After 20 years of planning, negotiations and false starts, the Concord City Council has unanimously approved an agreement with the U.S. Navy to redevelop the 12,800-acre abandoned naval weapons station for 12,000 units of housing and hundreds of acres of parkland.
Applause erupted from the room after the council’s decision Tuesday night. Every seat in the chambers was taken, filled by labor union reps, housing organizers and environmental advocates, all of whom spoke in support of the agreement.
“This will be one of the most important votes the Concord City Council has made in over 30 years,” said Councilmember Pablo Benavente, who recalled hearing about the project when he was in middle school. “I’m so excited to move forward,” he said.
The city’s agreement of terms with the Navy allows New York-based developer Brookfield Properties to move on to the next phase of development: drafting a specific plan, which will include a refined outline for construction and zoning for various parts of the massive site.
The terms include a down payment from the city of $4.6 million to the Navy and four guaranteed deferred payments of $10 million plus interest for land across the first several phases of development, beginning in 2033 and ending in 2036.
“This is the best deal we’re going to get from the Navy,” said Guy Bjerke, Concord’s director of economic development and base reuse, in his presentation of the agreement to the council, which on Tuesday was sitting as the Local Reuse Authority.
“We just need to be careful,” Bjerke said. “Do not overestimate how much money the city is going to see as part of this project.”
He noted that approval of the agreement is the first, most important step toward getting shovels in the ground. But he said, the project is still years away: Brookfield’s specific plan will likely be presented to the City Council in summer 2029, said Bjerke, adding that the entire build-out is projected to span 30 years.
The naval station, originally opened as a munitions storage facility in 1944, fell out of use in 1999, and was officially marked for redevelopment by the city of Concord in 2006.
The original master developer, Lennar, was selected for the project in 2016, but pulled out in 2020 after a dispute with labor organizers. Lennar is also master developer at the former naval shipyard site in Hunters Point in San Francisco, a project embroiled in scandal.
Brookfield was chosen by the city in 2023 to be the master developer of the site. The company is also developing an ambitious plan for housing around the Stonestown Galleria mall in San Francisco.
“People in the community should not see this as carte blanche,” said Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano, noting commitments made to the community benefits in the development agreement.
The development agreement for the naval base, which sets a goal of 40% local hire for construction, includes 12,272 units of housing — 3,000 of those to be affordable — a 75-acre first responder training facility, a 4-acre veterans community center, a $5 million sports park, 5,038 acres for Thurgood Marshall Regional Park, 16 acres for permanently supportive housing and 10 acres for food bank expansion.
The majority of Concord residents DON’T WANT THIS!!! This is being FORCED ON US!!! If it was on the ballot for voters to decide this wouldn’t be approved!!! Watch the council meeting, it was GOVERNMENT SCARE TACTICS at its finest, AGAIN!!! It was all about having to approve this MONSTROSITY or the Navy will cut the city out of the picture!!! Why??? It’s been 20 years of FAILURES and the Navy hasn’t walked!!! The City of Concord isn’t approving what Concord residents want, we were told from the beginning, 20 years ago, what had to be built and residents were only able to give input for what went where, with developers making changes to those plans!!! The Concord City Council doesn’t act in the interests of Concord’s residents, they act in the interests of their special interest benefactors and overlords!!! Is Concord going in the direction that you want??? Are you happy with all of the high-density affordable housing and high-density luxury housing being FORCED ON US downtown??? Are you happy with the City of Concord being transformed from a suburban city to an urban city???
All I can say is – the lazy voters elected the city council based on their “promises” without thinking about the unintended consequences.
Residents of Concord – you’ve got nothing to complain about. If you’re really upset, then recall the politicians.
Black Knight
The minute the population ht 100,000 lost suburban status and became urban. Berkeley has a population of 124,000 and Concord has a population 122,000. It’s long long long past “suburban”.
As for the development, 30 year build out is a long way out and more than likely you will be dead by then and that’s if the build out really happens
Well Folks,
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I’ve never heard the minute the population of a city hits a population of 100,000 that it’s no longer a suburban city and has become an urban city. I’ve always heard that density was the better way of determining or defining an “urban city” or “urbanization,” although both the population and density methods of determining urbanization are flawed and not exact.
