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The Mudd’s saga treks on, as the San Ramon Oversight Board voted last week to ask the State Department of Finance to include the property at 10 Boardwalk Place as a governmental purpose property or to approve its conveyance to the city of San Ramon.
The board voted 4-1 Thursday to pass a resolution that would move the property to the next step of the approval process, necessary to allow the city to maintain ownership of the 2.2-acre parcel adjacent to the Crow Canyon Community Gardens and located along San Catanio Creek.
Chairman Marc Fontes and vice chairwoman Mary Lou Oliver were absent, and Matt Stamey from the fire protection district cast the lone dissenting vote. It’s unclear when the state will consider the city’s request, according to city clerk Renee Beck.
“After working on this for a year, the Successor Agency has concluded that it is not possible to sell the Mudd’s property for a value which will be of any significant benefit to the taxing entities,” wrote city attorney Bob Saxe in a staff report. “The only reasonable alternative is to leave the 2.2 acres in its natural state, adjacent to the Crow Canyon Community Garden Park, and let nature take its course with respect to the creek.”
The parcel, which used to house the old Mudd’s restaurant, was purchased in 2008 with redevelopment funds. But in 2011, redevelopment agencies (RDAs) across the state were dissolved and projects like Mudd’s were suddenly in flux.
Successor agencies were formed to wind down these projects, and according to Saxe, because the Mudd’s land didn’t fit into the category of a government purpose property, it needed to be sold, with profits distributed to local taxing entities like the fire and school districts.
In January 2016, the Oversight Board approved the choice of an appraiser and commercial real estate broker to aid in the sale of Mudd’s, and since then, the Successor Agency has attempted to negotiate deals with various prospective buyers. They were stymied, however, by the creek.
“At some locations on the property the bank is essentially a cliff with a vertical drop in excess of 40 feet,” Saxe wrote. “In some places the bank has been severely undercut by the shear velocity of the creek during winter months, which was particularly true this year.”
Some local community members had contested the sale of the property, citing the concern that the land would be used for further housing developments.
But according to San Ramon officials, the city worked hard to find a local buyer who would preserve the property’s park-like qualities.
Recently, the Successor Agency had been negotiating a sale agreement with a San Ramon couple who wanted to open a day care facility on the site, using the nearby Crow Canyon Gardens for their programming, in exchange for maintaining and providing financial assistance to the gardens.
But after a comparative engineering analysis revealed the approximately $2 million price-tag that would come with the necessary creek mitigation, the couple withdrew their offer, leading the city to start the process of seeking permanent ownership of the land.
“We were committed to finding the right buyer for this special property that would improve a forgotten asset through a true public-private partnership with people vested in our community,” Mayor Bill Clarkson said in a statement at the time. “The City Council is hopeful that the state will now recognize that the land no longer has any commercial value and will return ownership of Mudd’s to the city.”
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The 2.2-acre parcel of land at 10 Boardwalk Place used to house the old Mudd’s restaurant. (Photo by Erika Alvero) -
The property abuts the Crow Canyon Community Gardens and is located along San Catanio Creek. (Photo by Erika Alvero) -
Though the city’s successor agency entered into negotiations with various prospective buyers, the high cost of creek mitigation was an obstacle to the sale. (Photo by Erika Alvero)
$2 million sounds relatively cheap, depending on how much of the creek this would stabilize, as unchecked rivers can do a lot of damage, real fast, given the right conditions.