CITY OF OAKLAND
TO: Edward D. Reiskin
City Administrator
SUBJECT: Cultural Conservation Easement to
Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin
Miller Park
City Administrator Approval
RECOMMENDATION
AGENDA REPORT
FROM: Alexa Jeffress
Director, Economic and
Workforce Development
Department
DATE: October 12, 2022
Date: Oct 20 2022 '
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt an Ordinance:
1) Granting A Cultural Conservation Easement Over An Approximately 5-Acre Portion Of Joaquin Miller Park Known As Sequoia Point To The Sogorea Te' Land Trust (Grantee), At No Cost, To Preserve And Enhance The Cultural, Historic, Educational, Natural Resource, Scenic, And Open Space Values Of The Easement Property In Perpetuity;
2) Authorizing The City Administrator To Negotiate And Enter Into A Memorandum Of Agreement For The Implementation Of The City of Oakland's Reserved Rights And The Grantee's Rights And Obligations Under The Conservation Easement, And To Amend Said Memorandum of Agreement Without Returning To Council; 3) Amending The Oakland Municipal Code To Add Section 12.64.420 To Authorize The Use Of Parks By Recipients Of Conservation Easements Without Obtaining Park Permits; And
4) Making California Environmental Quality Act Findings.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The recommended actions would convey a cultural conservation easement to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust (Land Trust), a local, Indigenous- and women-led nonprofit organization, over an approximately 5-acre portion of City-owned land in Joaquin Miller Park (Easement Property).
The conveyance of this conservation easement from the City of Oakland (City) would return this land to Indigenous stewardship and the site would thereafter be known as Rinihmu Pulte'irekne, meaning "above the red ochre" in the Chochenyo language. The City would grant the cultural conservation easement to the Land Trust in perpetuity, allowing the Land Trust to implement natural resource restoration projects, practice cultural and ceremonial traditions, provide education programs to the public, manage public access, and plan for additional future uses.
City Council
November 1, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Cultural Conservation Easement to Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin Miller Park Date: October 12, 2022 Page 2
The City would retain ownership of and some responsibility for the Easement Property, as described in more detail below. If approved by City Council, the transaction would close escrow in December 2022.
The City and the Land Trust would concurrently enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which would set forth in greater detail how the City and the Land Trust would implement and exercise their rights on the Easement Property. The MOA could be revised administratively over time to adapt to changing conditions.
In addition, to create efficiency and allow for a programmatic approach to public health and safety considerations, the park permit regulations in the Oakland Municipal Code (OMC) would be amended to exempt qualified conservation easement holders from the requirement of obtaining a separate park permit for events that are otherwise permitted and governed by the conservation easement.
Mayor Schaaf initiated this project almost five years ago by inviting the Land Trust and members of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan - the Tribe whose ancestral lands include this part of the East Bay- to identify City-owned land that they wished to reclaim. Conveyance of the conservation easement would be a landmark event in the City's efforts to redress historic wrongs against Native people and advance racial equity.
BACKGROUND/ LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
The recommended actions would set the City among a vanguard of jurisdictions reckoning with their racist pasts by returning stolen or wrongfully condemned lands to Indigenous or other victimized groups. This is commonly known as the "land back movement." Prominent examples include the Tribal co-management of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and an increasing number of regional examples such as the Amah Mutsen Tribal Band's cultural easement over public parklands at Mt. Umunhum in San Mateo County and the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians' acquisition of fee title and a cultural access easement over properties on the Sonoma County Coast. This proposed Easement would be among the first of its kind for an American City.
The Chochenyo-speaking Lisjan Ohlone people have lived on the land in Huchiun, or what is now known as the East Bay, for thousands of years and continue to live here today. The Lisjan are made up of the six nations that were directly enslaved at Mission San Jose in Fremont and Mission Dolores in San Francisco. The Sogorea Te' Land Trust, founded in 2015, is a local, Indigenous- and women-led nonprofit organization that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people and includes members of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan.
In 2017, the Mayor and members of the Sogorea Te' Land Trust and Confederated Villages of Lisjan began discussions about ideas for Indigenous restitution and returning land to Indigenous stewardship in Oakland. The Mayor invited the Land Trust to identify City-owned land that they wished to reclaim in partnership with the City.