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I do believe the vast majority of Concordians and Claycordians would still consider the City of Concord to be a suburban city with “high-density urbanization” occurring in its downtown core, with “high-density urban rezoning” having occurred in South Concord and East Concord, and “high-density urbanization” already planned for North Concord.
Well Folks,
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It’s not just the build out of the former CNWS, it’s the 900+ housing units proposed for the former USCG/USN housing property, the thousands of high-density housing units planned all over downtown, the hundreds of high-density housing units planned for both Concord BART stations, the high-density housing rezoning in South Concord and East Concord for up to 1,000 housing units, the constant infill housing developments all over town, and the constant push for more ADUs all over the city.
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You don’t have much faith for my longevity. I’ll only be reaching the age of average life expectancy in 30 years.
Allowing the fumbling fools of the City Council to approve and manage this will leave the good residents of Concord heavily taxed, logistically disrupted, and physically unsafe from wandering unscrupulous businesses.
As if the City Council erected a huge LED sign that exclaims, “We are fools, come take our money.”
The voters will have no one to blame but themselves.
Laxidaisical involvement in representative government results in oppressive and characterless rulers.
Abe,
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It’s unfortunate, but the public has checked out!!! They simply feel that they have no say unless they agree with the council, because every incarnation of the Concord City Council has done what they’ve wanted, not what the majority of the public has wanted.
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It’s not as if any of the sitting Concord City Councilmembers are overly popular, they’ve only won with more than 50% of the vote if they run unopposed or are running against one opponent. Three Concord City Councilmembers have lost reelection since 2018, Councilman Ron Leone in 2018, Councilman Tim McGallian in 2022, and Councilman Edi Birsan in 2024. Three Concord City Councilmembers were voted out of office in 1993, Councilman Lloyd Mashore, Councilman Byron Campbell, and Councilwoman Nancy Gore, and it took 25 years before another councilmember was voted out of office. Since 2018, four Concord City Councilmembers have sought higher office, 3 running for office, Councilman Ron Leone running for Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools in 2018, Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer running for Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in 2022, and Councilman Edi Birsan running for Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in 2022, and one sought appointment to higher office, Councilwoman Laura Hoffmeister sought appointment to the position of Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in 2019, all lost!
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Mayor Laura Nakamura won with 56.04% of the vote against 1 opponent by 1,059 votes, having received 4,910 votes of 8,761 total votes cast in 2022.
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Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano won with 100.00% of the vote running unopposed, with 2,153 votes of 2,153 total votes cast in 2022.
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Councilwoman Laura Hoffmeister won with 43.25% of the vote against 2 opponents, by 742 votes, with 3,544 votes of 8,194 total votes cast in 2022.
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Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer won with 75.58% of the vote against 1 opponent, by 5,348 votes, with 7,901 votes of 10,454 total votes cast in 2024.
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Councilman Pablo Benevente won with 35.25% of the vote against 3 opponents, by 109 votes, having received 3,796 votes of 10,768 total votes cast in 2024.
Not much talk about all the chemicals and weapons buried in the ground in the Naval weapons station. Cleanup? They used to say there would be a massive cleanup. I know of 4 people that had brain cancer, one person worked there, 3 others lived very close, (4 people within a half mile that I know of). There is also a lot of other cancers in the neighboring streets and near Concord HS. What kind of cleanup is planned?
max,
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Clean-up of the both the land and ground water of the former CNWS has been going on for over a decade. Some areas won’t be cleaned up, while other areas can’t be cleaned up, they’ll likely be covered and/or declared off-limits, depending if it’s an area to be developed or if it’s part of the EBRPD.
As I understand it, First, they did a “companies coming to dinner” clean-up of the portion given to the Park District. No digging, No building, allowed. Just 3500 acres of a walk and talk kind of park — Stay on pavement…Don’t trample the flowers…Whatever you do…do NOT collect rocks or artifacts you find.
