bills they have to you know pull out basically

0:48:20we're still last and lying to get paid correct I'm not I'm having trouble envisioning a scenario where the project goes dark um if there's a problem with I don't know if you want to address that Lisa um but the the um sort of worst case in terms of if nobody shows up to rent the

0:48:46building no let's say you can only rent half the uh units for a period of 2 years your business model shows you wanting to break even in 18 months or at least have enough money to pay your bills on a cash flow basis and that isn't realized and suddenly you say we

0:49:00need to get out of the business what happens uh where does the city stand on that point with their loan I think maybe um my name is Lisa moama I'm the housing development director at resources for Community Development and I think maybe if you allow me just a minute to explain our

0:49:17business model and why this is different I think going back to what happens at the close of construction we as a nonprofit affordable housing developer go through really extensive due diligence and all of our construction financing is committed prior to the start of construction there's no way

0:49:34that we would be going through the construction process and finding you know some terrible surprise because we are we we as a business we want to do our homework but we do have investors and lenders and we do work with private lenders such as Wells Fargo Bank Union

0:49:49Bank of California they are making us go through an extensive due diligence period to make sure that there's nothing that we haven't uncovered from a sort of a legal perspective or an environmental perspective or design perspective so that you know it's not just us saying

0:50:03hey we're ready to go but it's actually you know quite quite an extensive uh amount of review that we go through so that when we start construction you know not only do we have our construction financing in place our permanent financing is in place and also we've had

0:50:20our operating budgets our reserves all of those things have been embedded in order to start our project and that is where the business model comes in of affordable housing development we are not dependent on you know pushing our rents the maximum in order to make our

0:50:37our operations work our rent levels are fixed all of these uh affordable housing units that we will be providing will be at 60% of Ami and below so that rent ceiling is there and so that when we have looked at our 30-year projection we know what our rent is going to be

0:50:55because that rent doesn't change very much it it's an incremental change over time and all of our expenses are based upon that and also our debt service we do have we'll have conventional debt that debt service is sized to accommodate that operating system um you

0:51:12know we would in a certain way we would be really glad if one day we nobody showed up we have affordable units and nobody needs to rent them that would be a banner day for us unfortunately in the bay are it's very unlikely so okay well thank you I appreciate it you understand

0:51:30though we have to make a decision on public money and thank you appreciate it one thing I want to mention is that the I'm not underestimating the risk that you were pointing out um the function of of myself as staff of County staff and of the other lenders is to underwrite the

0:51:55project um the city of of we're probably the most thinly staffed in terms of being able to underwrite that um but we can rely on folks like the tax credit allocation committee which Demands a market study of what the demand is for renters in that in that area um an

0:52:19appraisal um and they ultimately have to Market that to an investor who is very clear about what they want in terms of their return uh and the functionality of the project and then finally we're relying on the experience and capacity of the developer they have a track

0:52:37record none of their projects have gone South um so that's that's part of what we're vetting as we look at the capacity and experience of the team that we're working with um I think the Hatland Center um uh who sort of was the The Germ of this idea um picked their

0:53:01partner very carefully um I think rcd is um let me put it this way the Hatland Center really has a partnership with rcd because Hatland Center is not a real estate developer um rcd is the entity that has the experience and capacity to make the Hat Center's Vision a reality

0:53:27in terms of how do you go through the entitlement process how do you assemble the financing um I think what maybe um uh mayor Jones uh asking for is as maybe a fuller discussion of how we underwrite these projects and and make these decisions and that um I would be happy

0:53:49to come back to the board with um but I don't know if it would change sort of of the the overall structure of how we um uh the the sort of environment and how we fund affordable housing I don't necessarily need a a detailed report um and I'm I'm in I like this project I

0:54:11voted for it before and all but um this is our one chance to make sure during these uncertain times that all the bases are covered before we commit $3.5 million to a project and um I think is if we've read over the last two or three months there's been plenty of

0:54:31companies that did their due diligence supposedly and things didn't work out so it isn't that I I think we should kill the project because of this but I think we do need Assurance here before we commit 3.5 that uh we're doing the best we can and that the city's covered

0:54:48that's why the questions about sure um where we stand in line on debt and the other thing and uh then all this is my last thing and you did bring up parking and I I don't want to begin a discussion on parking improper but maybe during the discussion of the project um if we could

0:55:07if it could be briefly covered of what you covered in the community meeting I'd appreciate that thank you J um not close enough to my mic see um the I I did have what I kind of thought you were asking in the question question that you were asking Bill was um what I would Now call the target

