State probing county’s sale of Coliseum

Alameda County is being investigated by the state over whether officials complied with California law when they sold part of the Coliseum site to the Oakland A’s.

According to a letter obtained by The Chronicle, the county has less than 60 days to show proof to the state that it followed a state law called the Surplus Lands Act.

The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development sent a letter to Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi on Aug. 19 stating that the department has no record that the county declared the site as “surplus land” or “exempt surplus land” prior to the sale as required by state law.

The letter also stated that the state has no proof the county followed proper noticing protocols.

State law requires publicly owned surplus lands to be considered for affordable housing before the lands are sold or leased.

Now, county officials have until Oct. 18 to show

proof that they followed state law or the state agency will pursue legal action. It is unclear if the county will have to pay a fine.

The Alameda County administrator’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

The 155-acre site, the largest piece of publicly owned land in Oakland, was jointly owned by the city and the county. The city is currently in negotiations to sell its share of the site. City staff said they issued a Surplus Lands Act notice in 2019. The city is negotiating with development groups to develop the site.

The A’s have said they plan to redevelop the Coliseum site to include public parks, office and retail space, and housing.

The action from the state comes after Communities for a Better Environment, a statewide environmental justice group, sent a notice to the Housing and Community Development department that they “intend to enforce” the Surplus Lands Act.

On July 20, the Communities for a Better Environment alerted the Department of Housing and Community Development in a letter of their intent to sue the county for a violation of the Surplus Lands Act.

The organization doesn’t want to purchase the land, but it wants the county to follow state law, said Shana Lazerow, the legal director of the organization, which represents East Oakland residents.

“We are qualified and ready to bring an enforcement action against Alameda County under the Surplus Lands Act,” she said. “There are violations of law that should be enforced.”

Lazerow said public land should remain under public control and the city and county should focus on leasing the land, not selling.

Any development on the site must include deeply affordable housing for very low-income families — a key issue that was not specified in the county’s disposition agreement with the A’s, Lazerow said. She added that at least 15% affordable housing should be included in any development at the site.

“The Surplus Lands Act all on its own is a vital piece of legislation,” she said. “It’s one of the few things we can actually do when there is a big piece of public land — at a minimum — try to get an affordable housing developer to develop it.”

Lazerow said the state could levy a number of penalties if the county doesn’t comply with the law. She said she hopes the state could force the county to undo its sale to the A’s, but it remains unclear if that’s possible.

The A’s did not respond to requests for comment.

The letter from the state agency said it is required to investigate when such claims are made and “if there appear to be any deficiencies, to provide the local agency 60 days to provide additional documentation or correct the deficiency.”

In 2019, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted to to sell its ownership in the Coliseum complex to the Oakland A’s for $85 million, paid out over six years.

Prior to the vote, Oakland officials filed a lawsuit and accused the county of violating the Surplus Lands Act. The law requires the county to negotiate “in good faith” for at least 90 days, but the county “has not complied with this mandate,” the complaint alleged.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a temporary injunction in the sale that prevented the county from moving forward with its sale of the Coliseum land to the A’s. Oakland eventually dropped its lawsuit and the sale went forward with the A’s.