Costco’s Grand Opening in Ukiah is scheduled for July 19. We predict the opening of the mega-retailer will result in total gridlock of the Highway 101, Talmage Road, South State St., and Airport Park Blvd. areas. The City of Ukiah is in the final stages of $6 million worth of roadway construction improvements demanded by Costco as a condition of opening their store in Ukiah. The only problem, aside from the monster-sized giveaway of taxpayer funds, is that all the improvements were needed before Costco came to town. Which means as soon as the ribbon is cut, Ukiah will need at least another $6 million in roadway improvements for the new traffic congestion caused by Costco.
But Ukiah’s lavishly compensated City Manager Sage Sangiocomo and his rubberstamp City Council don't care because Costco is expected to generate $1 million dollars in sales tax every year. Which means it will only take six years to pay back the cost of the already inadequate traffic improvements. And another couple of years to pay back the cost of fighting the lawsuit filed by Sacramento attorney William Kopper. That lawsuit was brought by the non-existent "Ukiah Citizens for Safety First" originally represented by two employees from Lucky's Supermarket and two from Food Maxx. Both stores are owned by Save Mart Supermarkets and are the most likely to suffer from proximity to Costco. Once their names were revealed all the employees disavowed any connection with the lawsuit. But the lawsuit, most likely funded by the corporate owners of Lucky's and Food Maxx or the Retail Clerks Union, delayed the opening of the Ukiah Costco for several years.
The intersection of Talmage Road, Highway 101, and Airport Park Blvd has been a traffic congestion nightmare for years, but Ukiah refused to pay for any improvements until the lawsuit was finally dismissed. Airport Park Blvd and portions of Talmage are notoriously rough with the deteriorating roadbed alternately sinking or pushing up in spots. Except for emergency patching Ukiah has also refused to make repairs, claiming for years that it was the developer's responsibility. It took several years and a lawsuit to force Ukiah to take responsibility for the road, but only Costco could force them to fix it.
Costco, rumored to have been looking at Ukiah for some twenty years, officially applied for a use permit in 2011. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was approved by the City Council in 2013 and immediately challenged on grounds that traffic, noise and energy impacts were not correctly analyzed or mitigated. Faced with that lawsuit, Ukiah tried to fix the EIR and bypass the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by adopting an addendum to the EIR. The local Superior Court, natch, ruled that the EIR was A-OK. The Court of Appeal reversed that decision on grounds that it was illegal to adopt an addendum after the EIR was certified. Which meant the City had to go back and re-do the EIR. And pay Kopper his attorney fees. Three and a half years later (!), the City certified the revised EIR. Only this time no one sued, which means whoever was backing Kopper decided not to continue funding the lawsuit. The delay cost Ukiah about $3 million in sales tax revenue.
A final hurdle appeared at the last minute when Ukiah Mayor Steve Scalmanini filed an appeal. The Mayor belatedly (his claims always seem tardy, besides being silly) claimed the Costco roof needed to be solarized. Because the City of Ukiah is its own electric utility, solarizing Costco would mean a reduction in profit for the City owned electric system. And higher prices for everyone else. And more delay for Costco. Scalmanini was appointed when former Mayor Mari Rodin resigned and no one else filed for the open seat. Scalmanini recently filed a frivolous appeal against a 38 unit apartment project in Ukiah. He claimed the two-story project was too tall and would overlook the neighbors. He also claimed it needed to have parking on the ground floor which would have meant a three-story building. So according to Scalmanini the apartment building was both too tall and too small.
Costco refused to hold up the project, but tricked Scalmanini into dropping his appeal. Costco has an aggressive solarization program worldwide. So instead of putting solar on the Ukiah store, Costco agreed to solarize half a dozen stores in the United States and half a dozen overseas, a fraction of what it plans to do anyway. But Scalmanini was able to claim a great victory for the environment. Which is typical of the meaningless grandstanding favored by local pwogs of the Huffbro (Huffman/Chesbro, for you late arrivers)/Wood/McGuire type.
