RESOLUTION NO. _______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COMMERCE, DECLARING THE CITY-OWNED REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT 6364 ZINDELL AVENUE EXEMPT SURPLUS LAND PURSUANT TO CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54221(f)(1)(C) WHEREAS, the City of Commerce ("City") owns real property, commonly known as Veterans Memorial Park, located at 6364 Zindell Avenue (APNs: 6357-019-904, 6357-019-905, 6357-018-900) in the City ("Existing Property"); WHEREAS, Comstock Gage LLC (“Developer”) owns adjacent undeveloped real property located at 7316 East Gage Avenue in the City of Commerce, identified (APN 6357-018-005) (“Comstock Property”); WHEREAS, the Existing Property and Comstock Property both require remediation due to their location over closed, former landfills; WHEREAS, Developer has applied to the City to develop on the Comstock Property and Existing Property a modern, urban village, mixed-use development with up to 850 residential units, up to 165,000 square feet of entertainment, essential neighborhood serving uses such as grocery, pharmacy, and movie theater, and new, state of the art public amenities including a new community center, sports complex, and open parkland (“Project”); WHEREAS, the City, in accordance with its adopted General Plan, desires to have hazardous sites remediated, promote the development of housing and neighborhood serving retail to meet existing and future City needs, improve the appearance and utility of parkland in the City, create additional greenspace, and develop an area devoted to active family recreation; WHEREAS, in order to achieve these significant community benefits and permit implementation of the Project, the City desires to exchange part of the Existing Property for part of the Comstock Property such that, following the exchange, the City will own the parcel identified as Lot 2 (“Exchange Property”) on Vesting Tentative Tract Map No. 83334, which is attached hereto as Exhibit A for reference; WHEREAS, before the City may take any action to dispose of the Existing Property, the Surplus Land Act (California Government Code section 54220 et seq.) requires the Council to take formal action at a regular public meeting to declare the Existing Property exempt surplus land, as supported by written findings.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COMMERCE DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
The foregoing recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference.
Section 1. EXEMPT SURPLUS LAND
Government Code section 54221(f)(1)(C) provides that City-owned property exchanged for property necessary for agency use is exempt surplus land not required to be made available for potential acquisition by affordable housing sponsors or other local public entities. The City has determined that the Existing Property is exempt surplus land because it will be exchanged for property necessary for City use, for the reasons explained herein. Before disposing of the Existing Property, the Council makes the following written findings supporting this determination that the Property is exempt surplus land.
The Exchange Property is necessary for City use. The Existing Property contains a community center that is decommissioned and a public park – Veterans Memorial Park – that is in need of serious repairs and upgrades. The existing community center structure was compromised due to soil compaction since the 1960s related to the Property’s prior use as landfills. The only way to remedy the situation is to demolish the structure and replace the soil to allow for buildings with a stronger and more stable foundation. In addition, due to the Property’s former use as landfills, the Property itself needs to be remediated. The remediation will involve excavating and removing the impacted soil under the oversight of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. As conditions of approval for the Project, Comstock will, at Comstock’s sole expense, remediate the Exchange Property (as well as the remainder of the Project site); Comstock will develop, and contribute $12,000,000 towards the development costs of, the City’s newly-acquired Exchange Property with a new public community center, sports fields, open parkland and other publicly accessible amenities, including walking and bicycle paths; Comstock will construct the necessary onsite and offsite infrastructure for operation of the Exchange Property; and Comstock will develop and landscape the Project so that the site, including the Exchange Property, appears as a unified development with seamless transitions between the public and private spaces. The new community center on the Exchange Property will be a contemporary, progressive, “model”, Class A, LEED certified structure providing a diverse programming space for the City’s Department of Parks & Recreation and may include community event spaces, a daycare, a performance space for youth and adult programs, teen, young children, and senior programming areas, and a contemporary library/technology space for students and citizens. The City does not have the financial resources or capacity to remediate the Existing Property or develop new or enhanced community facilities on the scale proposed by the Project without a public-private partnership. Without the proposed land exchange, none of the significant community benefits described would be realized and the Existing Property would remain underutilized and un-remediated in its current state of distress. In light of the foregoing, the Exchange Parcel is thus necessary for the City's use and the land exchange constitutes a reasonable and equitable exchange.
The Exchange Property is required to achieve the goals and objectives outlined in the City’s General Plan. The General Plan identifies goals and objectives intended to promote the development of housing and neighborhood serving retail such as grocery stores to meet existing and future City needs, improve the appearance and utility of parkland in the City, create additional greenspace, and develop areas devoted to active family recreation. The City will be unable to realize and achieve these goals without the City’s acquisition of the Exchange Property to allow for implementation of the Project, since the Project, as outlined above, incorporates all of these key features.
Section 2. Based upon the above findings, the City Council of the City of Commerce determines that the real property located at 6364 Zindell Avenue is Exempt Surplus Land pursuant to California Government Code Section 54221(f)(1)(c).
Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect upon its adoption.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this day of , 2022.
Leonard Mendoza, Mayor
ATTEST:
Lena Shumway, City Clerk
Exhibit A
Vesting Tentative Tract Map No. 83334