TRACY -- The City Council approved the purchase of 50 acres ofland from the federal government Tuesday night in the first stepstoward building a youth sports complex.
The property, known as the antenna farm because of the dozens ofantennas that dot the landscape, has been the subject of somecontroversy in recent months.
The purchase was unanimously approved, with Councilwoman IreneSundberg absent.
The land -- with a $950,000 price tag -- would be used foreconomic development use, while the General Services Agency conveysto the city an adjacent 150 acres for education and recreational use.
The proposed complex would feature dozens of soccer fields,baseball and softball diamonds and parking and seating.
Last owned by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the parcel was theproposed site for an Immigration and Naturalization Servicesdetention facility that local officials were able to quash.
Andrew Malik, Tracys director of economic development, said thecity was hedging its bets against whats been proposed in the past andwhat could have come in the future.
(The youth sports complex) has a number of better uses and(protects) against a number of things the community doesnt want,Malik said.
Last month, a San Francisco-based environmental consulting firmreleased a report finding the proposed area for Tracys youth sportsfacility well below the state standard for cancer risk.
But the report also found the southeast corner of the propertyexceeded ahazard index threshold for ammonia emissions. The ammoniawas found to come from the Owen's Brockway glass plant located about1,500 feet away.
The same report also examined an alternative site at the corner ofChrisman Road and 11th Street and found no health hazards.
In April, the Tracy City Council directed city staff to negotiateagreements calling for contributions totaling $75 million fromSurland Development and the Tracy Hills developers to build the TracyAquatics Center and the Tracy Sports Complex.
In exchange, the developers would be granted rights to build acombined 500 homes a year -- after Measure A average restrictionsease -- and require a total between 6,400 and 9,400 allotmentspossibly through 2032, according to city documents.
Tracy Hills LLC, -- a partnership involving Souza Realty andDevelopment, and AKT Development -- would pay $20 million in cash andgive the city 15 acres of land in the largest planned housing projectin city history. Half of the cash could be used at the city'sdiscretion in relation to the sports complex or aquatics center.
In documents filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, TracyRegion Alliance for a Quality Community wants to overturn the city'samendment of its growth management ordinance allowing for 500 homebuilding permits to be given out in developer agreements.
Measure A, authored by TRAQC and passed by voters in 2000, limitsthe average number of new homes built in Tracy to 600 a year plusanother 150 that are 'affordable housing.' With the large number ofhomes built over the past few years, only 100 homes a year,prioritized as 'in-fill' and 'affordable,' can currently be builtuntil about 2012.
The measure also limits the number of permits that can be given ina developer agreement to 250 residential growth allocations -- whichare needed before each residential building permit is issued -- apoint the city altered prior to entering into the agreements; theslow-growth group claims it can only be changed by the voters.
Mike Martinez can be reached at (209) 832-3947 or atmmartinez@trivalleyherald.com.