The Redwood Business Park, as the name implies, was approved decades ago as a business park, not a shopping center or big box strip. But the dream that 100 acres worth of businesses were eager to locate in outback Ukiah, distant from major markets and transportation corridors, was unrealistic from the get go. The infrastructure was designed to support the limited traffic circulation of a business park, not a major regional shopping center like it has become.
The property went through bankruptcy at least once before. The developer of the strip of property approached the City of Ukiah with a win-win: rezone one parcel for Wal-Mart and I promise to build out the rest as a business park. The developer would get a financial boost and Ukiah would get the sales tax (one of the few remaining direct sources of revenues local government has any control over). Concerns about lack of infrastructure were met with solemn assurances that no more retail would be allowed.
Unfortunately, there was still no demand to use the property as a business park, at least not at the high prices charged by the developer who kept coming back to the City Council to rezone "just one more" parcel for retail — until finally the entire area was zoned for retail. Eventually the City Council, acting as the Ukiah Redevelopment Agency (RDA), decided to become developers themselves.
The history of redevelopment in Ukiah explains why Governor Brown and the State legislature voted to abolish redevelopment. Instead of promoting development of neglected areas, redevelopment became a cash cow for local government. Each year the City of Ukiah decided what percentage of the City Manager's salary should be paid from redevelopment. The same was true for the City Attorney, Finance Director, and other high paid officials with some being paid 50% or more out of redevelopment. Ukiah even paid for a couple of police officers and other line staff with redevelopment money. But the biggest rip-off came in the form of sweetheart deals that benefited well connected interests at the cost of everyone else.
Case in point was the deal that brought the Mendocino Brewing Company (MBC) from Hopland to Ukiah. Founded in 1983 as the first craft brewpub in California and second in the nation since prohibition, by the 1990's the MBC was seeking to expand. Enter Ukiah City Manager Chuck Rough, who promised to extend Airport Park Blvd if the brewpub would relocate to Ukiah. Rough claimed the move would boost the economy by bringing dozens of jobs to Ukiah.
Nevermind that it's a ten minute drive from Hopland to Ukiah so any job gain was illusory.
But the high cost of extending the road meant Ukiah could not make any more redevelopment deals for well into the future. The deal was also ruinous for MBC which nearly went broke after being coerced by Ukiah to overbuild their new facility. The building, which was really a bottling plant, included broad verandas and graceful arches befitting an event center, but it was never used for that purpose. The original owners were forced to sell a controlling interest to an Indian billionaire who ran the MBC and the product into the ground prior to its closure last year.
Ukiah's dream of landing Costco almost failed when Developer's Diversified Realty (DDR), the nation's largest shopping center developer, purchased the old Masonite industrial site just north of the city limits and proposed a mega mall with a Costco store as the centerpiece. Frustrated with the slow pace of planning in Mendocino County (where no real planning ever takes place) the developers put an initiative on the ballot that would have approved full buildout of the Masonite site without planning review or public input. A group led by former Supervisor Richard Shoemaker, claiming to support "Smart Growth" opposed the initiative which was turned down by voters 2 to 1. Smart Growth was code for "no growth," the preferred option of the "I've got mine, jack" local libs. Ukiah would be looking at concrete slabs for the next 30 years if Ukiah industrialist Ross Liberty hadn’t stepped up to the plate to develop the large former Masonite facility as an industrial site. Liberty, who is one of two known Ukiah Libertarians (real estate honcho Dick Seltzer being the other one), formed an odd-couple partnership with the County of Mendocino. Libertarians as a rule decry government intervention in the marketplace, but the Mendocino/Liberty Libertarian alliance is successfully promoting the redevelopment of the Masonite site, albeit slowly.
