At a continued special meeting this morning, the Concord City Council, sitting as the Local Reuse Authority, rejected the Concord First Partners, LLC (CFP) Term Sheet to develop the former Concord Naval Weapons Station and directed staff to let the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with CFP expire on Jan. 31, 2023.
After Council questions of CFP and staff, the action was taken on a 3-2 vote (Hoffmeister, Nakamura and Obringer – for; Aliano and Birsan – against).
Mayor Laura Hoffmeister asked staff to determine the next steps for the Base Reuse project, and staff will return to Council with recommendations in the coming weeks.
A recording of the Jan. 28 meeting can be viewed at this link.
25 comments
Thank you Mayor Hoffmeister and City Council members Obringer and Nakamura. We could see you struggled in your decision. We appreciate your strength. Thank you for voting with the best interests of Concord residents in mind.
It took women to stand up and get the integrity of the City back on course.
Now what??
Not sure the Seeno’s are up to the task at this point in time. Whatever they do it will be a cluster bomb and it will look horrible……..
Build single family ranch homes like the rest of Concord was built. Cluster high density near Bart and leave the rest for the future people of Concord. Never mind with the equity inclusion and diversity BS. The north Concord Business Park has PLENTY of room for new development if someone wants to come to Concord. Downtown has PLENTY of space for mid-rise office and apartment complexes…..not that we need that right now…..We are currently OVER building and soon we will look like China with empty high rise apartments and abandon office complexes….
Walnut Creek Bart’s Waymark is empty and too expensive for most. Pleasant Hil approved 189 units on Cleveland Rd. Pleasant Hill Bart is finishing up The Hanover project 284 units. The Argent, The Ashbury, Galindo corridor….we’re over building PERIOD.
Plus we don’t have the resources to provide Water, Electricity. All that Green BS has left Concord with Grid outages, the promise of no AC in the summer, constant threat of the highest gasoline and food prices in the US. Becton letting felons, rapists, cop killers out. The strain on Concord citizens is at an all time high. The Homeless situation is NOT going away. It is INSANE to build more housing without proper planning. Thanks Gov.Newsom. Thanks to all the voters who keep Him in.
PLEASE! No more building! Leave our wildlife alone! And fix our roads!
absolutely right!
No friend. Actually, you know, this isn’t a bad idea, send a signal we’re growing up. Just a mining town you say? See how everyone dresses? Awful toney for a mining camp. No, the die’s cast, we’re growing, be as big as San Francisco in a few years. And just as sophisticated.
Hahahahaha…..ROFL
Nothing demonstrates San Francisco “sophistication “ like $hit and needles on the sidewalks, homeless encampments everywhere, rampant theft and burglaries….and the politicians and police failing to address the problems.
Yeah, right – just what we need is San Francisco “sophistication.”
🤮
Ver-ruh cosmopolitan
Here’s a chance to put Concord on the map and make it world famous again,
we could top Concord’s world famous Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.
.
Anybody can buy an old cold war missile silo.
Be the city that sells BUNKERS . . . . . . . from WWII.
Birsan has got to go! He does not represent the preference of his district members on development of the former CNWS, grandstands to make himself sound more knowledgeable and competent than his constituents (and others), and is out of touch with moving forward in terms of thinking that Seeno is the only option out there. Who in district 4 is willing to run against Birsan to bring leadership and representation of the district voters?
100% agree. The only motivator for Edi is whatever works vest for Edi, and that has been evident in recent years during his time on Council. His decisions, his columns in the local papers, his stupid surveys, his FB posts…it all paints what most of know: Edi’s values are absent of principle; his drive is absent of integrity; and his agenda malleable, bending to the will of who or whatever carves a path forward for him to take advantage of.
EgoEdi Boulevard ~~ you know it’s on his wish-list somewhere…. I just hope the utilities are all under-grounded! Concord neighborhood skies are already reminiscent of Hong Kong’s wire blight. Power poles with lines of every phone, wifi, tv, fiber-optic provider competing for pole space… Now AT&T (or some similar glutton) – for lack of space? is planting more power poles in peoples yards right by the existing over-used one. Did we receive notice that they would/could do this without home-owner or city approval? Maybe I missed that.
