Citizens' group opposes Richmond City Council funding for Terminal One

   A citizens' group has asked the Richmond City Council to vote "no" tonight on a resolution giving additional funds for the development of the Terminal One project.
     The city council meeting dealing with giving additional funds for Terminal One begins at 6:30 p.m. in the city council chambers at 440 Civic Center Plaza.
     The meeting is open to the public.
     The item on the agenda is H-1 and reads:

H-1. ADOPT a resolution approving the Successor Agency to the Richmond Community Redevelopment Agency's amendment to the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule to address increased costs for remediation and demolition work at 1500 Dornan Drive - Successor Agency to the Richmond Community Redevelopment Agency

 (Lina Velasco 620-6706).

     A letter from the Brickyard Cove Alliance for Responsible Development (BCARD) says giving monies to developer Laconia as described in the resolution is not a correct use of the funds.

"Laconia wants to use the remediation funds to help tear down the building and to abate the asbestos in the building. However, these remediation funds were intended to be used by the City to Clean up the groundwater and soil contamination caused by the tenants of the property. Actual removal of the building is the responsibility of the developer and why the property was discounted," the letter states.

   The letter also points out that most of the $8 million received by the city to clean up the chemical pollution and toxic wastes on the former industrial site has been spent.

"This is a bait and switch tactic being used by the developer. We ask the City Council to vote No on this resolution and future attempts by the developer to shift the cost to the City or use additional park or sewer funds for improvements the developer committed to pay."

     The future shifting of costs referred to by BCARD was a proposal earlier this summer for the city to use public monies from several city sources - including funds collected from other developers - to help with increased developer costs at Terminal One - now being referred to as the Latitude Project at Terminal One.

   That proposal - expected to be taken up in the future - includes:

Terminal One shoreline parking at issue

   POINT RICHMOND - The Bay Conservation and Development Commission's public hearing on the proposed 316-unit Terminal One housing project adjacent to the Richmond Yacht Club and Miller Knox Regional Park has been delayed until April.
     The BCDC has requested additional information about public parking from the developers of the project (Laconia) - and the City of Richmond.

Terminal One site, adjacent to the Richmond Yacht Club

     BCDC "asked the applicants to provide further information regarding the use of on-street parking as well as parking at nearly public access areas," Rebecca Coates-Muldoon of the BCDC said.
     Additionally, the BCDC wants to know of any measures being taken by the developers to "encourage public use for shoreline access and discourage use by residents and their guests."
     The delay in holding a public hearing to April may be partly an outgrowth of concerns raised by the Brickyard Cove Alliance for Responsible Development (BCARD) in addition to BCDC's analyses.
     In a letter to BCDC, BCARD member Brian Lewis outlined a series of the group's concerns about the proposed parking plan and existing parking issues. He included a video exhibit for BCDC to consider: BCARD video of traffic.
     "It will only be worse with the residents at Terminal One," he wrote,
     Of major concern is the planned lack of public parking along the proposed Shoreline Drive.
     "I suspect Terminal One is wanting to preserve the views from the homes and condos without cars," Lewis wrote, He noted that if it is allowed, it is a major change along the Point Richmond waterfront.
     "Every HOA in this area has on-street parking next to the water. Even San Francisco has street parking along the Embarcadero."
     Because the Terminal One project still needs finish up obtaining permits and is unlikely to receive them until fall of 2019, construction is now predicted to begin in 2021.

This map shows Shoreline Drive and the public park and pier. 

Public hearing Wednesday on proposed cleanup plan for Terminal One project

   RICHMOND - The San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold a public hearing Wednesday on a proposed plan to clean up a variety of chemical contaminants on the Terminal One site in Point Richmond to pave the way for a 316-unit housing development proposed by the Laconia Corporation to be constructed on the city-owned land.
     The meeting is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza.

Historical industrial use of the proposed site for housing

     The contaminants include chlorinated solvents, petroleum and hydrocarbons - and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the Dornan Drive property. The land is adjacent to the Richmond Yacht Club to the east and Miller-Knox Regional Park to the west. It abuts San Francisco Bay on the south and Brickyard Cove Road to the north.
     The documented chemical contamination is a legacy of the property's history as a shipping and industrial site and has been the subject of study - and previous attempts and clean up - for 20 years.
     The water quality control board adopted a detailed cleanup order in 2004, But efforts to scrub the site were never completed because a previous developer abandoned the project in 2007.
     One suggestion expected at Wednesday meeting is that the regional water quality control board draft an entirely new cleanup order to take into account advances in pollution control remediation science since the 2004 order was issued as well as any new data about the site.
     The remedial action plan proposed by the City of Richmond and Laconia include:

 • Podium construction of residential structures;
• Collection, on-Site treatment, and off-Site discharge of most stormwater runoff;
• Raising Site grades and import of clean fill;
• Capping the Site with buildings, roads, pathways, and other hardscape;
• Slurry wall construction to mitigate potential petroleum discharges to San Francisco Bay;
• Landscaping as either common area maintained by the homeowner’s association or public openspace/parkland maintained by the City, in areas not covered with permanent, hardscapedfacilities; and
• Institutional controls prohibiting residents and visitors from excavating on the Site.

     The watchdog group Brickyard Cove Alliance for Responsible Development has already voiced concerns that this latest iteration of a cleanup plan falls well short of ensuring that the site would be safe. Members of BCARD oppose the current plan as designed and are expected to address the board with details their concerns.
     Among those concerns is that the proposed slurry wall is inadequate to prevent pollutants to escape into San Francisco Bay - a contention supported by environmental consultants GEI of Oakland.
     Also at issue is how to successfully mitigate possible chemical vapor intrusion from the ground below into homes - and the air.
     While the proposed cleanup plan calls for "Capping the Site" (see list above), BCARD is concerned that utility lines and various other underground infrastructure could provide pathways for toxins in the soil to waft to the surface.
     Last November, a community meeting about the proposed Terminal One project drew a crowd of at least 100 people to a Saturday morning session at the Richmond Yacht Club. (See Environmental problems, design issues and parking dominate Terminal One meeting.)

November meeting at RYC

CONTACTS:
City of Richmond, Lina Velasco, planner
EMAIL: Lina Velasco

Regional Water Quality Control Board, Jeffrey White
EMAIL: Jeffrey White

Laconia LLC (developer), Cleve Livingston
EMAIL: Cleve Livingston