Following the rejection of the DDR mega mall, Costco and the City of Ukiah resumed negotiations just at a time when the Ukiah Redevelopment Agency was recovering from the financial hole created by the long departed Chuck Rough. The City Council, with neo-socialist Phil Baldwin on board, bought 15 acres of land in the Redwood Business Park so they could deal directly with Costco. Agreement was reached for Costco to pay a tiny share of the millions needed to upgrade the freeway interchange, off- and on-ramps, and internal road network. At almost the same time the State voted to end redevelopment. But Ukiah was determined to keep milking the RDA cow. Over the objection of Doug Crane (who pointed out a state imposed deadline that prevented RDAs from incurring new debt) the warm fuzzies on the City Council, assured by the city administration (which is partially paid out of redevelopment funds) that the deadline did not apply to them, issued $10 million in bonds to use as RDA play money. The only problem was the State insisted the deadline did apply to Ukiah. The $10 million has been sitting locked in an account and the taxpayers are paying principle and interest on money that can't be used. This forced Ukiah to borrow millions more at market rates to fund the long overdue and insufficient road improvements.
In the meantime, City of Ukiah voters narrowly passed "Measure Y" which will generate about $3 million a year for road improvements. But there is no reason to think Ukiah is capable of providing the necessary oversight to spend the money wisely.
For example, take the current work to "improve" the freeway interchange and access, Airport Park Blvd. and Talmage Road — work that was needed before Costco came to town. The only significant improvement is a second westbound lane off Talmage and onto Airport Park Blvd. but that was a problem for anyone trying to get to Big Box Alley and necessary for pre-Costco traffic since traffic routinely backs up over the overpass and onto the freeway.
Traffic flow out of the “business park” will not be any better than at present either. Left turns into or out of the parking lots along Airport Park Blvd. will be impossible. State St. at Hastings will continue to be a bottleneck, especially for north bound traffic.
Adding insult to injury, the City Council decided that a good use of Measure Y funds, which was sold as a way to improve Ukiah’s pock-marked city streets, will instead be diverted to pay the next round of improvements that Costco should have paid for.
This indifference to the public is clear as shown by the lack of concern for the safety or convenience of the public during construction. Snarled traffic was diverted without warning and without clear signage indicating where drivers were supposed to go. Lanes were poorly marked if at all. Drivers were diverted onto streets marked with arrows going the wrong way. Traffic was diverted through cramped bank and hotel parking lots without any advance notice or warning. The Talmage Road intersection was shut down for days at a time without notice or clearly marked alternatives. Flaggers were scarce being drawn for overstressed construction crews, but in the evening they were often poorly illuminated, putting them at risk and making their signs impossible to read.
Contrast this with the CalTrans project in Willits where every lane is clearly marked at all times and safe walkways are provided for pedestrians.
This same level of indifference was common at numerous Ukiah road construction projects that were underway simultaneously in a patchwork of impromptu road repairs.
Only twenty years after they agreed to do it, the City of Ukiah finally got around to improving the intersection of Low Gap Road, North State St. and Brush Street. A major problem was the failure to include a dedicated left turn only lane as originally promised. And when the job finally got underway it had to be stopped because no one bothered to tell PG&E they needed to move a power pole. The mega utility requires months of lead time to do the simplest task. But they have to be asked. So the contractor had to shut down and pull their equipment off the site, all at added cost to the taxpayers.
That was just one example of expensive change orders that had to be granted because the plans and specs did not accurately describe initial conditions. The community was also promised that all work in the street would be done at night to avoid daytime closures, but Brush Street was shut down for days at a time without notice.
The greatest beneficiary of the Brush Street project was former City Councilmember and former County Supervisor Richard Shoemaker (now, weirdly, Point Arena City Manager) who owns the property at the southeast corner of the intersection. The City of Ukiah had to pay Shoemaker for right of way on both Brush and State Streets, rebuild his sewer and water lines at no charge, install a very expensive retaining wall, install an expensive gate and fencing, and probably had to pay for use of the property during the project. To top it off, the contractors imported tons of fill to level the back of Shoemaker's lot, greatly increasing its value. Most of these items can be gleaned from the original plans and change orders but the imported fill and leveling seems to have been on the down low.
None of this street activity is surprising since Ukiah was already notorious for paying a consultant $23,000 to come up with the memorable slogan: "Ukiah: Far Out! Nearby."
And if nothing else the Costco sales tax money can be used to pay the City Manager his $280,000 a year in salary and benefits with comparably lavish amounts going to the rest of the top-heavy city administration.
But hey: at least Ukiah has a Costco!
LOL.