0:55:30question um which is and and the scenario there would be what if um the Hatland Center decided to go out of business what would happen then with our investment our investment would still be there because our investment is in the housing um rcd would be faced if if if

0:55:55if that were to happen rcd would be faced with a a vacant commercial space because the Hatland Center is essentially an occupant of that I mean they're also going to be an owner is my understanding but they are going to inhabit the the front space which is the commercial space

0:56:16um the eventuality of them ceasing to exist um part of that I I'm I don't I mean our investment would still be there um I think part of what you're getting at is if if they're not part of the project it's not exactly what we signed on for um well in par the thing that I'm most concerned about is

0:56:46that that's our affordable housing project yes right and so if that's there because they're the you know in particular the Hatland center part of it is is there and what if they cease to exist then um it seems to me what we would want because what we really want

0:57:06is the affordable housing is that there would be a guarantee that it would still remain affordable housing is is how how does that that yes and that's how we're currently thinking of structuring the project is that the the housing is separate from the from the non-housing

0:57:24or the Hat Center portion so the housing even if the Hatland Center for some reason did not exist anymore as it currently does today rcd would continue to own and operate the housing portion of that as affordable housing and our we would have we would record an agreement a

0:57:46regulatory agreement against the property that says this has to be managed and operated as affordable housing you know this many units at this affordability for 55 years is typic typically the term um so that doesn't threaten our investment in terms of this as a as a an

0:58:04affordable housing resource for the community um obviously we would like the hland center to be there too but they are they are separately um funded thank you great can I go back to the revenues from the project for a moment um is the loan going to be paid back from revenues

0:58:25such as rent income or is the loan going to be paid back from the increased tax revenue from the project as a result of putting a structure there that's paying taxes as opposed to a structure that's vacant or vacant lots and no tax revenue that's coming off those properties whose

0:58:42loan are you referring to uh the agency's loan the agency's loan to rcd for the Housing Development okay um the the residual receipts concept and and affordable housing is is a strange animal this is this is um typically a loan is not repaid it's really it's more

0:59:04of a grant what we're getting in return for our investment is an affordable housing resource a well-managed um uh residential building that we have in the community for 55 years um and most entities don't expect to see repayment and it's typically not able to be structured that way way because of

0:59:26the rents that you're that you're receiving you're the the the building is operating on its from its rental revenue and they you know they are business people just because they're they're nonprofit and they know exactly what their bottom line is so they're repaying their lenders in order of

0:59:46seniority from that Revenue um we're sort of as I mentioned sort of last in line so we may or may not not see payments and typically we're not uh I am not recommending um that we look at this loan as being repaid ultimately it's it's money that we invest in order to create

1:00:09housing which is sort of the mission of having a housing fund is is there tax revenue though that I mean does does there from the project yes um affordable housing projects if they meet uh certain affordability criteria are eligible to um apply to the county assessor for a

1:00:29property tax exemption um this property could probably meet that standard it's not clear because there's a um the Hatland Center portion the non-housing portion I'm not they're a 501c3 so I think they would probably be tax exempt as well so I wouldn't look at this as generating a

1:00:52significant amount of property tax revenue so it it truly one way to look at this is that it is truly a grant of $3.5 million that's probably a good way to conceptualize it I mean legally it's it's a loan but in terms of thinking about it it's a grant it's not a repayable repayable

1:01:13loan in that sense but in a sense the reason that we have the housing fund is money we've set aside through the success of our Redevelopment agency with the intent that it be used specifically providing affordable housing in our community correct okay thank you any other

1:01:32questions before we go on with the presentation um and I didn't ask rcd to uh and Hatland Center to present a formal um presentation but I think that they would be happy to present a a short description of the project and tell you what they've been doing yeah I think

1:01:49just a brief we don't need a a two-hour deal you've already been here since six right that's correct you're going to have closed session basically I think if we look at it as an update I think that would be great okay thank you that's perfect good evening council members

1:02:08again my name is Lisa mama from resources for Community Development and at first I would like to introduce Patty Williams and Shamir shy from the Hatland Center to talk about the hen Center program and then I'll go through the uh design of the building um happy New

1:02:29Year um I I made a presentation um at the September meeting and I think some of you were there and some of you weren't um so I can give you a short background um of the Hatland center for the blind if you wish I I do believe you may have access to a um sort of a

