Mayor Forms Saltworks Ad-Hoc Committee

The proposed 12,000 home development on the Cargill Saltworks land has received renewed attention with Councilmember Rosanne Foust’s on the proposed Saltworks project and the , Occupy Saltworks. Though the developer has instructed the city to halt all work on the project, Mayor Alicia Aguirre said it was necessary to view all options.

“We don’t know if and when the developer will submit a revised application,” Mayor Aguirre said. “But I thought it was necessary to view all the options on the table.”

The council is at a standstill until the developer makes the next move, but Aguirre asked Councilmembers Jeff Ira and Barbara Pierce to join the ad-hoc sub-committee.

The two accepted and the council will move forward based on their advice, Aguirre said.

At the same meeting the Occupy Saltworks group they opposed the project and focused on other issues, like affordable housing, they believed the council should devote their time to. When one Occupy member’s allotted three minutes was up, another member stepped in to continue.

City Attorney Pamela Thompson also clarified some controversy over the hiring process of the project’s environmental consultants. There is some public opinion that the developer, DMB Pacific Ventures, for the environmental impact report, the document that declares whether the project will have significant, immitigable impacts to the environment. Thompson said that the developer has the freedom to hire consultants for their own application to the city.

“It’s like when someone wants to build a home. They can choose how to build it, how many stories, and who to tell them how,” she said.

But for the final report, she said for selecting environmental consultants.

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