Message from the Mayor: Update on the Waterfront Rezoning Process
Fellow Residents;
A short update on an important development regarding the waterfront.
The Waterfront Rezoning Committee, a group of residents appointed by the Board of Trustees, has been at work for a year successfully devising a strategy to describe the path forward for rezoning the 42 acres of waterfront property currently under various stages of remediation of pollution from their industrial past. This strategy work included identifying the role and requirements for a planning consultant that would assist the Waterfront Rezoning Committee to take the next steps in carrying out the studies, analysis and public engagement that would culminate in a recommendation for the rezoning of the waterfront. That requirement was formalized into what is known as a Request for Proposal, which was then distributed to a large number of planning consultancies, as well as posted on various websites. Responses were due by March 15th.
Last week, we received word from BP Arco that the negotiations with the developer, SunCal, that they were seeking to engage in a combination of remediation and development, have stopped and that BP Arco and SunCal have parted ways. This poses an immediate problem to the RFP process underway since we had anticipated a large portion of the substantial cost associated with hiring a planning consultant would be covered by the developers. With the cessation of these negotiations, a primary counterparty has now disappeared. We have examined several alternatives for funding the work over the last week, and have concluded that no resolution is likely within a short time frame. There is no sense proceeding with the RFP process until we resolve the issue of how this work will now be funded. As a result, we will be reaching out today to the planning consultancies that have been engaged in this RFP and inform them that the RFP process is suspended for three months as we review our alternatives regarding funding.
The Waterfront Rezoning Committee has carried this effort as far as it can go without the outside assistance of a planning consultant. Their activities will pause for this period as well until it makes sense for them to start meeting again to discuss next steps. Much good work has been done to date, and we look forward to restarting this critical process when these issues are resolved.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski
Mayor