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Members of ULI were present and addressed the council about how they work, and members of the public also contributed to the discussion. Drummond Buckley, director of planning, presented the staff report and told the council that letters have been sent to all downtown property owners seeking their input.
The cost for a technical advisory panel (TAP) by ULI is $15,000, which some speakers and council members consider a bargain. Mainstreet America would charge $18,000 plus $3,000 for transportation costs. Buckley, who has had numerous conversations with the head of Mainstreet America, thought that their work would be complementary to ULI's work. Mainstreet America would provide market analysis, a transformational strategy development service and an updated retail "leakage" study in about 90 days.
City Manager Janet Keeter said that she thought that both projects could be funded with money reserved for the Orinda General Plan update insofar as it pertains to downtown. A question was raised about Mayor Victoria Smith's potential conflict of interest as she rents office space in downtown, but she said that she had consulted the Fair Political Practices Commission, and, based on their response, determined that this would not constitute a conflict; she declined to recuse herself.
ULI San Francisco Executive Director Dana Van Galder brought another ULI staff member and two volunteers to the meeting to answer questions from the council. Philips questioned each of the four as to whether they represented developers. While one, volunteer Alan Talansky, is a developer, he stressed that multidisciplinary professionals who volunteer their time to work on TAPs agree that they will engage in no business with the community, so there is no potential conflict of interest.
The council asked the ULI representatives if they have worked on cities similar to Orinda. They mentioned Hercules, the Point Molate area of Richmond, Concord and Brisbane. Brisbane is quite similar to Orinda in size, but not in composition. Brisbane had a large industrial center which, since the recession, was almost vacant and the city was almost bankrupt. There was no downtown grocery store, no drug store, no gas stations, and only lunch restaurants. The Brisbane TAP recommended bringing in more housing downtown to create clientele for the amenities that the city wants to attract.
Council member Amy Worth pointed to the development of Todos Santos Plaza in Concord and noted that Hercules has big retail developments. She wondered what Orinda can do to attract retailers. Council member Darlene Gee wondered how the city can interact with stakeholders and was interested in options. She was in favor of going forward with both ULI and Mainstreet America, noting that the city could obtain great advice with no commitment. Councilmember Dean Orr asked if ULI had ever worked with Mainstreet America. ULI responded that the San Francisco ULI has not, but she believed that the national ULI has and that there is a lot of compatibility.
Orr was wholly in favor of moving forward, and said that the ULI TAP would be his first priority. Smith was very impressed with the presentation by ULI. She found them to be very San Francisco-based, which is important to her. She was also interested in Mainstreet America regarding economic development and preservation of historic buildings.
In public comments, Daniel De Busschere suggested that Orinda first address the economic issues. He wondered why 25 Orinda Way cannot get tenants, and whether the internet is killing brick and mortar stores. Chet Martine opined that parking and traffic are key issues, and blamed Highway 24 and BART. He also brought up the potential earthquake danger with three sets of high voltage transmission lines over Orinda.
Hillary Murphy of What's Up with Downtown Orinda urged the council to keep the momentum going, and not to allow fear to keep Orinda from moving forward. It is clear, she said, that after 30 years Orinda can't develop downtown on its own, and said that the price of the ULI TAP was a gift falling into the city's lap. Jud Hammond agreed that he liked the idea of both ULI and Mainstreet America and that for not much money it would be a good starting point to use both.
After receiving directions from the council, Buckley said that he believed that staff could quickly return with proposals for going forward with both ULI and Mainstreet America, perhaps in as little as two weeks.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA