Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee Meeting – June 23, 2026
Oakland Community & Economic Development Committee Meeting – June 23, 2026
The Community & Economic Development Committee met on June 23, 2026 at 1:35 PM in Oakland City Hall. Chair Rowena Brown presided, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife, Janani Ramachandran (excused for part of the meeting), and Zac Unger present. The committee considered six agenda items and heard extensive public testimony. All items were approved and forwarded to the July 7, 2026 City Council meeting.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Draft Minutes (June 9, 2026): Approved unanimously (4-0) without discussion.
- Determination of Schedule of Outstanding Committee Items: Approved as presented (4-0) after two public speakers commented on code enforcement and other issues.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 3 (Costco Exclusive Negotiation Agreement): Five speakers addressed the committee. Chris Norn (West Oakland resident) expressed strong support, noting the lack of a supermarket and other resources in West Oakland. Costco representatives (Stephen Labange, Lamar Bell, Christina Tostado) praised the company’s wages, benefits, and community donations (e.g., $1.9 million to Children’s Hospital). One speaker, Sado Olabala, raised concerns about soil contamination at the Army base site and questioned whether jobs would go to Black residents.
- Item 4 (BID Annual Reports): Two speakers spoke. Daniel Swafford (executive director of Temescal and Laurel BIDs) thanked the city for collaboration and highlighted cleanup and safety achievements. Sado Olabala criticized the assessment of residential property and questioned city payments to the Oakland Ice Rink.
- Item 5 (HUD Annual Action Plan): Seventeen speakers, mostly tenants from Oakland Station and advocates from ACE Oakland and the Oakland Tenants Union, described deplorable living conditions: mold, pests, broken gates, mailroom theft, and a dead dog in a garbage room. They demanded proactive rental inspections and stronger code enforcement. Several speakers called for a timeline for complaint resolution and penalties for non‑compliance.
- Item 6 (319 Chester Street): Five speakers spoke. Rochelle Miller and Amber Cox (AWOD board members) supported the conversion to rental housing, explaining years of delays due to founder’s death, COVID, and funding gaps. They noted the project is near completion and that an experienced property manager has been secured. Other speakers (Sado Olabala, Buffalo Sojourn) questioned the high cost per unit and alleged unequal scrutiny of Black developers.
- Open Forum: Additional comments addressed sanctuary city policies, concerns about strong‑mayor governance, and petitions from Laurel BID property owners (35th Avenue) seeking removal from the assessment district due to high fees and language barriers.
Discussion Items
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Item 3 – Costco Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA)
Staff (Kelly Kahn, Brendan Moriarty) presented the proposal for a 24‑month ENA with Costco to develop a store on 23 acres at 101 Admiral Robert Toney Way and 2308 Wake Avenue. The ENA requires a $300,000 non‑refundable payment and allows two six‑month extensions at $25,000 each. The city estimates $3 million in annual general fund revenue, approximately 400 high‑quality jobs, and local access to affordable goods. The site has historical contamination from Army base use, which will be evaluated through CEQA during the ENA period. The committee voted 4-0 to approve and forward to the July 7 City Council. -
Item 4 – BID Annual Reports and Assessment Payments
Eric Samunza (EWD) presented aggregate statistics for eight property‑based BIDs: 2,500 businesses served, 5,100 parcels, 19,000 residents. Highlights included 117 full‑time equivalent staff (40% cleaning), 300 volunteers, and 3.2 million visitors to Oakland via Visit Oakland. Assessment increases ranged from 3% to 5%. The committee voted 4-0 to approve and forward to City Council. -
Item 5 – 2026/2027 HUD Annual Action Plan
Hannah Batesh (HCD) outlined the plan to accept and appropriate $14,674,799.07 in CDBG, HOME, ESG, and HOPWA funds. Funds are primarily for capital improvements, with some for services and tenant stabilization. The plan aligns with the city’s five‑year consolidated plan. Following public testimony about housing conditions, Chair Brown and Administrator Baker committed to follow‑up inspections at Oakland Station and other code enforcement reforms. The committee voted 3-0 (Ramachandran excused) to approve and forward to the July 7 public hearing. -
Item 6 – Sale of 319 Chester Street
Trisha Gonzalez and Deputy Director Fay Darmawi (HCD) recommended converting the long‑delayed two‑unit for‑sale project into an affordable rental project. The city will consolidate existing loans ($94,000 seller financing and $400,000 construction loan) and add $1 million from Measure U funds, for a total 55‑year residual receipts loan of $1,494,000. The project is now financially viable due to a strengthened development team. Councilmembers questioned the cost ($500,000 per door) and repayment likelihood. The committee voted 3-0 (Ramachandran excused) to approve and forward to City Council.
Key Outcomes
- Item 3 (Costco ENA): Approved 4-0, forwarded to July 7 City Council.
- Item 4 (BID Reports): Approved 4-0, forwarded to July 7 City Council.
- Item 5 (HUD Action Plan): Approved 3-0, forwarded to July 7 City Council as a public hearing.
- Item 6 (319 Chester Street): Approved 3-0, forwarded to July 7 City Council.
- Directives: The City Administrator was directed to follow up on code enforcement at Oakland Station and other properties raised during public testimony.
- Next Steps: All items will be heard by the full City Council on July 7, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon and welcome to the community and economic development committee meeting of Tuesday, June 23rd, 2026. The time is now one thirty-five p.m. and this meeting may come to order. Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda. If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record, whichever occurs first. Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting time. And this meeting came to order at 135 p.m. And speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after, making that time one forty-five p.m. We'll now proceed with taking roll. Excuse Council Member Ramachandran. Thank you. Councilmember Unger? Here and Chair Brown. Present. Thank you. We have three members present, one excuse. Chair, before we begin, do you have any announcements at this time? Yes. Um, so first off, thank you everyone for joining community and economic development committee meeting. Um we have several um important and exciting items for consideration today. Um, I did want to begin by extending a warm welcome to um my office's um newest internships interns for the for the summer. So wanted to welcome Sanai from Stanford University as well as Jakari um from Southern University, which will be they will be with us uh for the summer, and so hopefully everyone can uh greet them and engage with them during their journey in the at-large office. Um you gotta raise raise your hand. They're shy. There we go. Excellent. And then also um council member uh Rama Chandan, did you have an announcement as well? I do. I also wanted to welcome the interns in my office, Aaron and Nalin from Cal. Thank you. So welcome. Excellent. And so then also in addition, um, in order to ensure that our meeting stays on schedule with all of the uh committee meetings to follow, um, I will limit public comment to just one minute. Um then in addition, um, I wanted to make sure that council member five is here for item number three. So I'm going to modify the agenda where we take um item number four first, followed by three, five, and then six. Yeah, we'll do the bid. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Noting the modifications to the agenda to hear items one, two, four, three, five, then six. Starting off with item one approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 9th, 2026. And there are no speakers. We just need a motion. Excellent. Thank you so much. Colleagues, I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Thank you. We have a motion made by Councilmember Unger, seconded by Council Member Ramachandron to approve the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 9th, 2026. Also noting the presence of Councilmember uh Fife at 1 38 p.m.
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