BELT LINE DISPUTE REHASHED IN COURT
Written by Jonathan B. Opet
Published: Friday, 06 October 2006
Attorneys for the city of Alameda and the Alameda Belt Line (ABL) were in court again this week to dispute Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jon Tigar’s Aug. 8 tentative decision that allows the city to buy back 40 acres of land for less than $1 million.
Attorneys dispute judge's Aug. 8 decision
Attorneys for the city of Alameda and the Alameda Belt Line (ABL) were in court again this week to dispute Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jon Tigar’s Aug. 8 tentative decision that allows the city to buy back 40 acres of land for less than $1 million.
ABL, presently owned by Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, submitted a brief to the court Aug. 17 that argued against Tigar’s decision in favor of enforcing the validity of a 1924 agreement that would allow the city to buy the Belt Line railroad at the original sale price, plus the cost of any investments and extensions of the line.
In the brief, ABL says the court did not specify what land the city is entitled to purchase and it questions the land’s value as determined by the court.
ABL said the court should use a 1998 estimate of the land, which is nearly $21,000 more than the most recent appraisal.
The city has estimated the property, sandwiched between Sherman Street and Constitution Way north of Eagle Avenue, to be worth $20 to $25 million in today’s real estate market.
On Monday, attorneys for both sides argued in front of Tigar at the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland.
Alameda City Attorney Teresa Highsmith said Tuesday in a phone interview that she doesn’t expect the judge to substantially modify his decision.
He might “clarify and tighten” up his opinion, she said.
Tigar has 90 days to issue a final decision. At that time, either the city or ABL can challenge the decision in the state Court of Appeals.
ABL argued that a 22-acre former rail yard or “switching yard” on the northern side of the Island was not intended by the writers of the contract to be included in the word “extensions.”
ABL said the testimony of two key witnesses was misinterpreted by the court, leading to an incorrect decision on the meaning of “extensions.”
In Tigar’s decision, he said the rail yard was an essential part of the Alameda Belt Line railroad and “common sense dictates that the rail yard be included in the repurchase because it is central to the operation of the belt line.”
Highsmith said ABL mostly rehashed what they argued in court during a non-jury trial that concluded in May.
In 1918, the city built 1.2 miles of railroad along the northern waterfront to serve a growing industrial sector. Six years later, the city sold the property to Alameda Belt Line, a corporation formed by Western Pacific Railroad Company and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, for $30,000.
The intent of the sale was for the corporation to expand the Belt Line railroad, something the city could not afford to do.
The city and ABL signed an agreement in 1924 that contained two paragraphs allowing the city to buy back the Belt Line, including “all extensions thereof,” at the original cost.
In 1999, Alameda resident Jean Sweeney, a former schoolteacher who lives near the Belt Line property, unearthed a 1924 contract, which until then had been forgotten by city officials.
This prompted the city to try to repurchase the land from ABL. That was one year after ABL entered negotiations with a residential developer to sell the 22-acre rail yard for $18 million.
The decades-old contract has been at the heart of a complex legal battle lasting more than six years.
In 2002, Alameda voters passed Measure D and E, initiatives written to rezone the 22-acre rail yard to open space.
Measure E, authored by Sweeney, changed the Belt Line parcel from residential, industrial and open space to strictly park land and open space.
Measure D delays the rezoning until voters decide on funding for the purchase of the ABL land should the city ultimately prevail in the case.
Doug deHann, a current city councilmember and a candidate for mayor in November, said the city council wrote Measure D to protect the city in case ABL sued the city for rezoning the land and if the court had decided the city must pay current market price for the land.
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, council members voted on securing funds to pay ABL $966,027 for the land.
Mayor Beverly Johnson said on Monday she was “very confident” Tigar would stick to his tentative decision. She said the city had the money to purchase the belt line from the sale of property on Harbor Bay Island. “It would make sense to go ahead and plan as if the city wins the ruling,” she said.
The 22-acre rail yard will remain open space, she said. But several smaller parcels will be “open for deliberation.”
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