1:02:51brochure or booklet that uh Hill be pass pass out um to you previous to the fall meeting um but if you hadn't had a chance to peruse that document I I can give you some facts um um I myself have been with the center since it opened first as an instructural aid and then a living skills inst

1:03:11structure for 23 years and I've been executive director for 14 years um and uh it's my passion I I um am committed to seeing the program moved into a permanent home in a great Loc in a great Community um before I retire I've been asked that question a lot is are you

1:03:30going to be here so I wanted to tell you that um our Center was started 37 years ago as an Innovative and unique Service delivery program in blind Field Services um most residential programs for the blind house students and dormitories and feed them in cafeterias students do pick up blind

1:03:53skills like travel and Braille skills but in most programs they're not expected to clean their own Living Spaces shop for their own and cook for their own food uh or pay their own bills out of their own income and they do not learn to live in real Apartments out in

1:04:09the community excuse me among other cited tenants in other words they do not they're not taught all of the skills they need in order to acquire true Independence when we began our idea was met with a great deal of skepticism and by the blind Services establishment

1:04:27however 37 years later the Hatland Center is considered to be cutting edge in our profession since the launch a launch of our national program two years ago word is spreading and agencies from other states and even other countries are interested in replicating our model

1:04:43we need a world headquarters that we can be proud of and we very much want to locate Els Sero and the poola site with its proximity to Bart buses long long Safeway and other shopping venues is the perfect site for us um as Hildy mentioned we took a great deal of time in choosing an affordable

1:05:03housing um partner and we believe we have found a very respected and responsible partner in resources for Community Development uh we also hope to become not only an Engaged and active member of of the community of elero but we believe that we would be a project

1:05:21that the community could be very proud of um I I don't know if you have other questions about what we've been doing towards the project I'm happy to answer any of those questions uh thus far I want to give each of you leave a copy of our fall newsletter with you which was

1:05:40recently published it gives uh some history of we just as you know went through a name change a branding process through the tap rot foundation and this newsletter gives you a history of our founder and it also gives you some stories written really stories of gratitude by some of our students I

1:05:59think that they can tell you all much more about our Center and why it works than anything I could think of to say um I thank you so much for considering our project and I'm willing to answer any questions uh before I bring Samir up to speak questions thank you very much so

1:06:20Samir is a as Hildy said a graduate of our program and uh then came back to the center as our night supervisor and has since been promoted to be a living skills instructor uh good evening council members um happy New Year and uh I guess last time we we met it was in September

1:06:39got a couple of uh new council members welcome and I wish the fifth council member of speedy recovery um I'm here today just to um I guess attest to to to Patty and um uh as a uh as a student of the program and um and have been involved with the program for the past uh what getting on about

1:07:01nine years now I came in I came in 2001 um I just wanted to just just affirmate the the the what a wonderful program this is um when I first came to the living Skills Center I was um relatively new to blindness although I knew that I would go blind when I was about 14 years old uh but I didn't see

1:07:23the effects of it uh until I was into my late 20s and and early 30s um and I knew nothing about blindness about about about the culture of it about what to do I I had a I had a job at LA county department of public social services for many years and um I I needed to make

1:07:41some changes I was losing my sight fast and when I got in with Department of rehab I found out about uh the then living skill center and now Hatland Center and um I I I saw I was old enough to to come to the program at a later age to really see um the value in the

1:08:00program and how it really affected these young people's lives to come in at at at 18 and 20 and 25 years old and never having the experiences of of actual life there's like like Paddy said there's there's programs that kind of replicate life but but this this is the real deal

1:08:17and um and and and one-on-one instruction to show you how to do that and that that's rare that is very very rare and that's why we've been you know we've been tried people have tried to tried to reproduce us for for many years and and and they can't um we we as a a

1:08:35very Co we have a very cohesive staff we we're all on the same page we all get along and we are all there for for the same reason and that is to uh offer people who who are visually impaired a chance at at true Independence and to be out in the community and and to be a

1:08:52part of something and to give give back something into the community and this is the first step of doing that so I just wanted to thank you all for for listening and thank you all for considering all this and uh that's all so thank you thank you and I'd just like to briefly recap

1:09:12what uh the development that we are proposing um I do have the design boards here uh here you see the elevation of the building I don't know if that's easier if I bring them over we have no that's fine um so you see it's it's quite a um a nice modern design and if

1:09:30you look at the sort of site planning of how the building is sighted you will see that it does have a nice buffer behind the BART tracks it is west of the BART tracks between the BART tracks and San Pablo Avenue and it serves as a really a sort of a nice transition between so of

