urban_encounter
Jan 12, 2008, 7:52 AM
Oakland Raiders eye Dublin site for stadium
by Jessica Saunders East Bay Business Times
Oakland Raiders officials have proposed building a new football stadium on 180acres at Camp Parks in Dublin currently being marketed by the U.S. Army Reserve and NASA, the East Bay Business Times has learned.
Dublin Mayor Janet Lockhart was cool to the idea when team representatives spoke with her on Thursday at a day-long presentation for developers interested in the proposed land exchange and sale.
Speaking with the Business Times on Friday, Lockhart said Mark Davis, son of team owner Al Davis, and Tom Blanda, the team's director of finance and technology, told her the National Football League team wanted to build a stadium on the land. The Raiders' contract at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland expires in 2010.
According to the mayor, Davis and Blanda said, "'We think the Raiders belong out here. We think we should put a stadium on this land,' and I told them I didn't agree with them."
Lockhart said a professional football stadium is an inappropriate development to locate in the heart of a small suburban community. Dublin's population was 43,630 in January 2007 and is expected to grow to no larger than 65,000 at build-out in 10 to 15 years. The Camp Parks land is located in the center of town along Dublin Boulevard, one exit from the junction of Interstate 580 and Interstate 680 and directly opposite the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and transit center.
"You are talking about the middle, the very heart of our community," Lockhart said. "If we were to build a stadium on that property, it would affect every resident in our community. We have only Dublin Boulevard and the (I-580) freeway to connect the east and west sides of our community. We are a long, narrow city."
Lockhart said she understands everyone is looking for the last big piece of land to develop, but when it is in the heart of the city, putting a stadium there "doesn't make sense."
"My personal opinion is it would destroy the city of Dublin if we even considered it," the mayor said.
At the Thursday "Industry Day" event at Camp Parks, Davis and Blanda said they were gathering information about the land exchange concept and how it works. Davis did not return telephone calls seeking comment Friday.
The Raiders' contract to play games at the Oakland Coliseum expires at the end of the 2010 football season, said Ann Hale, executive director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority.
The city of Dublin developed five mixed-use concepts for the 180 acres at Camp Parks two years ago, and has recommended one of them to the Army. The recommended use is a mix of retail, housing and public uses like parks and an elementary school. A stadium was not in any of the plans.
But the City Council did not formally adopt it, according to a city planner's presentation Thursday. The city must first amend its General Plan to include the property, work out a development agreement with the chosen developer and then re-zone the acreage, which is currently agricultural.
"We did not specify that anyone has to follow one of those plans," Lockhart said. "The message we were trying to convey to those interested in doing the land exchange is, these are the uses and densities we would like to see on the land."
The Army Reserve controls about 171 acres of the 180-acre parcel and NASA holds the rest.
Because the Army cannot sell land, it is proposing to exchange it for construction of buildings and structures at Camp Parks. NASA would sell its approximately eight-acre parcel to the same developer.
by Jessica Saunders East Bay Business Times
Oakland Raiders officials have proposed building a new football stadium on 180acres at Camp Parks in Dublin currently being marketed by the U.S. Army Reserve and NASA, the East Bay Business Times has learned.
Dublin Mayor Janet Lockhart was cool to the idea when team representatives spoke with her on Thursday at a day-long presentation for developers interested in the proposed land exchange and sale.
Speaking with the Business Times on Friday, Lockhart said Mark Davis, son of team owner Al Davis, and Tom Blanda, the team's director of finance and technology, told her the National Football League team wanted to build a stadium on the land. The Raiders' contract at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland expires in 2010.
According to the mayor, Davis and Blanda said, "'We think the Raiders belong out here. We think we should put a stadium on this land,' and I told them I didn't agree with them."
Lockhart said a professional football stadium is an inappropriate development to locate in the heart of a small suburban community. Dublin's population was 43,630 in January 2007 and is expected to grow to no larger than 65,000 at build-out in 10 to 15 years. The Camp Parks land is located in the center of town along Dublin Boulevard, one exit from the junction of Interstate 580 and Interstate 680 and directly opposite the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and transit center.
"You are talking about the middle, the very heart of our community," Lockhart said. "If we were to build a stadium on that property, it would affect every resident in our community. We have only Dublin Boulevard and the (I-580) freeway to connect the east and west sides of our community. We are a long, narrow city."
Lockhart said she understands everyone is looking for the last big piece of land to develop, but when it is in the heart of the city, putting a stadium there "doesn't make sense."
"My personal opinion is it would destroy the city of Dublin if we even considered it," the mayor said.
At the Thursday "Industry Day" event at Camp Parks, Davis and Blanda said they were gathering information about the land exchange concept and how it works. Davis did not return telephone calls seeking comment Friday.
The Raiders' contract to play games at the Oakland Coliseum expires at the end of the 2010 football season, said Ann Hale, executive director of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority.
The city of Dublin developed five mixed-use concepts for the 180 acres at Camp Parks two years ago, and has recommended one of them to the Army. The recommended use is a mix of retail, housing and public uses like parks and an elementary school. A stadium was not in any of the plans.
But the City Council did not formally adopt it, according to a city planner's presentation Thursday. The city must first amend its General Plan to include the property, work out a development agreement with the chosen developer and then re-zone the acreage, which is currently agricultural.
"We did not specify that anyone has to follow one of those plans," Lockhart said. "The message we were trying to convey to those interested in doing the land exchange is, these are the uses and densities we would like to see on the land."
The Army Reserve controls about 171 acres of the 180-acre parcel and NASA holds the rest.
Because the Army cannot sell land, it is proposing to exchange it for construction of buildings and structures at Camp Parks. NASA would sell its approximately eight-acre parcel to the same developer.