Steveston’s empty boardwalk saga is likely to run into its third summer.
The 60,000 square foot Imperial Landing development is presently zoned for maritime uses and should its developer, Onni, not lease the space to the appropriate businesses, the earliest it would take for rezoning to occur — to allow for commercial retail — would be about three months.
According to City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend, Onni has not filed for another rezoning application, to date. Such a process would involve reviews from city planners and councillors, as well as a public hearing.
“The process can only be compressed so much, particularly when a public hearing is required,” said Townsend
According to Coun. Alexa Loo, a renewed discussion about the boardwalk may soon take place, however, as there’s a “local business” that has expressed interest in moving to the waterfront.
“My understanding is that the business will be coming to the city soon,” said Loo.
“It seems people are interested at renting the space at a higher price, so maybe we should just let them do it,” stated Loo.
Yet, Loo also stated that the “process” must be respected.
Onni built the development under maritime zoning, meaning businesses operating out of it would need to be boating or fishing related.
Only Onni can say what its true intentions were for the development and whether the buildings were built to accommodate such businesses, however, the company is already advertising the space online as 60,000 square feet of retail space with possibilities for “grocery and financial anchors.”
No one from Onni returned the Richmond News’ phone calls to clarify the company’s intentions heading into the summer.
Loo said she would like to see public consultation.
“I think we might have to do something that engages the public,” to see what it wants, said Loo.
She noted Onni has let the boardwalk sit empty because it has “refused” to accommodate businesses other than commercial retail.
She echoed other councillors’ views that rezoning the property would set a precedent for developers who build properties with intentions that differ from the prescribed zoning uses.
“It’s not about what can go in there, it’s about what is a fair process. When you change the rules of a process it impacts others,” said Loo.
The boardwalk has several quagmires stacked on top of one another.
The Steveston Merchants’ Association has stated it would welcome only one-quarter of the development rezoned as retail; anything more would threaten existing merchants.
City council has had a difficult time deciding on other options for the development; the idea of a library was floated at one point and the city may want to preserve the space for businesses to serve a potential marina.
Onni has stated there is no appetite from maritime businesses to operate there.
Meanwhile council has been quick to throw out financial incentives offered from Onni to rezone the property. The last offer, last May, was $2 million cash and a special lease rate for the city, in one of the buildings, valued at about $500,000.
Rezoning the property would afford Onni the ability to increase lease rates from about $8-15 per square foot to about $25-40.