1:09:48the commercial area of s Pablo and the more residential areas on the east side of the bar art tracks the Hatland Center will occupy a large space on the ground floor that will provide them with programming space as Hy mentioned uh conference facility teaching rooms uh a Technology Center

1:10:07the Hatland Center uh is very Cutting Edge as Patty mentioned particularly in the areas of the use of technology to support people with visual impairments we will also have on-site management Community spaces for all the residents to share as well as a large Courtyard one of the issues that people

1:10:28were very concerned about when they came to the community was sound so how are how how are you going to mitigate the sound from the BART to make this a really livable place and one of the design features we have is part of the building serves as a buffer between the

1:10:44BART tracks and the courtyard making the courtyard a much more s quiet area and also we are able to use S of top of align uh acoustic technology to ensure that we have good uh sound insulation between the BART tracks and the building and so the ambient Street noise as well

1:11:04um rcd resources for Community Development we've been in business for 25 years we're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year uh we work in alamina contracosta in Solano counties and one of the things that we're really known for is Green Building and we would

1:11:18like to make sure that this development is as green as possible one of the developments that we just completed is the Villa vasella senior development it's a 70 unit senior development in Walnut Creek at Gary uh and North Maine and that building has a lot of the

1:11:35features that we would like to be bringing to this development including photo voltages for electricity and solar pre solar preheat for hot water systems as well as no vocc paints um recycled materials really high quality indoor air quality environment and a really high

1:11:54level of design and so this will be a 55 unit family affordable housing development of which a portion of the units the 10 units will be for the Hatland Center there'll be one two and three bedroom units a third of the units will be three bedrooms and that is to

1:12:10support larger families so that is in kind of in a nutshell what we're proposing and if you have any questions about the design uh or the financing please let me know yeah I I uh stress to say we're not in a Planning Commission so I don't know that we should get into the design all that

1:12:30much this is concept conceptual at this point correct yeah including colors and you know all that stuff comes later on I understand those are just what the architect thought was nice looking for this oh no that's okay I just didn't want us to get into a planning mode here

1:12:47Planning Commission mode sure um in terms of the the uh use of the building I can't remember if you said it the earlier meeting or not but I was curious about the location of the uh housing units for the Hatland Center versus uh the other tenants will those be um

1:13:07intermixed or they will they all be kind of segregated um that was my first question um currently you know we are conceiving of this as one development as a whole it will be sort of up to Patty where she wants how mixed she wants want her units to be within the building so I don't

1:13:25know if you want to talk about well at the moment we've been at the same place since we started in 1972 and our our we have some are pretty together we would want some first floor we do have some wheelchair applicants who are low vision as well and um once in a while we have someone with a little

1:13:47bit of a balance problem something like that so we do want some um well they they'll all be easily accessed so I don't think that's a problem uh oh I was actually more interested in the um the relationship between the tenants probably intermixed uhhuh yeah it's

1:14:06worked out well for us for 37 years so okay and just as context they're currently in a an apartment complex in San Pablo that is their their office and training space yes exactly there's 76 units in that apartment complex and we have some on three different floors and

1:14:24two different buildings and it's worked out fine so far we think it's a good idea for students to get to know their neighbors yeah that's what I was wondering I'm glad to hear you say that's the reason that we didn't want to just have a building that was a blind

1:14:38building we want our students to live in the real world MH great great thank you um the other question I had you said you're going to try to make it as green as possible does that mean you're going to go for any sort of um green certification like lead certification um

1:14:52as a appropriate we generally do Green Point late uh Green Point rated with uh build it alamina County build it green and that green rating system is now as covers Contra Casa County and most of the bay area as well we could do lead um we look at the cost benefit of doing a

1:15:11lead certification it is very expensive um we are currently um projected to be achieving Platinum lead in our development in the city of alam so we are capable of achieving as high lead status as possible part of it is funding and part of it is um you know what

1:15:28certifications if there if any that the city would like to see thank you sorry chair I can't help myself um as a former uh member of the park and recck commission your proximity to aloney Greenway which is a one of our Premier Parks um it appears that the current structure turns its back on that

1:15:50uh fontage that you have abing the the park uh not a single window appears to be oriented that way since it looks like it's an interior hallway of some sort that's actually buffering uh the units and the U the park U and the access road is at ground level so I was just curious

