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Business & Tech

Redevelopment Has Track Record of Success in Novato

Governor's plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies discounts 30 years of positive change here.

This story marks the debut of Larry Rosen, Novato Patch's real estate columnist. He has an extensive background covering real estate, most recently as the real estate reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. In this piece, he takes a look at the track record of the Novato Redevelopment Agency upon reflection of the governor's plan to phase out redevelopment agencies.

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While it’s difficult to fault Gov. Jerry Brown for immediately addressing our state’s budget crisis, the news from Sacramento that Brown’s budget would include a proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies statewide stopped many citizens mid-clap. And while the proposal’s effect on California’s large cities has been widely discussed, few are looking at the potential impact shutting down redevelopment agencies would have on smaller cites like Novato.

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This city is a good test subject for this issue. Since the mid-1980s, the Novato Redevelopment Agency has played a major part in three large-scale projects: Vintage Oaks, Hamilton Field and downtown’s Grant Avenue. In each case, the final product has added significant revenue to the city’s general fund. Vintage Oaks alone, according to Ron Gerber, city of Novato redevelopment administrator, has raised “somewhere in the vicinity of $40 million for the general fund.”

Before signing on in Novato, Gerber spent 12 years as part of the agency that completely changed the makeup of once-tiny Emeryville. He knows a thing or two about the impact of redevelopment on small towns.

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“The $40 million (raised from Vintage Oaks) goes to things residents take for granted,” he points out, “like public safety, youth programs, parks and recreation and seniors programs — quality of life issues.”

Vintage Oaks, built during a time of economic stress in Novato, raised the city sales tax base by 50 percent when all of its retail spaces were leased, Gerber says.

Without Novato’s Redevelopment Agency, Gerber says, the former Hamilton Air Force Base could have become a prison or an airport. Instead, the land now includes one of the largest wetlands restoration projects in the state along with 2,000 homes, public parks and 90,000 square feet of retail space.

Recently, the Novato Redevelopment Agency updated Hamilton’s five-year redevelopment implementation plan. “(Hamilton) is not quite finished yet. Redevelopment plays a role in all that,” says Gerber.

Most pressing, however, is the continuing saga of Novato’s proposed new downtown civic center. The city is spending more than $700,000 annually leasing space at 75 Rowland Way near Novato Community Hospital. The $15.6 million the redevelopment agency owes the general fund would make the new building possible. Otherwise, the city continues to pour money into offices that many call inconveniently located.

Last Tuesday, Gerber spoke to the City Council and outlined the worst-case scenario in blunt terms. “The future housing that might be developed for senior citizens? That couldn’t happen again. Revitalization of downtown? Never again.” With City Council approval, the city responded by firing off a letter to Sacramento saying, essentially, that Novato unanimously thinks the governor’s new budget stinks.

Realistically, Brown’s proposal is a longshot. Two months ago, California voted to enact Proposition 22, which bars the state from raiding its city’s coffers and early response suggests Brown will get nowhere near the support he needs to get this budget passed. Still, Gerber says, Novato is taking this seriously – witness his emergency appearance at the City Council meeting.

In California’s larger cities, redevelopment is often a gray area. Ask any former resident of San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood about the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and he might swat you with his useless, decades-old housing voucher by way of response. In Novato, as in many of the state’s smaller communities, the score sheet seems pretty one-sided; the local redevelopment agency has played a major role in almost 30 years of positive change.

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