The Land Trust selected Sequoia Point as the Easement Property for reclamation, an approximately 5-acre area of Joaquin Miller Park near the Big Trees trailhead on Skyline City Council
November 1, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Cultural Conservation Easement to Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin Miller Park Date: October 12, 2022 Page 3
Boulevard. A location map is attached as Exhibit A. Since that time, City staff have been working directly with the Land Trust to collaboratively design a transaction that would return land rights to Indigenous stewardship. Over the same period, the Land Trust has been developing a vision and plan for the site.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
Project Overview
Under the proposed action, the City would convey a perpetual cultural conservation easement over Sequoia Point to the Land Trust (the Easement) at no cost. A conservation easement is an agreement between a landowner and conservation entity (such as a land trust) that permanently limits the use of real property to protect its conservation values. A conservation easement generally cannot be terminated except by a court of law. Conservation easements are a common tool for protecting open space and sensitive habitats and have been used to protect over 33.5 million acres across the country. The proposed action would make innovative use of this conservation tool to return land rights to an Indigenous community and would break new ground by employing an uncommon form of conservation easement known as a reserved interest conservation easement to transfer most of the property rights to the Land Trust, as described in more detail below.
A map of the approximate Easement area is attached as Exhibit B. Survey work is underway to develop a legal description for the Easement area, with monuments to be placed in the ground.
The Land Trust's rights and responsibilities under the Easement and MOA would include, but are not limited to:
• Monitoring and maintaining the Easement Property
• Gathering on the property for cultural and ceremonial purposes • Providing Indigenous cultural education to the public • Allowing for and managing public access
• Maintaining vegetation in compliance with the Fire Code • Restoring habitat and natural resources (subject to a management plan approved by the City)
• Using and improving the Easement Property in any other ways that are consistent with the City's rights, the conservation values, terms and conditions of the MOA, and applicable laws and regulations
The City would retain ownership of the Easement Property and a limited set of rights. The City's rights and obligations would include:
• Collaborating with the Land Trust on the development of a management plan • Coordinating public access with the Land Trust
• Supplementing the Land Trust's maintenance and management of the Easement Property in coordination with the Land Trust
• Prohibiting access on red flag wildfire days
• Monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Easement terms City Council
November 1, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Cultural Conservation Easement to Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin Miller Park Date: October 12, 2022 Page 4
• Enforcing applicable laws and regulations
These rights and obligations would be defined in more detail in the MOA, which would help guide implementation of the Easement. The parties would be able to amend the MOA to adjust how these rights and responsibilities are implemented as needed over time.
The Easement and MOA are attached in substantially final form as Exhibit C and Exhibit D, respectively.
The transaction would close escrow by the end of 2022, allowing the Land Trust to immediately begin stewarding the Easement area in perpetuity. The area would thereafter be known as Rinihmu Pulte'irekne, meaning "above the red ochre" in the Chochenyo language.
Staff also recommend amending Section 12.64 of the OMC, which addresses park and recreation area regulations, to exempt qualified conservation easement holders from the requirement of obtaining a separate park permit for events that are otherwise permitted and governed by the conservation easement. This allows the conservation easement to programmatically address health and safety considerations that would otherwise be addressed by time-consuming, individual park permits. Accordingly, the proposed Easement includes provisions related to parking, sanitation and clean-up that would render park permits unnecessary.
Project Purpose and Implementation
The purpose of conveying the Easement is to provide some redress for past injustices against Native people by returning a portion of public land in Oakland to Indigenous stewardship. It directly serves Oakland's Indigenous community, and through the Land Trust's stewardship and programming, will serve the broader public by enhancing and activating Joaquin Miller Park.
The proposed Easement is located in an underutilized area of the park with no sanctioned trails and that is not closely managed by the City today. As described further below, the project has met with strong public support.
The proposed cultural conservation easement would ensure protection of the Easement Property's conservation values in perpetuity. It is referred to as a cultural conservation easement because it includes among its conservation values the cultural and historic value of the property to the Ohlone people. Its primary purpose is to return the land to Indigenous stewardship. The Easement's other conservation values include the property's natural resources (e.g., plants and wildlife), open space and scenic characteristics, and educational value. The Easement prohibits any use of the property that harms these values.