The issue with Edi is that he’s burned bridges on the council. He has some good ideas every now and again, but he’s been such a jerk with crazy ideas that now the rest of the council just ignores him. Even when he has a decent idea or plan, they dismiss it because of his past. Edi is doing NOTHING for his constituents in District 4, because he overplayed his hand. He thinks he’s an agent of change, but instead he’s just a PITA aged out hippie.
Politics requires compromise and working together, District 4 (myself included) suffers because of who represents them.
Broken record time: if they develop it, where’s all the water coming from?
I heard that the city council is going to put the SPIRIT POLES back up rather than fix potholes. Smooth roads don’t equal SPIRIT but POLES do!!!!
This is a rare example of people power toppling those who have controlled our City leaders by way of political allies, endorsements, funding, and excessive wealth. Only 2 of the original Seeno 3 had faced challengers in recent races, and both lost. If it weren’t for the voters in District 5 unseating Tim McGallian and replacing him with Laura Nakamura last fall, this would not have been possible.
Big thanks to Carlyn Obringer for voting against the wishes of Contra Costa County Building and Trades, despite their endorsement of her last year for the county supervisor seat (during the primaries). It’s good to know that despite political alliances, her commitment is to her constituents and the well being of Concord comes first.
Thanks also to Laura Hoffmeister for making the right call here. She did a good job of articulating her concerns throughout this process, and I’m grateful she didn’t even consider an extension of the ENA. Using Seeno’s own words to argue why that would be wrong was perfect!
The Seeno Crime Family LOOSES! Time for Concord to clean house and remove Edi Birsan and Guy Bjerke from their positions. Clearly they had allegiance to Seeno and not the best interest of Concord and it’s citizens. Mary Jo Rossi, close friend of the Seeno’s needs to be reprimanded by the City. She plays dirty politics, always has. This news makes me very happy!
It’s all mafia business. Edi does what he’s told. Look into this background. Not a joke.
Wish I could give you more than one thumb up John Hemm. I never could figure out how Bjerke got his claws back on the City’s tax coffers. He is, and has always been his pockets first, City Last. And Rossi? Square on the nail-head!
Can we all agree that any time Hoffensteiner is mentioned she will be listed as “Covicted DUI driver whose judgment was still voted to represent Concord after arrest”
Almost as shady a group as the MDUSD school board. I’m sure there are palms still to grease before a decision is made.
Very much appreciate the three councilmembers (Hoffmeister, Obringer, & Nakamura) who recognized it would be a mistake for everyone involved to move forward with Seeno. Extra thanks to Councilmember Nakamura and those who worked to get her elected; Concord would be stuck with Seeno if she had not unseated the incumbent. I had pretty much given up on breaking the cabal down at City Hall who has been collaborating with the worst possible players. Also appreciated Councilmember Obringer attending the Navy RAB meeting this month and then asking most every question about it that I hoped she would.
Birsan and Aliano were very disappointing, arguing that the concerns over Seeno were about “hate” and not substantive issues like the pending family lawsuit, past environmental violations, significant changes to the specific plan, and failure to meet even one promised ENA deadline. They both did a disservice to their constituents by choosing to cover those things up.
If anyone thinks Birsan’s argument that Seeno was ok because Concord would be working with the son and not the father, just have a look at the son at today’s meeting. When he was asked about the family lawsuits, he refused to give an answer and started scolding the Council that they would even ask. The comedy of it is that his refusal to answer questions today likely went a long way to seal his fate at the weapons station. No doubt a frivolous Seeno lawsuit is coming Concord’s way.
Excellent location for a much needed penitentiary. Newsom wants to empty San Quentin so he can develop it. Rather than turn all those criminals loose and deal with public wrath over the dramatic increase in murders, simply transfer them to the new facility at the old weapon station. Call it, “Newsom’s Club Med”.
Stand corrected. When I took over.
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