Did you see the article in todays SacBee?
Looks like they might have gotten the CART before the HORSE again.
It may take to long to clean the place up and they may still need to build out in the North Natomas area.
VOTE THIS THING DOWN FOLKS.... Sorry about the copy and paste.....
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http://www.sacbee.co...-15107097c.htmlArena site could jump off railyard
Ownership, toxics may yet thwart downtown deal.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga and Terri Hardy -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 12:01 am PDT Friday, August 4, 2006
If plans to build a new Kings arena in the downtown railyard run into problems, city and county leaders have agreed to look elsewhere, including North Natomas.
Revitalization of the dormant railyard is one of the key selling points that proponents plan to use when asking voters to adopt a new quarter-cent sales tax to pay for the arena.
They paint a picture in which people will ride Amtrak or light-rail trains to basketball games and concerts, catching a bite to eat or a drink while they're downtown.
On Thursday, leaders of the arena effort downplayed the idea that it would go anywhere else. But they acknowledged that the railyard presents a number of potential challenges: delays in an ownership transfer from Union Pacific Railroad, toxic contamination, and lack of streets, sewers and other infrastructure.
"The railyard site is, by far, the hardest place to negotiate a deal," said Sacramento Vice Mayor Rob Fong.
The information about alternative sites is contained in a list of deal points negotiated over the past few days between representatives of Sacramento city and county and the Maloofs, owners of the Kings.
This written list was produced at the request of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, which delayed its Wednesday vote putting the sales-tax measure on the ballot until it saw something from the Kings in writing.
The list is nonbinding and will serve as the blueprint for a more detailed "memorandum of understanding" between the public agencies and the Maloofs that is to be finished by Oct. 6.
It contains numerous exit clauses that graphically illustrate the many ways the deal still could collapse.
One way would be if the public agencies can't reach a deal with Thomas Enterprises, the Georgia firm developing the railyard.
During the next two months, even as they negotiate with the Maloofs on the arena, city and county representatives will try to negotiate an agreement with Thomas Enterprises, which is under contract to buy the railyard from Union Pacific.
The deal will include, among other things, a price for the land, an exact location for the arena, and the amount of parking that will be made available to the Maloofs. If that deal doesn't come together by early October, the whole arena proposal could fizzle.
Numerous sticking points could arise, including the exact location of the arena. Thomas Enterprises has placed the arena in the back of the railyard, anchoring a planned sports and entertainment district, but Fong said he and other city negotiators would like to see it closer to the Amtrak and Regional Transit light-rail station at Fifth and I streets.
"We want it within easy walking distance," Fong said.
Mayor Heather Fargo agreed. "My preference has always been to get it as close to our intermodal (train station) as possible," she said.
If an agreement with Thomas Enterprises is reached by early October, and if voters approve the sales-tax increase, the parties could still decide to look for alternative sites if the railyard land isn't under the control of the new, public joint powers authority building the arena by July 2007.
One of these alternatives could be on land around Arco Arena that is owned by the city and the Maloofs. Another could be at Cal Expo.
"It is our hope and expectation we won't have to use those alternatives, but we need to have them," said Paul Hahn, the county's director of economic development.
Everyone involved in the deal acknowledges that the railyard's recent history doesn't suggest that development can get done in a hurry.
One potential obstacle is that Thomas Enterprises doesn't even own the site yet. The firm announced two years ago that it had entered escrow with Union Pacific. But still, the deal has not closed.
"It's been Department of Defense-esque," said Fargo aide Chuck Dalldorf. "I've never celebrated anniversaries of escrow before."
So many deadlines have come and gone that Suheil Totah, the project manager for Thomas Enterprises, refuses to make any more predictions for when the sale will close. Union Pacific officials declined to comment this week.
But Totah said the sale will be finalized in time for the arena to to be built.
"It's not going to be an issue as far as the arena goes," Totah said. "We have control of the property and we will be closing on it."
