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Sandhu At It Again
Millionaire local developer Mike Sandhu is back before city council with his latest industrial-housing led proposal – the Westside Specific Plan Project. Sandhu, the majority property owner within the Specific Plan area, along with the other minority owners changed the project name from “Tracy Gateway” following plans to refocus the development into huge warehouses and single-family residential.
In July of last year, the city solicited feedback from the community regarding multiple development options for the Westside Specific Plan. However, Sandhu and other property owners did not like the feedback they heard from the community. Council Member Vargas lobbied on behalf of Sandhu, which she has done from the beginning, but did not do enough to win support (read more here). Council Members Arriola and Davis advocated to protect the gateway to our community with a compromised plan but that too was shot down. The council could not reach consensus and directed staff to come back with a new plan.
Sandhu now presents only one development option for the city council to consider. By doing so, his message to the community is clear: your opinions do not matter!
Sandhu is indifferent if the gateway to our community is filled with giant warehouses! He is indifferent to minimal number of low wage jobs they produce and the associated impacts from diesel truck traffic congestion and air pollution. The real winners of warehouses are the property owners, who ink lucrative leasing deals or sell the warehouses for multi-millions of dollars. The real loser is Tracy.
The Gateway project was only approved because it promised high paying family wage jobs for local residents currently facing lengthy commute times. But Sandhu proposes replacing high paying jobs with low paying warehouse jobs and then convert much of the job creating uses into high density housing This proposed high density residential development coupled with warehouses that depend on intensive truck traffic will result in traffic congestion, as well as impacts to water levels and impacts to schools. Industrial parks and residential developments built adjacent to each other is not smart planning. Again, the only winner in this situation is Sandhu!
Council Member Veronica Vargas must absolutely recuse herself in the Westside Specific Plan matter!
In the previous discussions regarding the Westside Specific Plan, Vargas did the appropriate thing and recused herself because she represented business interests within the development area. As we previously reported (read here), Vargas stated that she represents Patterson Petroleum; however, she went on to say that she would be free to vote on this issue starting in 2022. But whether or not her contract with Patterson Petroleum has lapsed is irrelevant. She was paid to support their economic interest! The conflict remains.
Given Vargas’ past ethical issues, how can the city and its residents believe that she no longer has a conflict of interest on this matter? Even if her contract with Patterson Petroleum ended, the public cannot be secure in knowing whether Vargas made any deals or agreements with Sandhu, the other property owners, and Patterson Petroleum. She does land use entitlement work as a profession, which is alarming alone (see FPPC issues with Trumark Homes), and she has been a brazen proponent for Sandhu’s plan.
It has and always will continue to be ‘my way or the highway’ with Mike Sandhu. Vargas is but a pawn, but a dangerous pawn that new City Manager Michael Rogers must be aware.