Council Grants Final Proceeds From Former Redevelopment Agency

The End Of The Redevelopment Agency:

Center Of Community Life Gets $21 Million, The Rest Of The Town To Share $3 Million

The Emeryville city council has finally brought to a close the torturous and circuitous path of the money left over from the former Emeryville Redevelopment Agency.  Last Tuesday, with the State of California's OK, the council voted to spend the former Redevelopment Agency's final $24.5 million; the lion's share going to the Center of Community Life.  The Center, a schools/community project on San Pablo Avenue will get $21.2 million and the remaining $3.3 million will be shared by the proposed Arts Center at the Civic Center, the bike/pedestrian bridge across the railroad tracks at Bay Street and Wareham Development's Transit Center on Hollis Street.

The council reserved the right to decide later about how to dole out the $3.3 million for the three projects.  That money, apportioned for the Arts Center, the Transit Center and the bike/ped bridge will not be enough to complete any of the projects, no matter how the council decides on how to allot it among them, it should be noted.

The $24.5 million left standing from the Redevelopment Agency is but a whisper of its previous prodigious self when the Agency was still extant and flush with tax increment proceeds.  The take-over of redevelopment agencies across the State netted a lawsuit from the City of Emeryville recently.   After a protracted back and forth with Emeryville and other towns, Sacramento finally passed Assembly Bill 1484 releasing some of the unspent bond proceeds from the former Redevelopment Agency.  In Emeryville's case, that amounted to $24.5 million.  The council then voted on the beneficiaries of the last of the money and entered their intentions with the State, who now has 45 days to approve the plan.  City officials told the Tattler the approval will likely be a formality.

The list of four capital improvements was reduced by the so-called Successor Agency that replaced the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency from a wish list of more than $200 million worth of improvements formerly in the capital improvements program.  The wish list, vetted by the residents in two Saturday pivotal meetings some years back, included the Arts Center, the Bike/Ped Bridge but not the Transit Center.  Many other projects identified by residents and placed in the program, including two other major bike/ped bridges in town and a large central park, didn't make the cut by the Successor Agency and the Oversight Board set up by the State to wind down the Redevelopment Agency.

The former Redevelopment Agency funded its capital improvement programs with proceeds from improved receipts by virtue of the fact that the projects it funded increased their property value and the increase meant higher taxes paid to the Agency.  Those increases are called tax increments.  Sacramento seized redevelopment agencies statewide since provisions in their charters defunded schools and other municipal essentials causing Sacramento to pick up the slack.  The State budget crisis prompted the action.

The Center of Community Life, a school and community center will use the $21 million to build the community part of the project including a new recreation center and possibly a library, located on the San Pablo Avenue site.
The schools portion of the project has been experiencing major funding problems owing to the reduced bond capacity of Emeryville.  Some $48 million has been raised so far to replace the existing high school but School District officials are seeking an extra $20 million to close the existing elementary school and consolidate it in a "co-location" with the high school.  The District is considering using a controversial bond financing scheme that would mean a $107 million payback Emeryville taxpayers would have to make on that last $20 million to close the elementary school.