Contamination by toxic metals and fluids dumped on the ground during the railyard's industrial heyday could also be a problem.
Between 2000 and 2002, excavators for Union Pacific dug up and hauled away about 500,000 tons of contaminated dirt. But another 200,000 to 300,000 tons remain, according to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is overseeing the cleanup.
The general area Thomas Enterprises has designated for an arena contains piles of soil peppered with shreds of old insulation containing toxic asbestos.
Carol Singleton, spokeswoman for the toxics control department, said the piles would have to be removed before the arena could be built. Her department hasn't decided what should be done with them yet. They could potentially be hauled away, or buried onsite and capped.
Both Totah and state toxics officials expressed confidence that the cleanup could be finished in time for construction of the arena to begin. An arena would require a lower level of cleanup than other land uses, such as parks or single family homes.
"The goal of Union Pacific and the DTSC is to have the portion where the arena would go and quite a few of the other portions of the soil clean by 2007," said Paul Carpenter, a project manager for DTSC overseeing the railyard cleanup.
Totah said the cleaning of the yard has been a "slow" process under Union Pacific.
"The cleanup could have been done years ago, but it's been undergoing remediation on a slower schedule," Totah said.
Once a hub of heavy industry, the railyard lacks streets, parking garages, sewers, a modern electric system and other necessities for accommodating a major development such as an arena. Thomas Enterprises and the city of Sacramento estimate it will cost between $400 million and $500 million to install the needed infrastructure.
Specific funding sources have yet to be identified. The city has said it will contribute the money from selling 100 acres of land it owns next to Arco Arena. That money is being included in the estimated price tag of $470 million to $542 million for an arena.
Arena proponents acknowledge that the railyard presents a daunting set of obstacles. But they say it also offers far more potential to revitalize the city than a more suburban facility such as Arco.
"The railyards development is really the prize here," said John Dangberg, assistant Sacramento city manager for economic development. "It's a five and a half billion-dollar project we're trying to get off the ground. The arena really does act as a driver to move it along."
BREAKING DOWN THE ARENA DEAL
Arena negotiators in July released deal points of the funding plan. This week, negotiators in a marathon session fleshed out that initial agreement. Here are some of the new provisions:
• Arena: A 17,000- to 18,000-seat state-of-the-art facility comparable in quality to arenas in Memphis, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Houston. Square footage would be about the same as the Memphis FedEx arena, but with administrative offices inside, not in a free-standing building. Other amenities: 50-60 luxury suites; 3,000 to 5,000 club seats; appropriate training facilities and two practice courts.
• Joint powers authority: Other incorporated cities in the county might join Sacramento and the county in ownership of the arena.
• Parking: A parking structure with enclosed walkways or bridges connecting to the arena. The number of spaces has yet to be determined.
• Location: Downtown's Union Pacific railyard. If that plan falls through, the parties would look at alternative sites including North Natomas.
• Design: The city and county will give the Kings a list of three nationally recognized architects with experience in building arenas; Kings will make the final choice.
• Kings contribution: Kings will pay $20 million when construction begins. That money could be used for capital repairs or any other purpose.
• Possessory interest tax: In lieu of property taxes, the JPA will pay a tax based on the lease value. The yearly amount has not yet been determined.
• Natomas land: Kings own 85 acres in North Natomas on the site of Arco Arena and the city owns 100 adjacent acres. Parking for the arena is on the border, with some land owned by the city and some land owned by Maloof Sports and Entertainment. An agreement allowing the city and the Maloofs to each use that common area would be nullified, allowing the areas to be sold or developed by each side, unencumbered by the agreement.
• Exit clauses: There are a host of provisions or deadlines that must be met, or the arena deal will fall apart. They include: The city and county conclude the arena's projected costs are too great; North Natomas land restrictions are not erased; the proposed arena site is not acceptable or is not under control of the city, county or JPA by July 1, 2007.
-- Terri Hardy
A VETERAN
Whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount "up to and including their life".
That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
-Author unknown-
