Here We Go Again…

History in the making and not in a good way!

Never in the history of Tracy has there been an initiative that failed on Election Day, then has the City turn around and pass a development plan that contains the primary merits of that initiative, and then charge taxpayers to fund it. Veronica Vargas has done it not once but twice!

Measure Y was defeated soundly by voters this past November, yet City Council approved moving forward with the proposed downtown TOD Specific Plan as is in March. It’s worth noting that they didn’t change a thing about the Specific Plan following the initiative’s defeat. Nothing. 

Now, this upcoming Tuesday, the City Council will consider moving forward with the Tracy Gateway - aka Westside Specific Plan - despite voters rejecting Measure M. The only difference here is that significant changes are being requested here but not from anyone in the City. No, it’s the majority property owner himself - Mike Sandhu.

Mike Sandhu is the majority private property owner for both the downtown TOD Specific Plan and the Westside Specific Plan. Both Specific Plans are City Projects.

As such, the City fronts the money for the Specific Plans and also assumes all the risks therein, such as a CEQA lawsuit. Should that happen the City will be on the hook to pay for it. This is also unprecedented. Developers trying to develop their lands assume the costs on behalf of the City. It happens every day throughout the state but not in Veronica Vargas’ Tracy!

Westside Specific Plan aka Tracy Gateway Project - What is it? And why do we care?

Tracy Gateway Business Park was envisioned to ‘re-sculpt’ Tracy into a center of business rather than a bedroom commuter city for the East Bay and beyond. The plan included a hospital, retail, high rise office space, a 200-room hotel, and the planned infrastructure to support it. Phase 1 was set to begin in 2010. Read more about it here. The economy, however, had other plans and the project was stalled.

In 2018, at the direction of Veronica Vargas, the City agreed to spend $500,000 to study the initial planning stage for the property. Later in 2019, the majority property owners that includes Mike Sandhu, decided to change plans for Gateway by proposing significant residential development. (The timing of this plan followed the failed Measure M initiative sought by Sandhu.) The property owner’s plans received lukewarm response from the City Council, who instructed staff to continue working with the property owners. Read more about it here. Per the article, council directed staff to work out a reimbursement plan for the $500,000 of taxpayer money. That takes us to the upcoming Tuesday public hearing.

There are two significant issues related to the Westside Specific Plan issue before city council on Tuesday. The first issue is that the City still does not have a reimbursement plan for the $500,000. This can only mean that there was never an agreement established beforehand with the property owners to get reimbursed. The implication being that the City may never get reimbursed. 

The second issue is a certain property owner’s (aka Mike Sandhu) desire to rezone a third of the Westside Specific Plan development area as “Industrial.” The implication of this proposed zone change could be significant on the future development of the original vision and intent of the Tracy Gateway Business Park. Read the staff report here. 

Industrial zoning equals warehouses. Warehouses equal diesel trucks. Lots of diesel trucks. In addition, and more importantly, warehouse jobs would be a far cry from the higher salary, more sustainable hospital and office jobs, that would allow Tracy residents to afford living and working in the city for years to come.

This is why Tuesday night’s upcoming City Council meeting is significant.