CONCORD — The City Council has rejected a proposal to build a 310-unit apartment building on a long-vacant city property because the developer failed to include more than five affordable units or to use union workers for more than 15 percent of the construction jobs.
The Tuesday vote scrapped AvalonBay Communities’s plan to buy roughly three acres at 1765 Galindo St. from the city for $4 million to build the apartment building along with 6,500 square feet of commercial or retail space on the ground floor.
After the proposal received heavy pushback from labor unions, the council earlier this year had voted to delay any vote on the development agreement, urging AvalonBay to return with a commitment to hiring a percentage of local union workers.
AvalonBay’s new proposal — revealed by company senior vice president Nathan Hong at Tuesday’s meeting — offered 15 percent of the construction jobs to union workers, plus $50,000 toward an “art fund” and $300,000 toward a “community event benefit fund.” It also offered to build five affordable housing units or put $650,000 into the city’s affordable housing fund.
In addition, the developer included the option of converting the proposed 6,500 square feet of retail into just 2,000 square feet of retail plus some other “active” use such as a fitness center for residents while giving $450,000 to a retail tenant improvement fund in lieu of the extra commercial space.
“We’re willing to make a huge investment, but we need to do so in a way that makes practical sense,” Hong said. “We want to provide more housing.”
But the revised proposal’s community benefits were “too little, too late” for what Concord needs, Councilmember Dominic Aliano said.
“We need units identified as affordable,” he added.
Other council members agreed.
“I’m concerned with how there are not enough living wage jobs here,” Mayor Carlyn Obringer said. “Building this project seems like a unique opportunity to do that.”
Dozens of union members expressed a similar sentiment Tuesday and at past council discussions. They urged the council to accept only a developer for that site who will commit to providing “livable” wages to local workers.
The Carpenters 152 Local union was the only labor group to express support for the proposal during the meeting.
Concord resident George Fulmore noted that few of recently approved housing projects in the city offered units that might be accessible for low-income families.
“Yes, we have a housing crisis in Concord,” Fulmore said. “Flooding the market with relatively market-rate units is not solving our problem.”
Obringer and Councilmember Edi Birsan expressed support for issuing a request for proposals for the site to gauge further interest from developers.
Councilmember Laura Hoffmeister said although she appreciates that the developer revised the proposal and reached out to gather data from the unions, she ultimately couldn’t approve it.
Vice Mayor Tim McGallian struggled with his decision during the meeting, acknowledging that the housing crisis in the Bay Area calls for adding housing units. But the dearth of affordable housing units and local labor jobs means the project is not a good fit for Concord.
“We need housing and we need it badly, but the question is, at what cost?” McGallian said. “There are some different types of community benefits (here), but is this enough?”
