CITY OF COMMERCEAGENDA REPORTCITY OF COMMERCEAGENDA REPORT
CITY OF COMMERCE
AGENDA REPORT
CITY OF COMMERCE
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: Resolution authorizing Global Urban Strategies, INC. to provide grant writing services and management to prepare a grant application for the Department of Toxic Substances Control Equitable Community Revitalization Grant Round 2 Meeting Date: August 8, 2023
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the resolution which will authorize Global Urban Strategies, INC. to prepare a grant application and management (in the amount of $90,000 per year for a maximum of two years) for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) Equitable Community Revitalization Grant (ECRG) Round 2.
BACKGROUND:
In 2021, the Governor signed legislation allocating $500 million to expedite the cleanup and beneficial reuse of contaminated properties, with priority given to properties in historically vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. The DTSC’s Office of Brownfields ECRG program gives California communities an unprecedented opportunity to address historic environmental injustices and set a new path for land use that will have immediate and lasting benefits, such as recreational uses, commercial enterprises, and housing. ECRG funding is available to help California public entities, nonprofit organizations, and tribes to receive funding for community-wide assessments, site-specific investigations, or site-specific cleanups. The grant sets a path to improve public health and revitalize brownfields.
ECRG focuses on providing funding to resolve environmental uncertainties in disadvantaged communities. For funding for Site-Specific Cleanups, applicants may request $300,000 to $10,000,000 for planning, public engagement, implementing, and reporting costs for the cleanup of related California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) activities. The tasks proposed for ECRG funding must be completed within the two-year funding period, even if the overall environmental work and reuse may take longer. Grantees have two years to complete approved ECRG Tasks and incur costs eligible for reimbursement. During the grant period, grantees may have the opportunity to request additional funding, based on availability and DTSC approval.
Eligible sites for DTSC-ECRG funding include brownfields. Brownfields are properties whose redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the presence or the potential presence of hazardous substances or other contaminants, through the funding from DTSC ECRG, local agencies may be awarded funds to expedite cleanup and beneficial reuse of contaminated land. 5550 Harbor Street:
The City of Commerce adopted a Housing Overlay Zone on April 6, 2010, that designated a cluster of industrial properties totaling 44.3 acres, within the Rosewood Planning Area, that the City would like to see transition to residential and mixed-use development. In January 2019, the City of Commerce entered into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with City Ventures Homebuilding, LLC., to pursue a housing project on City-owned property. The project consisted of 133 residential units on 5550 Harbor Street, 5625 Jillson Street, and 5555 Jillson Street. The sale of these properties allows the City to begin creating a vision that can encompass quality-of-life amenities that the City of Commerce residents can enjoy. The construction and final housing project would be consistent with the current zoning and the City’s General Plan. The housing project would also satisfy a vital need for housing in the City and the region.
Since the 1970’s the site was formerly a warehouse structure located in the western portion of the property and was used by the City of Commerce for storage of office and various city supplies, with an administrative office space. The building was demolished in 2021, and information on the site occupancy prior to 1970 is limited.
While initiating the process to prepare the site for development, which included testing the soil of the land, it was found that additional review and oversight by the DTSC may be required. Following the initial findings, City Ventures has initiated multiple rounds of environmental investigations by DTSC. Upon which it was discovered that 5550 Harbor Street had a presence of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) below the property, specifically tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), and chloroform, and findings also show that the neighboring “Sieroty” property, located at 5540 Harbor Street. The significant regulatory challenges that were encountered led City Ventures to pause the development of the residential housing project and assess the next steps.
City Ventures contracted Stantec to conduct an analysis of the required multiple rounds of investigation and funding needed to prepare for the development of a Removal Action Work Plan or a Remedial Action Work Plan, which will serve as the guiding document for the cleanup, removal, mitigation, monitoring, and otherwise addressing the hazardous materials present in environmental media at 5550 Harbor Street and in mitigating the migration of off-site contamination in groundwater flowing under the property from the adjacent property on 5540 Harbor Street (Sieroty).