1:16:08if if there were um or I guess I would like to encourage you to go to the um Park and recck commission at some point just to uh hear their perspective on their park and and how they would love to have it be interwoven into the in into that if possible um one of the um funding

1:16:28sources that we hope to apply for is the 1C uh infill infrastructure funds and they're currently on hold for the state but that funding allows us to also incorporate um sort of areawide planning and also improvements to open space so we would really want to incorporate the

1:16:48oone greenway as much as possible into the development and come up with ways that are both safe for our residents but also more inviting to the neighborhood great thank you thanks okay yeah I I did have one more question um of um rcd and Imp in PR Hatland Center folks and that had to do with

1:17:11you've heard the discussion that we just had about the funding concerns and uh although I'm not sure we actually said it it it certainly relates to the status of the economy at large which we're all concerned about and I was just wondering what your concerns are about

1:17:29the project seem to be having a little bit of a problem here I don't know you're asking me Janet yeah I'm just I don't know what's if something's going on here but um anyway go ahead was beeping anyway well let's see we did receive a cut from um the department of rehab but

1:17:51not very much um I know uh for a fact that we're considered to be the best program for the blind in the state however they own a state program that they're pretty committed to uh we still are getting applications the state's still paying um so in terms of the government por of our portion of our

1:18:11funding which really does pay most of our operating costs we're we're doing okay it's certainly a world of uncertainty out there um I I I don't have any answers for you I don't have a gut level feeling that we're going to close I I actually was thinking more of

1:18:30the capital side of the capital side what we're doing um well we received a $115,000 grant from uh the Northern California Community Loan Fund to pay for some of our pre-development costs including two Consultants one of whom is a capital campaign consultant and uh

1:18:47it'll also pay for some of the pre-development architectural fees for the commercial space which we're in charge of uh trying to get designed uh so that was good um I've approached um some foundations and before Christmas and um for example the Leer Foundation which

1:19:09has funded us before as well as some things for rcd I've been working with their development director as well just because she's a font of information and they're they like and respect very much both of us um both of our agencies they were of course saying oh my gosh um you

1:19:28know we're not sure what's going on with the market uh we like your idea the Lusher Foundation is known for Capital campaigns uh Dean Lusher was very much into it granting money for Capital um projects what they said to to me to do was to call them back in January they're

1:19:47going to see if the volatility slows down and and what they're doing so I got the same sort of speech from YH soda we will definitely apply to kresy for some large amounts of money and I think they're all going to be interested in the project I don't know how much

1:20:05they're committing to that right now um nor with corporations what the the buzz on the street is in in my business is that um individual donors right now uh with some with deep capacity and um um some insulation to what's going on are your best bet um we've talked to our

1:20:29campaign consultant about that we do have um some relationships with some people with uh that kind of capacity who um have some insulation to any kind of recession I don't know how much insulation but um we do have some connections like that what we're doing basically at the moment is going out and

1:20:50talking to them and saying you know presenting the project and saying you know we we could possibly present them with different options like pledging a certain amount you know over the next few years that kind of things different options without actually asking them just keeping those lines of

1:21:10communications going because like everyone else we're kind of waiting a little bit um to see what happens um I still have a lot of faith that um we'll be able to do this um I I don't see us closing and and it's a world of uncertainty so that's just as honest as

1:21:31I can be about where we are and what we're we're certainly putting one foot in front of the other making phone calls making plans we have a capital plan of listings of donors and their various capabilities and how we approach them and one of the people who's a major

1:21:47donor for us is a businessman has met with rcd and completely now understands this whole very complex sort funding structure with City money and info and tax credits and you know um donors don't understand that and so he's going to go with us on these asks and uh he's very

1:22:05willing to do that so we have we have some commitment out there um people who are on our side and I'm hoping we can pull it off great that answer your question yes thank you well thank you appreciate the uh the uh report and uh we'll be looking forward to uh the Final Phase of this as far as

1:22:29the loan goes thank you very much like turn it back to uh the mayor is there public comment oh excuse me before is there public comment on this we have one speaker Robert Brower thank you my name is Robert Brower uh you may know that I am the trustee of the Anthony asano trust and the Jackie and

1:22:59Anthony asano scholarship fund and uh the trust uh donated $150,000 last year to the senior center and $75,000 to the um library and now we're approaching the third phase of our activities and I want to tell you about it um the trust owns 6495 portala that is the property that

1:23:20has a single family house detached garage car airport and a big Butler Building in the back um what I think you need to know is that the total sale price for both Parcels the vacant parcel at 6431 and the parcel I control as trustee is $2.9 million the rcd is asking you for an

