The sale of Angel Stadium takes another step forward today, weeks after state officials concluded that the sale process violated state law but allowed it to move forward after assessing a $96 million fine that will go toward building about 1,000 affordable housing units across Anaheim.
Under the stipulated judgment with the State Attorney General, one which city officials refer to publicly as a legal settlement, less affordable housing will be built on the stadium property than what was originally proposed.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Agrees to Pay $96 Million Fine for Illegally Selling Angel Stadium]
At 5 p.m. tonight, City of Anaheim Planning Commissioners will get to consider the city’s revised agreement with a developer group led by team owner, Arte Moreno which lays that difference out.
Should planning commissioners tonight approve the recommended staff changes to the agreement, the item would go to the City Council for a final say.
The meeting will not be live-streamed for remote audiences and will only be viewable at the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
Asked why, Anaheim City Hall spokesperson Mike Lyster said, “Planning Commission, or other commission (meetings) have never have never been live streamed, just council.”
City officials have put together a page with documents and information about the sale on the meeting website.
Given all the development planned for the site, one big question moving forward is where will all the parking go?
Asked about that on Monday, Lyster said the current lease requires 12,500 parking spots, and “that number also will be required to be maintained with any development.”
Under the City Council’s original $320 million sale of the stadium (the city gets $150 million in actual cash) to the development group led by Moreno, council members credited $124 million to subsidize the building of what was said to be 466 affordable homes on the stadium property.
Under the modified development agreement before the planning commissioners, Moreno would have to build either 84 or 104 units of very low to low-income units on the stadium site with a credit to the developer group of more than $27 million.
The housing built through the $96 million fine imposed by the state will instead go toward a housing fund slated to build over 1,000 new affordable homes citywide but it’s unknown where exactly those new living spaces will go.
City officials have repeatedly said Moreno will pay back the city, which under the state stipulated judgment is paying the $96 million fine, yet weeks after the announcement, that commitment’s not in writing.
But city officials say it’s coming.
“SRB (Moreno’s purchasing entity) has agreed to pay an additional $96 million in cash. That will be reflected in an updated purchase and sale agreement that will go to council next month,” said City Hall spokesperson Mike Lyster in a text message on Monday at noon.
But city documents show that the $96 million is not new money but rather is coming out of the back end of the overall $320 million land sale.
“The total amount of the investment in affordable housing through this settlement is reflective of the $123,677,843 amount that was originally credited to SRB in the Stadium sales transaction for onsite affordable housing. The intent of the parties is that Stadium deal will be restructured such that approximately $96M of the $123M credit will instead fund the housing trust, while the balance of the credit will be used to fund affordable housing on the Stadium site,” reads a city staff report.
Under the revised development agreement, the total commitment to affordable housing quotas has to be built no later than 25 years after it’s approved
Brandon Pho is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at bpho@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @photherecord.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC Reporting Fellow. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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