To conduct the necessary clean-up for future residential housing on 5550 Harbor Street and to ensure that no off-site migration of contaminants seeps into the groundwater, approximately $1.3 million in funding is needed to conduct the investigations and the physical cleanup associated with the site and move forward with building residential housing.
The DTSC-ECRG grant was announced in April 2023 for Round 2 of funding, the guidelines provided met the eligibility requirements for the residential housing project. As the site currently sits on a brownfield which is defined by DTSC as the redevelopment or reuse of land that is complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, or controlled substances within a disadvantaged community.
ANALYSIS:
Global Urban Strategies, INC., is a grant writing services firm that has extensive experience in composing and winning environmental equity grant proposals that enhance community development. Staff recommends that the City Council approve a resolution to allow Global Urban Strategies, Inc. to prepare a grant application for the pursuit of an ECRG for 5550 Harbor Street.
Global Urban Strategies, INC. would propose to submit a Site-Specific Cleanup grant application for 5550 Harbor Street (Commerce A). The application would be a necessary source of funding needed to conduct the clean-up efforts for the property lot of approximately 2.5 acres in size and the potential off-site contaminants from the property lot on 5540 Harbor Street. Applying for the DTSC-ECRG grant will help secure remediation funding to protect against hazardous exposures to the future residential housing Staff has worked alongside City Ventures to explore various sources of funding and identified the DTSC-ECRG grant application would help get the required funding associated with remedying the site from contaminants for 37 future residential housing from City Ventures LLC. Through assessments from Stantec by City Ventures LLC., it is estimated that the 2.5 acres plot of land on 5550 Harbor Street would require $1.5 million for the necessary remedial actions and future monitoring.
A condition of the DTSC-ECRG grant states that only a public entity is eligible to apply for the funding. Given the extensive experience that Global Urban Strategies, Inc. has in successfully securing substantial grant funding including funding for environmental equity.
Global Urban Strategies, Inc. will prepare the following elements for the grant proposal:
Establish program objectives and strategies that will outline methods on how the grant funding will assist in achieving them.
Provide a detailed budged estimate for the program, which will include expenses for remediation efforts, community engagement, and ongoing monitoring, the budget request will demonstrate how it aligns with the City’s overall priorities and the potential positive impact on the community and the environment.
Describe the approach for engaging the local community and relevant stakeholders throughout the lifetime of the grant and beyond. The community engagement component will highlight any efforts to foster collaboration, solicit input, and ensure transparency in decision-making processes.
Articulate how being awarded the grant will align with the City’s long-term sustainability goals and contribute to environmental conservation and protection efforts. The grant proposal will also discuss plans for monitoring and evaluating the program’s effectiveness over time.
DTSC-ECRG grant Round 2 will open on August 14, 2023, with applications due by October 9, 2023. The grant would provide significant assistance in costs associated with remediation and a plan to investigate and provide remediation efforts for the proposed housing development.
Global Urban Strategies, INC. proposes to prepare and submit the application for a not to exceed amount of $12,020. Global proposes to administer the grant based on the maximum allowable administrative costs through the grant award. City staff, however, recommends that the City Council place a cap of $90,000 for a calendar year on administrative costs payable to Global in the event of the grant award.
ALTERNATIVES:
Approve staff recommendation; or
Provide further direction to staff
FISCAL IMPACT:
If the City Council approves the engagement with Global Urban Strategies, Inc. for grant writing services and management, an appropriation of $90,000 from the General Fund Fund Balance to 10-8804-52001 (Contractual Services).
Respectfully submitted:
Approved by: Edgar Cisneros, City Manager
Prepared by: Gisselle S. Delgado, Management Analyst
Approved as to form: Noel Tapia, City Attorney
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Resolution
Attachment B: Global Urban Strategies, Inc. Proposal