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| Not unexpectedly, press coverage of the proposed Point Molate falls dramatically short by not providing the complete context and ignoring highly important issues, including the future of Winehaven, how a park would be funded, what improvement would be provided and when, if ever, it would become accessible to the public.
The proposed sale involves only the 81.56 acres previously designated as “developable,” shown below in orange. The remaining 194 acres, shown below in green and blue, are owned by the City of Richmond but not part of the sale. In the previous settlement agreement, the City retained 70 percent of the Point Molate land area as “open space.” It could be presumed that the intent is to ultimately convey those 194 acres to the East Bay Regional Parks District, but there has been no public discussion or official action. Several years ago, I introduced an agenda item to approve such a transfer, but the City Council voted it down.
A significant portion (67 acres) of the total 82 acres (Point Molate Mixed-Use Development Project SEIR, 4.4.31) constitutes the Winehaven Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Winehaven is a significant historic resource, once the epicenter of the California wine industry and the largest winery in the world. For more on Winehaven history, see:
There has been no public discussion of what the East Bay Regional Parks District would do with the dozens of historic structures in the Winehaven Historic District. One of the salient elements of the rejected development plan for Point Molate was complete rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the Winehaven buildings.
The Richmond City Council and its partner, the Point Molate Alliance has been openly contemptuous of Winehaven’s historic significance (See What Does 2024 Hold for Point Molate and Winehaven?)
City Council member Doria Robinson wrote, comparing Winehaven to the fire-destroyed International Hotel:
Winehaven doesn’t have the same multilayered historical resonance, was only operating a few years and is removed from community members.
Jeff Kilbreth, acknowledged by the RPA and PMA as their go-to guru on Point Molate real estate economics told the Grandview Independent:
Part of the problem of moving toward a resolution is an illusion that Winehaven can be turned into a successful development and cover renovation costs, said Jeff Kilbreth. “I honestly suspect that the best thing that could happen would be if we bulldozed Winehaven and made it all a park. Call me crazy, but I actually think that it’s so deteriorated and so expensive to make that place work as any kind of normal development,” Kilbreth said.
As this proposed sale moves forward, I hope that both the public and the press will hold the East Bay Regional Parks District accountable to provide more information regarding their plans for a park at Point Molate.
Another thing the press has never really covered is how former Mayor Gayle McLaughlin caused the entire Point Molate fiasco by violating the covenant of good faith and fair dealing . The Ninth Circuit, on appeal, sent this case back to the District Court for only one reason – Gayle McLaughlin used poor judgment and co-mingled her personal communications with the Mayor’s office.
After a previous complete victory in the United States District Court of Northern California, the City of Richmond was dealt a setback in August of 2017 when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals announced the Decision from the Ninth Circuit in the Upstream Pt Molate litigation.:
The Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) contains plausible allegations that the City violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by interfering with Appellants’ ability to obtain federal approval for the casino, thereby preventing Appellants from satisfying a condition precedent of the LDA. The TAC alleges that, beginning in 2009, the City, through Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Contra Costa County, and various public officials including the Governor of the State of California and United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, to encourage them to deny, delay, or otherwise oppose the Tribe’s quest to obtain the necessary federal and state approvals for gaming.
Appellants allege that this pressure delayed the federal approval process—a condition precedent of the LDA —sufficiently that the City abandoned the project in April 2011 in part because “[w]ithout these Federal approvals, a casino use at Point Molate is not legally permitted.” Resolution No. 23-11. Appellants further allege that the City’s pressure ultimately led the Department of the Interior (“DOI”)to determine in September 2011 that the Point Molate property
was not eligible for gaming.
The TAC contains some of the alleged interfering communications from Mayor McLaughlin wherein she identifies herself as the Mayor acting on behalf of the City of Richmond. These allegations present an issue of fact concerning whether the Mayor was acting in her official capacity and are sufficient to plead a plausible claim of breach of the implied covenant of good faith attributable to the City
We therefore conclude that the TAC states a plausible claim that, by preventing the occurrence of the condition precedent and relying partially on the non-occurrence to deny the casino project and avoid carrying out the purpose of the LDA, the City breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing when it promulgated Resolution 23-11 and discontinued consideration of a casino use for Point Molate.
