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Board holds Transbay CFD hearing open for a week as developers and neighbors seek consensus
Summary
A public hearing on forming a Transbay community facilities district (Mello-Roos) was held and continued to Sept. 9 after developers and neighborhood representatives said further negotiations were needed about the district's tax rates and impacts on the downtown rail extension funding.
The Board of Supervisors convened a committee of the whole for a public hearing on the proposed Transbay Transit Community Facilities District (CFD) and related measures, then voted to continue the hearing to Sept. 9 to allow additional negotiations between developers, the city and neighborhood groups.
Supervisor Kim moved to continue the hearing one week; Supervisor Campos seconded. The motion to hold the hearing open was adopted without objection.
Speakers at the hearing included property owners and neighborhood advocates. Matt Field of TMG Partners, a Transbay-area property owner, told the board that discussions with the city had not yet been productive and asked for the continuance to complete conversations; he said developers expected CFD formations to be consensus actions but that this one was contested. Bruce Saget, vice-chair of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority Citizens Advisory Committee (TJPA CAC), urged the board to uphold the CFD tax commitments described in the Transit Center District Plan (TCDP), arguing the CFD revenue was needed to fund the downtown rail extension, the transit center rooftop park and street improvements.
Other public commenters, including representatives of neighborhood associations and labor, said the CFD was a critical funding mechanism for infrastructure the Transbay growth assumed. Several speakers warned that lowering proposed developer contributions would shift costs to taxpayers and could jeopardize the downtown rail extension.
Supervisor Wiener cautioned colleagues that reductions to developer contributions would directly reduce funding available for the downtown extension, saying every dollar reduced from the CFD would come out of that project's funding and could leave the city with a bus station without train service for an extended period. He urged caution before striking compromises that would decrease the CFD revenue.
The hearing record showed competing positions: developers seeking adjustments to the proposed rates and phased developers and neighborhood groups urging adherence to the TCDP implementation document. The board left the hearing open and scheduled the continued committee-of-the-whole hearing for Sept. 9 at 3 p.m.