Cleanup of Brookfield’s construction zone… well, they’ll be doing that one zone at a time, so where new houses are being built…right next door – one parcel over..will be bull-dozed, and cleaned up…but not if there is a wind blowing that day………………………. I could go on.
No Excuses,
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Phase 1 construction is supposed to begin along Willow Pass Road and behind or north of the Dana Estates and San Vicente neighborhoods. Apparently, this land and the ground water under this land has been “cleaned” and is ready to be transferred and for construction to begin.
I can’t say how much or little clean up has been done for phase one. Some people in the adjacent neighborhoods comment here, so it would be nice to hear if they actually witnessed the Navy pumping groundwater up into above ground filtration holding tanks before returning it to the natural aquifer. Water has this self determined way of moving where ever it wants to go, and I imagine some old wells in those neighborhoods were likely contaminated decades ago.
I quit going to meetings years ago when it became clear that the “Plans” the citizens drew, edited, and finally settled on – to some extent, were going to be ignored; as is usually the case in Concord.
Navy assured everyone the clean up was strictly monitored, and trucks and tires were “washed” before they left the base to go to the dumping grounds (where-ever they are). But the huge dirt tracks out of the base onto Bailey Rd left clear proof that contamination was being spread.
No Excuses,
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As I understand it, the clean-up for all phases is occurring simultaneously. About a decade ago, cleaning of the contaminated water on the east side of Willow Pass Road between Dana Estates and Willow Pass Bridge went on for a couple of years. I’ve also seen people on the base metal detecting along East Olivera Road.
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All of the meetings with public input were a farce!!! They dealt with the public because they had to do so, but the plans the public came up with are considered “not feasible” today.
I was thinking the same thing. The clean up, if done will be a massive under taking. Amazing that they say nothing about it. Or who is gonna do it. Or the health risks for us that live close to the Navel Weapons Station. The clean up should be top priority.
FPN,
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This meeting wasn’t about the clean-up. You could’ve attended the meeting or any Concord City Council meeting and made a public comment about the clean-up. The Navy usually has several meetings throughout the year where they give updates on the clean-up. The clean-up has been underway for more than a decade!!!
How many schools are they building to support that?
Darrel,
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The last that I heard was one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. If the MDUSD and the State of California student populations keep declining they may not be necessary.
$4.5 Million here, $10 Million there… TRUST ME by the time the Navy (who paid $50 to $150
per acre under Eminent Domain)..has collected the $260,000.00 per acre, to reach the full $650,000,000.00 purchase price from the City of Concord, for 2500 acres ($260,000 per bare dirt carcinogen laden acre) it won’t be the “Concord Hills” new homebuyers paying that tab. It will be the current taxpayers! Another half cent here, another half cent there…maybe a tripleXcost of a couple highway bonds, more school bonds?
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And someday, somewhere down that dusty old road… (Just kidding! The Navy and EPA makes sure all trucks leaving the site are thoroughly hosed, cleaned. tires/truck/contents washed down and NO WIND BLOWING…, so no contamination has ever transferred onto Willow Pass, Bailey or Kirker Pass Roads, and none ever will.. 😉 So, these-we same taxpayers will pay hell trying to prove their chemical laden bodies and the effect of arsenic crossing the placenta to fetuses…etc… just try to prove it was done by sloppy base clean-up or even the bulldozing it down~~building a hill over…to a deeper hidden level of soil. But really, don’t worry…they NEVER let the clean-up trucks or even the wind carry the dust past the chain link fence.
And when Brookfield breaks ground…I’m sure they will use the millions we are paying them to re-test contamination levels before they lay sewer, water, sprinkler or power lines down in poisonous lawns and playgrounds. LMAO
“We just need to be careful,” Bjerke said. “Do not overestimate how much money the city is going to see as part of this project.”
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And those of us that will take the shaft the deepest say: ‘Do not underestimate how much money current Citizens and their offspring will have paid before this New City ever starts providing those pennies-on-the-dollar in revenue.”
(all except BJerke el-al. He’ll do just fine)