Richmond’s Point Molate on track to becoming parkland thanks to $40 million deal
East Bay Regional Park District plans to purchase the land from local tribe largely with state grant
By SIERRA LOPEZ | slopez@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
UPDATED: July 12, 2024 at 5:11 p.m.
RICHMOND – After years of failed planning and legal fights, some of which are ongoing, Richmond’s Point Molate could soon become part of the East Bay Regional Park District following a $40 million deal negotiated between the city, parks district and Guidiville Tribe.
The Richmond City Council on Friday vote 5-0, with Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez and Councilmember Soheila Bana both absent, to approve the deal during a special meeting. If all hurdles are cleared, the parks district will take ownership of 81.6 acres of Point Molate, a former U.S. Navy fuel storage and transfer site located on the San Pablo Peninsula not far from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
“We all together are going to develop a world class, crown jewel of shoreline parks in the Bay Area, I have no doubt of that,” EPRPD Board Member Colin Coffey said. “The fun starts when we get to design, all of us, everyone in this room, a world class park with our planners.”
The park district’s board of directors plan to vote on the deal on Tuesday, Coffey said. The California Coastal Coastal Conservancy is then expected to weigh in this September, with escrow closing sometime in November or early December, depending on the agency’s decision, Richmond City Attorney David Aleshire said.
A $36 million state grant will be used to purchase the property for $40 million. Under a previous agreement, the sale revenue would’ve been split evenly between the city and tribe. But the council agreed to give up the city’s $20 million share after the tribe’s negotiating team said the land was worth more than $50 million and argued the entities could get more from a developer, Aleshire said.
Ultimately, Aleshire said, relinquishing the city’s cut enabled the deal to go through, bringing to fruition a long-held dream of the council and some community members for the land to be preserved as public open space. The deal also puts an end to various maintenance and security costs and a litigious relationship with the Ukiah-based tribe, Aleshire added.
The tribe sued the city in 2012 after plans to develop a mega-casino complex were rejected both by Richmond voters and the City Council. A federal judge formally nixed the casino plan in a 2018 court ruling. But a settlement agreement allowed the Guidiville Tribe of Pomo Indians and its developer, Upstream Point Molate LLC, to purchase the land for $400.
Under the agreement, the tribe had a total of five years to find a developer to purchase the land before it returned to city ownership. Three years remain before that time elapses, but Aleshire said another development proposal could mean more legal battles for the city and it’s unclear whether a deal like the one put before the council would still be available down the road.
“It’s remarkable that in two years we’ve been able to accomplish this but it has been, certainly, a challenge,” Aleshire said Friday.
Before the vote, former Richmond Mayor Tom Butt criticized the deal, saying the City Council was “depriving” the city of $20 million and that “Point Molate remains off limits indefinitely to the public except for the beach park.”
There is “no plan, schedule or funding for improvements required to open up Point Molate as a park,” Butt wrote Thursday in his emailed newsletter.
The city’s legal troubles over the land are not over. A lawsuit filed against the city by Winehaven Legacy LLC., a Delaware-based development company that sought to build 1,450 homes and 400,000 square feet of commercial space in the area, drags on. The company’s 2020 proposal also called for rehabilitating historic structures in the the 47-acre Winehaven Historic District, recognized at the state and federal level as the largest winery in the U.S. before Prohibition.
Winehaven Legacy claims they were unable to obtain necessary financing because the city stalled the project, according to legal filings. Aleshire said the developer failed to provide updated financial plans requested by the council that proved the project wouldn’t have had a negative impact on the city’s general fund, giving the council grounds for denying the project.
Winehaven Legacy attempted to stall the most recent deal with the park district by seeking an injunction but were unsuccessful in court, Aleshire said.
They were also dealt an earlier legal blow. The City Council’s 2020 approval of the environmental review was successfully challenged in court, meaning Winehaven Legacy would have had to go through the rigorous process all over again, even before Friday’s vote to eventually turn Point Molate into parkland.
Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin, a longtime supporter of retaining Point Molate as public open space, lauded those who “fought long and hard” to bring that dream to life. The deal, she said, will save the city millions in the future while providing the community with educational and recreational opportunities, and improving and preserving the local environment.
“We can now put all the chaos behind us as we usher in a new era,” McLaughlin said. |
