Fremont City Council Meeting: 12/06/22 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: Community Services
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Agreements and Contracts
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
STAFF REPORT (ID # 4763) DOC ID: 4763
Updated: 12/2/2022 1:45 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 1
MISSION PEAK LEASE AGREEMENT WITH EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT - Consider Options for the Continued Maintenance and Operations of the 900 acres at Stanford Staging Area and the larger Mission Peak area for the purpose of public park, recreation, and open space and find that no further environmental review is required for the lease pursuant to CEQA Guidelines 15307, 15162, 15163, 15678(b) and 15601(b)(3)
Contact Persons:
Name: Suzanne Wolf
Title: Community Services Director
Div/Dept: Community Services
Phone: 510-494-4329
E-Mail: [email protected]
Executive Summary: On November 15, 2022, the City Council considered a revised lease agreement with East Bay Regional Park District (“EBRPD”) concerning management and operation of City-owned on land on Mission Peak as a public park, recreation, and open space area. At the conclusion of the meeting, the City Council directed staff to return to a City Council at a work session to receive additional direction for lease negotiations on three specific issues. Subsequently, EBRPD staff has notified the City that the EBRPD is interested in moving forward with current version of the draft lease. Staff recommends approval by the City Council of the revised lease agreement.
BACKGROUND: The City owns approximately 900 acres of land on Mission Peak, which is zoned as an Open Space Resource Conservation Area (See Exhibit A to the proposed Lease).
On May 2, 1978, the City entered into 25-year lease agreement with East Bay Regional Park District (“EBRPD”) to manage and operate the land as a public park, recreation, and open space area. In 1993, pursuant to the terms of the 1978 Lease, the City and EBRPD extended the term of the Lease for twenty-seven years until July 7, 2020.
On May 17, 2016, the City Council created the Mission Peak Permit Parking Program. This Program was originally intended to be a temporary solution and was scheduled to expire on July 7, 2020. On May 19, 2020, the City Council adopted a three-year program extension that will expire on July 7, 2023.
In 2019, staff from both agencies began negotiations to renew the lease agreement, but this process was delayed because of the COVID 19 pandemic’s impact on both park systems. On December 15, 2020, the City Council directed staff to work towards developing a new long-term lease agreement since the 25-year lease extension expired in July 2020.
The lease automatically continues with the existing terms on a month-to-month basis, while the City and EBRPD continue negotiations.
On November 9, 2021, the City Council rejected the proposed lease agreement and requested the lease be redrafted to address specific Council concerns. The City Council directed staff to continue negotiations with EBRPD to consider further amendments that would shorten the timeframe of the agreement and to further clarify agreement language.
Staff Report (ID # 4763) Meeting of December 6, 2022
Updated: 12/2/2022 1:45 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 2 City staff continued the negotiations as requested by City Council and brought the re- negotiated lease back to City Council on November 15, 2022.
At the November 15, 2022 meeting, the City Council majority identified three concerns about the re-negotiated lease including 1) the City having additional control over the hours of operation, 2) the City having a review or feedback process of EBRPD’s operation of the leased area, and 3) incorporating EBRPD’s agreement to not construct the parking lot into the lease.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: This staff report focuses on the three items of interest identified by the City Council at the November 15, 2022 meeting, including 1) the hours of operation, 2) the cooperation paragraph between agencies, and 3) the parking lot side letter and capital improvement requirements. For a summary of prior negotiation points, attached as Informational Item 1 is a copy of the November 15, 2022 staff report and Informational Item 2 is the PowerPoint presentation.
Following the November 15, 2022 meeting, the City Manager contacted the General Manager to re-open negotiations regarding the three issues raised by the City Council, but EBRPD staff indicated that EBRPD is interested in moving forward with current version of the draft leases without any additional revisions. City staff recommends City Council approval of the current draft lease, without further amendment, based upon the following responses to Council concerns:
1) Hours of Operation
Council Concern: EBRPD could change the operating hours of the Stanford Staging Area without feedback from the public and therefore, the City should have additional authority prior to any modification.
Staff Response: The current operating hours have been in place since 2015, are identified in the current version of the lease, and EBRPD has expressed its intent to not change the hours unless required for unanticipated operational reasons.
Furthermore, the process in the proposed lease delivers two opportunities for the public to participate in any changes to the hours of operation at the Stanford Staging Area. First, EBRPD must provide the City with written notice at least 30 days before implementing any new hours and must include the change of hours on the agenda of a regularly scheduled public meeting. Second, the City may schedule a community meeting to discuss the proposed changes to the hours prior to the EBRPD meeting.
Additionally, the Fremont Police Department and EBRPD Police will work cooperatively to reduce curfew violations and impacts to the surrounding neighborhood from the hours of operation. Curfew enforcement at the staging area and at the park site is the responsibility of EBRPD, but the Fremont Police Department will respond to the Stanford Staging Area if there is an articulated need to send resources to the area to prevent, deter or follow-up on criminal activity or behavior that is deemed to be a public safety concern.
2) Cooperation between the agencies
Council Concern: The City does not a have mechanism detailed in the proposed lease to review the performance of EBRPD.
Staff Report (ID # 4763) Meeting of December 6, 2022
Updated: 12/2/2022 1:45 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 3 Staff Response: The City has worked collaboratively with EBRPD and considers it a partner agency in providing service to the public. The proposed lease specifies that City and EBRPD agree to work together to resolve issues that arise under the lease.
The proposed lease requires the parties to utilize the liaison committee or City- EBRPD joint public meetings to discuss issues related to the leased area. This language is an agreement to work together as the two public agencies have for over 40 years to ensure the health and safety of the community.
As an expert in the field of managing open spaces for recreational purposes, EBRPD is qualified to provide the services under the draft lease. The EBRPD Board of Director, like the City Council, holds public meetings where the budget, enforcement, and other operational issues are discussed with participation from the public.
