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Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending March 9^th, 2007.

1.         Meeting Notes

The next City Council meeting will be on Tuesday, March 20^th.  Note that the Redevelopment strategic planning meeting is confirmed for Saturday, March 24^th (see item 2 below) and a Study Session only meeting will occur on Tuesday, March 27^th.  In the meantime, enjoy a meeting free Tuesday next week.

2.         Redevelopment Agency Strategic Planning Retreat

A Redevelopment Agency Strategic Planning and Budget Priorities Retreat has been set for Saturday, March 24^th from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM in Richmond at a location to be determined.  The City’s General Plan Consultant, MIG, will facilitate a discussion on how, where and when to spend anticipated bond proceeds over the next several years.  Policy and strategic direction given at this retreat will be reflected in the upcoming Agency capital spending plan.  The City Council/Agency Board and key City and Agency staff will participate in what is planned to be a creative and strategic prioritization process.

3.         Update on Community Survey

Distribution of the community survey that has been authorized by the City Council will begin during the week of March 26^th, rather than mid-February as originally anticipated.  This delay was due mainly to the difficulty that the National Research Center had in making sure that the 3,000 randomly selected households were in the City of Richmond and not the Cities of El Cerrito, San Pablo, or the unincorporated County area.  Also, the level of customization that the City required, as well as the translations, delayed the process.  This means that the City Council will see preliminary survey results in the week of May 21^st. 

4.         Community Forum – Permit Process Review

This past Friday morning, Vice-Mayor Bates served as master of ceremonies for a community forum, primarily of the business community, regarding the planning and building permitting process in the City.  There was some good input regarding the expectations of the business community regarding these processes, and a stated commitment on the part of Councilmembers and staff that were in attendance to improve these processes.  We will keep you informed as these improvement efforts move forward at the staff level.

5.         Status Report on the Completion of the Growth Management Checklist

The Growth Management checklist is a biennial requirement of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) in order for the City of Richmond to receive its fiscal year 2005-06 allocation of Local Street Maintenance and Improvement Funds.  The in-house responsibility for completing this checklist is with the Planning and Engineering Departments.  The checklist asks a variety of questions related to the housing element, action plans associated with the City’s General Plan, capital improvement program, traffic circulation, and “maintenance of effort” requirements.  One of the requirements on this year’s checklist is to update the traffic counts at 150 of the City’s intersections in order to show compliance with the traffic level-of-service element.  These traffic counts are currently being done by a consultant and should be completed by the last week in March.  The City’s “maintenance of effort” numbers, which demonstrate that the City is continuing to allocate a certain minimum amount of money on streets and roads, are still being analyzed by the Finance Departmen, and those should also be available by the end of March.  The checklist needs to be accepted by the City Council before it is submitted to CCTA, and it is currently scheduled to go to the Council by May 1^st.

6.         Target Moving Forward – Montgomery Ward is Disappearing

As you will recall, a new reciprocal use agreement between Target and Richard Lompa allowed the Redevelopment Agency Board to abandon the eminent domain process on the old “no-build zone” associated with the Lompa property.  As a result, the old Montgomery Ward building is currently being demolished so that the new Target can be built.  The new Target is scheduled to open in about one year. 

7.         Wal-Mart “Job and Opportunity Zone”

Staff met this past week with representatives from Wal-Mart to discuss their “Job and Opportunity Zone” and “Charitable Giving” programs as they relate to opportunities for Richmond residents and small businesses.  Wal-Mart will be collaborating with the Employment & Training Department and the Office of Economic Development, as well as directly with other business and community stakeholders, to determine how and where to focus their efforts.  Wal-Mart will be choosing five small businesses to which they can provide assistance in product marketing opportunities. They are also looking at various youth-benefiting philanthropic opportunities in Richmond. The Wal-Mart store at Hilltop Mall is scheduled to open in April.

8.         Point Richmond Shores Update

As you will recall, the third design charrette for the Point Richmond Shores Project (Terminal One) was completed on February 24^th.  At that time, the consensus of the participants seemed to be that the charrette process was successful in leading to an improved project.  Since that third charrette meeting, staff has met on several occasions with Toll Brothers to discuss with them the next step in the approval process.  We are interested in keeping the commitment that was made to the City Council before the charrette process started that the project would return to the Council in March; however, Toll Brothers has indicated that the scope of the project design changes will take several more weeks to complete in enough detail that the Council can provide a project approval.  Thus, after discussions with Toll, staff is proposing a two-step process that will first have the conceptual design that was finalized at the last charrette meeting presented to the Council on March 20^th.  This will be accompanied by a timetable and identification of submittal requirements that can lead to the second step, which is Council consideration of final approval of the project in several weeks.

9.         Cinco de Mayo Planning Meeting

This past Thursday, a multi-city (Richmond and San Pablo), multi-department (Police, Fire, Public Works, Redevelopment, and Recreation) planning meeting for Cinco de Mayo was held, with Councilmembers Marquez and Lopez in attendance.  The meeting was very successful in terms of making sure the “big picture” concerning the various events, street closures, security, set-up, and take-down, etc., was well understood by all those who will plan and assist in this event.  The smaller Cinco de Mayo planning group will continue to meet on a regular basis to finalize the details of what should be a festive, and safe, family event.

10.       Update on Proposal for BMX Track in the City of Richmond

As you may recall, Stephen Blodgett made a presentation to the City Council several months ago during “Public Comment” regarding his concept to locate a BMX track on BNSF property at the western base of the Greenway trail.  Following up on that presentation, Monique le Conge and I met with Mr. Blodgett, together with Michael Hobelman, the local terminal manager from BNSF, to discuss more details about his proposal.  We met again today following a visit to the site by Mr. Hobelman, and City staff confirmation of local zoning.  Following another discussion, we agreed that the particular site at the western base of the Greenway trail would probably not be suitable due to the proximity of the site to residential areas.  However, we suggested that the East Bay Sports Facility, which is being planned by a joint powers authority that includes Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany, and Berkeley, and is located adjacent to the Bay Trail and has available parking, might be a good alternative site.  Mr. Blodgett agreed to explore this possibility.  Again, this is no more than a concept at this stage, but, as always, I would welcome your input.

11.       KCRT Documents the City Hall Renovation

In addition to regular production, KCRT staff is documenting the renovation of City Hall.  They have created a slide show on kcrt.com and are changing the pictures out weekly.  As the project progresses, they are also doing interviews with the project managers and technical engineers on different aspects of the construction, and, in particular, the water containment system for the basement.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these or any other items of interest to you.

Spring forward and have a great week!

Bill Lindsay

City Manager

City of Richmond

1401 Marina Way South

Richmond, CA 94804

Phone:  510-620-6512

Fax:      510-620-6542

e-mail:   bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us