The proposed transaction would make innovative use of a less common form of conservation easement known as a reserved interest conservation easement. Conservation easements typically reserve most of the property rights to the landowner, with only certain enumerated rights granted to the easement holder. Here, while the City would retain ownership, most of the property rights would transfer to the Land Trust. The City would retain only a limited set of property rights specifically reserved to the City such as the right for the City to enter, regulate City Council
November 1, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Cultural Conservation Easement to Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin Miller Park Date: October 12, 2022 Page 5
and allow others (such as the public) to use the Easement Property in ways that don't harm the conservation values or violate the Land Trust's rights.
The proposed transaction is durable yet also flexible. The City and Land Trust would concurrently execute both the Easement and the MOA. The MOA would set forth in greater detail how the City and Land Trust would implement and exercise their rights on the Easement Property. Whereas the Easement is a perpetual agreement dividing the property rights in perpetuity, the MOA is intended to be a living document that can be amended by mutual agreement in response to changing circumstances. The proposed actions would allow the MOA to be amended administratively.
The Easement Property would remain subject to all government regulations, including the Easement Property's zoning designation of Open Space-Resource Conservation Area, which is the most restrictive open space category. The Land Trust could propose uses not allowed today and those uses could be allowed were regulations to change (such as by rezoning the site) but only in so far as the uses remain consistent with the terms of the Easement and MOA.
Given current regulations, the Land Trust will be able to immediately maintain the Easement Property, plan and implement restoration projects, educate the public, practice cultural and ceremonial traditions, and manage public access (including closing access during times of ceremony or natural resource restoration). The Land Trust is developing a long-term vision for the Easement Property, including a potential ceremonial structure, which would require future land use approvals and environmental review.
Approval of the recommended actions would advance the Citywide priority of housing, economic, and cultural security by returning land with deep cultural significance to Oakland's Indigenous community.
FISCAL IMPACT
In light of historic injustices, there would be no cash consideration paid to the City for conveying the easement. The City would pay approximately $5,000 in closing costs and $57,000 for property survey services from the General Purpose Fund (1010), Surplus Properties Project (1000235), Real Estate Organization (85231 ).
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
City staff and the Land Trust have conducted substantial outreach. The Land Trust, both with and without City staff, met with the Friends of Joaquin Miller Park several times to receive input and feedback about the project, and the organization enthusiastically supports the project.
District 4 Councilmember Sheng Thao hosted an online Town Hall about the project on September 13, 2022. More than one hundred people registered for the meeting and participants expressed strong support for the project and no opposition. The Land Trust and City staff have also presented the project multiple times to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.
The Commission recommended formal and enthusiastic approval at its meeting on September City Council
November 1, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Cultural Conservation Easement to Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Joaquin Miller Park Date: October 12, 2022 Page 6
14. Since the project was publicly announced on September 8, 2022, there has been a broad expression of support and enthusiasm from the public at large.
COORDINATION
The project is the result of extensive cross-departmental coordination over several years. The project was led by the Economic and Workforce Development Department with close participation from the Mayor's Office, Office of the City Attorney, Office of Parks, Recreation and Youth Development, the Public Works Department, Department of Transportation, and the Planning and Building Department.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: The proposed action would return a portion of Joaquin Miller Park to Indigenous stewardship, which would help improve and activate an underutilized portion of the park. This will further the park's role as a major quality-of-life resource in Oakland, which in turn attracts people, businesses and tourists to Oakland. Furthermore, it would provide a land base to support the cohesion, resilience and growth of the Indigenous community.
Environmental: The proposed action sets forth a perpetual, legally-enforceable framework for the protection and restoration of the natural, open space and scenic resources of the Easement area.
Race and Equity: The proposed action seeks to redress grievous historic injustices in which the Mission system and Western settlers stole land from, enslaved and terrorized Indigenous people in what became the City of Oakland.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA)
The recommended actions are exempt from CEQA pursuant to California Public Resources Section 21080.28, which categorically exempts the transfer of interests in land for conservation purposes.
City Council
November 1, 2022
SEQUOIA POINT LOCATION IS APPROXIMATE
TRAIL LOCATIONS BASED ON JOAQUIN MILLER PARK TRAIL MAP BY THE FRIENDS OF SAUSAL CREEK. LOCATIONS ARE APPROXIMATE.
Exhibit B
Exhibit B - Map of Approximate Easement Area: PRAC Item 6A 9/14/2022 ffi