Therefore, the public also has this venue to voice any concerns it may have regarding the lease.
3) The Parking Lot Side Letter and Capital Improvement Requirements Council Concern: The draft lease does not include a provision preventing EBRPD from building a 300-space parking lot at the Stanford Staging Area despite written assurance from EBRPD.
Staff Response: The proposed lease provides the City authority to approve or disapprove construction of the parking lot. Specific language was added to the proposed lease creating a process to approve or deny any projects that would require permits from the City. Construction of the 300-space parking lot would require, at the minimum, a grading and building permit issued by the City.
Therefore, City staff could simply deny the request if EBRPD should ever attempt to build the parking lot during the term of the lease. This denial of the capital improvement would not be unreasonable, since EBRPD has provided a written assurance to not construct the parking lot during the proposed term of the lease and the City would be relying on that written assurance in entering into the lease. This project could also be disapproved based upon other reasonable grounds.
Consequently, the City could still prevent the construction of the parking lot even without incorporating the side letter into the proposed lease.
Lastly, the City is not well-position to assume operation and maintenance of the approximately 900 acres of City land on Mission Peak in either the short or long term.
Therefore, securing a lease agreement with EBRPD is an important operational and financial objective of the City.
FISCAL IMPACT: The funding for the operations and maintenance of the Mission Peak Lease is paid by the Fremont residents as part of their County Tax Assessment t o EBRPD.
The City does not receive any portion of this allocation for operations and maintenance (O&M), and if the lease agreement did not exist, a General Fund allocation would be required to cover all applicable O&M costs of this 900-acre site. In 2014, The National Recreation and Park Association, the national leader in cost assessments, has identified open space O&M to cost on average of $1,100 to $1,300 per acre. This means that the 900 acres at Mission Peak could cost the City of Fremont, approximately $1,000,000 to operate.
The City of Fremont has not identified any resources to operate and maintain this site.
Alternatively, if the General Fund allocation were unavailable, the City would need to consider a closure or partial closure of this site, which would be nearly impossible to enforce with limited resources. There would also be an assumed ongoing cost to manage the closure Staff Report (ID # 4763) Meeting of December 6, 2022
Updated: 12/2/2022 1:45 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 4 given the anticipated litter, debris, police, fire, and operating expenses in an ongoing manner. This funding has also not been identified and is estimated to cost a minimum of $500,000 initially to secure the site. If the Mission Peak Lease is not approved, it is anticipated that the City would either 1) begin to operate and manage the 900 acre property, which has significant cost considerations for the City of Fremont and the General Fund implications or 2) close the site for lack of resources, which also has significant cost implications for the City of Fremont.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The continuation of a lease agreement with EBRPD for 900 acres at Mission Peak would be exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per, without limitation, each on a separate and independent basis, (1) CEQA Guidelines Section 15307, as an action taken by a regulatory agency for the protection of the environment, specifically, for the maintenance, restoration, or enhancement of a natural resource, specifically, for the protection of open space resources; (2) the continuation of Mission Peak as a park by EBRPD are part of the project analyzed in the General Plan EIR (SCH#2010082060) and none of the circumstances necessitating preparation of a subsequent EIR pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21166 and CEQA Guidelines Sections 15162 and 15163 are present; and (3) CEQA Guidelines Sections 15378(b) and 15601(b)(3) as the lease continuation of an existing park is an administrative activity that will not result in an effect on the physical environment and any possible future development of the park will be developed later with the appropriate environmental review. There are no previously identified significant effects which are substantially more severe than analyzed in the prior EIR or cannot be substantially mitigated by the imposition of uniformly applied development policies or standards applied on a citywide basis.
ATTACHMENTS:
• Exhibit A - Proposed Amended Mission Peak Lease and Land Map • Exhibit B: Grazing License and Exhibits
• Informational Item 1: 11-15-2022 Staff Report
• Informational Item 2: 11-15-2022 PowerPoint Presentation
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Consider options and provide direction to Staff on the continued maintenance and operations of the 900 acres at Stanford Staging Area and the larger Mission Peak area for the purpose of public park, recreation, and open space in a form similar to the attached proposed lease.
Staff Recommendation:
Authorize the City Manager to execute a lease agreement with East Bay Regional Park District to include 900 acres at Stanford Staging Area and the larger Mission Peak area f or the purpose of public park, recreation, and open space in a form similar to the attached proposed lease.
If Council authorized the City Manager to execute a lease agreement with East Bay Regiona l Park District, find that continuation of the lease of 900 acres at Mission Peak to EBRPD would be exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Staff Report (ID # 4763) Meeting of December 6, 2022
Updated: 12/2/2022 1:45 PM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 5 per, without limitation, each on a separate and independent basis, (1) CEQA Guidelines Section 15307; (2) the continuation of Mission Peak as a park by EBRPD are part of the project analyzed in the General Plan EIR (SCH#2010082060) and none of the circumstances necessitating preparation of a subsequent EIR pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21166 and CEQA Guidelines Sections 15162 and 15163 are present; and (3) CEQA Guidelines Sections 15378(b) and 15601(b)(3).
Alternative Options:
Option 1: Direct staff to engage East Bay Park District to ascertain whether they would be willing to consider continuing on with the existing terms on a month-to-month basis indefinitely.
Option 2: Direct staff to engage a consultant to analyze the costs associated with the City assuming the ongoing maintenance and operations for the 900 acres at Stanford Staging Area and the larger Mission Peak area assuming ongoing resources can be identified or alternatively developing a plan to close the site based on lack of resources. If Council directs staff to pursue Option 2, staff will negotiate terms with a consultant and bring back a subsequent staff report requesting additional financial resources to complete the study.