Politics & Government

Redevelopment Still Clouded in El Cerrito

The El Cerrito City Council last night, Tuesday, voted to assume the housing responsibilities of the city's about-to-die Redevelopment Agency, but the future of housing and other redevelopment projects remained uncertain.

Questions seemed to outnumber answers last night, Tuesday, as the El Cerrito City Council sought to pick up the pieces left by the state axing the state's approximately 400 local Redevelopment Agencies.

The five-member council voted 5-0 to accept a staff recommendation for the city to assume the El Cerrito .

The council also unanimously approved a list of loan payments and other expenditures formerly handled by the Redevelopment Agency that would become the responsibility of the city, as the successor to the agency, assuming the state, a yet-to-be-seated oversight board and the Contra Costa County auditor don't challenge what the city claims it can keep.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

City officials acknowledged that they're not sure yet how the new redevelopment landscape will shape up. Several projects sponsored by the city's Redevelopment Agency – including a next to City Hall – are still on the drawing boards, and it's not clear which ones would be able to proceed.

Nor was it certain whether city employees could lose jobs. The salaries of three members of the city staff are paid from Redevelopment Agency funds, and while the salaries were approved by the council in the list of "enforceable obligation payments" of the agency that need to be paid after the agency is dissolved, there was acknowledgement that some of the items on the list could be vulnerable to legal or administrative challenges from other agencies. The city staff report on the issue, including the list of enforceable obligation payments, is attached to this article.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The three employees paid from Redevelopment Agency funds are Lori Treviño, Redevelopment Manager; Hilde Myall, Senior Housing Program Manager; and Dwayne Dalman, Senior Economic Development Program Manager.

"There's still not clarity on a number of issues," Mayor Bill Jones said during council discussion.

Attorney Karen Tiedemann, special counsel to the city on redevelopment issues, told the council that state law governing the break-up of Redevelopment Agencies suffers from inconsistency and that the implementation and oversight process is not clearly spelled out.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions," she said.

City Manager Scott Hanin told reporters before the meeting that the staff is seeking more clarity on the impacts and will continue its analysis in preparation for a detailed council look on Feb. 21 at the future of redevelopment funding in El Cerrito.

The upheaval of Redevelopment Agencies in California was precipitated in July with the enactment of two state laws that were part of the plan to balance the state budget. AB1x26 dissolved local Redevelopment Agencies in the state, and AB1x27 gave cities an option to keep their agency by making annual payments. 

The League of California Cities and the California Redevelopment Association sued to block the state's action, and the El Cerrito City Council to keep its Redevelopment Agency. The state Supreme Court's ruling on Dec. 29 upheld the agencies' dissolution while striking down the pay-to-keep option. Under the ruling, the agencies are to be dissolved effective Feb. 1.

Council supports extension of Feb. 1 deadline

In a related action, the council voted unanimously for Mayor Jones to send a letter supporting a proposed state law, SB 659, that would temporarily postpone the scheduled Feb.  1 date to dissolve the state's redevelopment agencies. The letter is attached to this article.

Final approval Tuesday night council meetings

The council approved the second and final reading of an amended city ordinance to move the council's regular meeting from Monday at 7:30 p.m. to Tuesday at 7 p.m. The council first voted on Nov. 21 to make the switch, which breaks a 76-year tradition of meeting on Monday. The switch takes effect in 30 days, and the first meeting held under the new Tuesday schedule will be Feb. 21.

To see past articles on the city's Redevelopment Agency, please click "El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency" next to Related Topics below.


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