1:23:41additional 50,000 for close of escrow and demo of all the structures on the property I control so that's a total of $2.95 million you have 2.05 on hand your 900 short for property acquisition I'm here to tell you that if you don't acquire the properties this whole project is

1:24:06gone and that would be a terrible error for the following reasons I was not in support of this project at all until I visited the Hatland center now if you haven't gotone there you have no clue what these people are doing they are in an apartment building with no sign you can't find them when you

1:24:28finally find them you uncover a gold mind of innovative creative responsible things that they are doing for Independent Living for blind people I saw a gizmo where the students go to contracosta college and in Braille they type their notes on a braille typewriter

1:24:50of some sort they bring it back they hook it to a computer the computer reads out loud their notes they can then edit their notes at the typewriter when the notes are edited then it downloads it to a braille printer and their notes are printed out in Braille if the professor hands out a

1:25:07piece of paper with homework they put it on a scanner it scans it into the computer the computer reads the homework to them off of that and then prints it out in Braille this is truly unbelievable what they're doing in a truly pathetic environment an apartment house where they won't even allow them

1:25:28to put up a sign if they don't get something like this they won't exist because rents go up and they're not allowed to do anything and if you don't believe this I got two words for you tandem bicycle they have tandem bicycles a sighted Rider on the front a visually

1:25:49handicapped person on the back they're on road 20 in San Pablo there's nowhere to ride the bikes can you imagine Mr Park and wreck if they have if they're here you can be the rider in the front for somebody in the back the second thing I want to tell you which I think is really important and I

1:26:08think some of you know Mr Jones knows every single net dollar that comes to me as Trustee of the trust as soon as it comes to me it'll be a million something a million 50,000 or so when it comes to me it immediately goes into the asogo trust as soon as that check clears

1:26:30it goes into the asano scholarship fund and as soon as that transaction clears it goes into the contracosta college endowment fund I have no administrative fee the scholarship fund has no administrative fee the college has no administrative fee the bank that holds the fund has no

1:26:50administrative fee and immediately goes to work for El Sero students and other West County students in kraasa college so your money's rolling over it's not just stopping and going away somewhere a million plus dollars is going to go right to work for the students from this

1:27:11community if you don't believe what I had to say about technology in yes in yesterday's New York Times in the business section there's an article about a man at Google who is actually doing what I just told you about which they are already doing at their site you read this and you'll

1:27:30see how technology is helping the Blind and that's what they do this project is worth it you want to do whatever you can to make sure these Parcels are acquired thank you very much thank you Mr brow any other speakers okay turn it over to the mayor thank you okay we're

1:27:49going to move on now to the council Aon reports and start with Mr Lyman uh no report no meetings no report no meetings no report um I just want to take this moment to uh let you know that the human relations commission is not meeting because we don't have enough people on that

1:28:09commission to meet at this time and so I'm asking anyone interested in submitting an application to do so with the city clerk and I also wanted to me that mention the appointments to the school closure committee representing elero um High School attendance area

1:28:24that we made earlier this evening will have their meeting on January 20th and that will be held at the portala middle school gymnasium and in addition to that regarding the West contracosta Unified School District a special meeting will be held this Saturday January 10th

1:28:42beginning at 10:00 a.m. it'll be a meeting of the entire school board and all of the city councils from elero Hercules penol Richmond and S Pablo in conjunction with County Supervisors John Joya Joya and Gail Ula that meeting again is on January 10th at 10:00 at lanaa dejan Middle

1:29:05School gym located at 3400 McDonald Avenue in Richmond and um we would also like to announce the Martin Luther King prade and C celebration that will be on Monday January 19th and a little variation from our usual habits of meeting at the DMV and making a parade to the community

1:29:32center will be altered the parade will now be um to March to the new high school gymnasium and elero high school so we're all looking forward to enjoying that new facility and to the great tradition of the Martin Luther King Day celebration did I forget any of the

1:29:50announcements okay so now I would like to adjourn the special city council and Redevelopment agency meeting and let you know that our next meeting will be held on Tuesday January 20th on account of the Martin Luther King holiday here at the city hall council chambers at 7:30

1:30:09p.m. and is chair of the Redevelopment agency Bill Jones indicated we are now convening in a special Redevelopment Agency close session to confer with real property negotiators at a property located at 1145 San Pablo Avenue so thank you for your attendance thank

1:30:50you