City officials are awaiting a decision by the county Registrar of Voters following a petition effort earlier this month by a who hope to force the city to revoke a development agreement between Albany officials and the University of California.
The City Council with the university in July. The university hopes to work with private companies to build a Whole Foods store and senior housing at .
The petition-organizing group, Keep Albany Local, said, via its Facebook page, that it collected more than 1,400 signatures within 10 days. The group thanked Occupy the Farm and the Albany Farm Alliance for help collecting the signatures: "we could not have done this without your support."
City Clerk Nicole Almaguer said Tuesday that the specific language of the petition is confidential, but that the group "basically asks for the City Council to reconsider the development agreement."
She said a synopsis of some of the language of the petition may be provided to council members if the issue comes back before them.
Almaguer said the city received the petition on Aug. 16 and counted 1,392 signatures with corresponding Albany addresses. She turned the petition over to the county the following day.
The county registrar will now determine how many of those signatures correspond with registered Albany voters; a total of 993 signatures, or 10 percent of the city's total registered voters as of the last election, will be required for verification.
As of Tuesday, the city was waiting to hear back from the county. Almaguer said, if the petition is verified, it is tentatively scheduled to return before the council in October.
If this happens, the council will be required to take action on the petition; council members could either decide to rescind the ordinance by their own action or submit it to the voters, said Almaguer.
If submitted to the voters, it would likely require a special election in the spring of 2013. (This would be up to the county registrar to schedule.)
A PDF handed out by one petition-collector is attached to this story above, following a PDF created by the university describing the project.
The city is also facing two lawsuits, both filed in August, related to the mixed-use project: one, filed by members of Albany Strollers & Rollers and Carbon Neutral Albany, related to mitigation measures such as cycling lanes, paths and solar panels; the other, filed by Albany resident Eric Larsen, related to the project's Environmental Impact Report.
Albany Patch readers posted hundreds of comments earlier this month on posts related to the referendum effort. Click the links below to see what your neighbors had to say, then let us know what you think about the effort in the comments below.
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Click the "Keep me posted" button below for an update when we publish future stories on the Whole Foods project. Learn about the proposed Whole Foods and senior housing development here.
If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at albany@patch.com.
By the way, "Keep Albany Local", where in Albany should I be shopping for my organic produce and gourmet specialty foods? Should I get in my car and drive to Berkeley? Are all those out of town signature gatherers going to pay my increase in property tax to make up for the loss of this city revenue.
That's like telling Americans we're going to have a Constitutional Amendment on (fill in the blank), but not telling the Americans how the amendment is worded.
------------------------------------- “To the Honorable City Council of the City of Albany, We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Albany hereby protest the adoption of Ordinance #2012-04, ‘An Ordinance of the City of Albany City Council Approving University Village Mixed Use Project Development Agreement’ adopted on July 16, 2012, and petition the City Council to either rescind its approval of said ordinance or submit the same to the voters of Albany for their adoption or rejection at an election in accordance with state law. The full text of said ordinance is attached to this sheet as part of this petition.” ----------------------------- An additional thing I noticed on their page. They say that as of July 17th they had the signature amount mentioned above, turned in AND approved. If that was the case, WHY did petition takers tell me in early August that they were short on signatures needed? (I had someone come to my door AND another person approach me at the Farmers Market with the same story). Something's not correct somewhere.
A successful project would be a huge boost to the city in terms of visibility (gateway to Albany to attract others to the area who will shop at other Albany stores), tax revenue (yes, non-Albany residents, there are such facts of reality as funding the city budget and services for Albany residents - sorry, we don't live in a utopian farming community) and clean up that derelict part of San Pablo Ave. And of course, a quality retailer within walking distance and care for seniors are big pluses For those who say a Whole Foods is somehow "inappropriate" for Albanians - why? Yes, it tends to be a bit pricier than other fine grocery stores, but obviously, it appeals to many people (see Berkeley's WF) and does have quality goods, some at decent prices (their house brand is competitive in price w/ Trader Joe's , Safeway O, etc.). For those who complain about the cost of the proposed senior care - it's assisted living/healthcare, NOT senior apartments, so please understand that the cost of healthcare is not cheap. From what I've seen of the OTF and this group, they seem to live in some fantasy world that doesn't include the realities of everyday life.
In full disclosure, I was a “member” of both AS&R and C0A but resigned upon hearing of the legal action which was determined to be necessary by the leaders of these groups. The lack of opportunity for discussion by the membership before taking action was disturbing.
Strollers&Rollers/C0A suit: RG12644244 Eric Larsen suit: RG12644349 For each suit, the “Register of Actions” on the left lists actions and doc images. To read a multi-page doc you have to click each page number of the filing, on the left side of the document viewer. Case management dates are Oct 31 and Nov 5. Preston Jordan signed a (Strollers suit) request for a different judge than the assigned Evelio Grillo (granted). Grillo is also assigned the Larsen case.
As for Alameda County "giving" permission? The signatures need to be verified with the Country Voter's Registrar. That is something Albany CANNOT do. We're not obliged by Berkeley-specific laws, but we do have to abide by county and state laws. The referendum process, no matter how we may agree or disagree with this particular referendum, is part of the democratic process, and must be respected.
projects do take longer when developers do not plan in accordance with zoning. aside from allowing an oversized development, what else has the city done to improve the business climate?
your solution for empty storefronts in albany is to build more retail space? keep albany local is a group of albany residents also supported by people in berkeley and el cerrito. suggesting otherwise is misrepresenting facts. you assert that the people you disagree with want to "further their own personal agenda." any facts to prove your assertion? are you saying that the vocal supporters of the project do not have a personal agenda? some people oppose whole foods, most oppose the size of the entire project and want to see a smaller, albany sized, whole foods. a more appropriate sized project would accomplish most of the big pluses. belmont village has been presented as "senior housing" by proponents of the project, the misinformation is coming from the developer and the city council on this point. your last sentence is just a silly aspersion. i think that people who feel more comfortable with pollution, cars and concrete over clean air, walking and grass are the ones who prefer to live in an illusion over the reality of what the earth is.
how much has albany spent promoting uc's project? is uc repaying for costs?
the city council decisions were absurd and the resulting organizing of community members was a waste of all our time and money. albany needs sensible economic development that maintains our small town feel. the decision to ok such a large project with minimal ammenities for albany was short sighted. time to discuss the project on its merits and shortcomings.
That doesn't seem like a lot unless I contrast it with the loss of revenue to the city over at least the next 30 years and the loss of opportunity for me so stay in Albany when I am no longer able to live alone to say nothing of the damage to the good relationship between UC and the Little League. What a shame.
Best I can tell the lawsuit boils down to Nick Pilch, David Arkin and Preston Jordan not getting solar panels on the project and the bike lanes being not to there liking. Is that what you hear?
If you have forgotten, you previously commented on Peggy McQuaid's post where she states clearly,"In full disclosure, I was a “member” of both AS&R and C0A but resigned upon hearing of the legal action which was determined to be necessary by the leaders of these groups. The lack of opportunity for discussion by the membership before taking action was disturbing." No need for you to go making trouble by slinging mud on those who have already washed their hands of the organizations bringing suit.
It's worth mentioning that emails Aug 17 and shortly thereafter from Preston Jordan and a few others were the first news about a possible lawsuit to many, if not all, on the C0A listserv. There was no mention of Responsibile Government Action Group to the listserv. The board decided to sue without any advance notice to the C0A listserv.