Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sheryl patterson"

Railyards developer pays back taxes

2010-04-10T04:50:55Z

The developer of the downtown Railyards paid Sacramento County about $218,000 in current and back taxes and penalties Friday, said Suheil Totah, vice president of Thomas Enterprises.

Funds were sent from the company's Atlanta headquarters to the county's assessor office via overnight mail, Totah said.

But Thomas Enterprises did not pay the property taxes in time to prevent city officials from publicly criticizing the company earlier Friday.

The city had moved to cut off state grant payments to the company, according to an April 9 letter from city officials to the state’s housing and development department.

A letter from Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said that as long as the taxes were unpaid, Sacramento would not sign off on funds to Thomas Enterprises from a $17 million state grant.

The company owed as much as $114,000 in back taxes that were not paid in December, according to the letter.

Now, Senior Deputy City Attorney Sheryl Patterson said Sacramento will be "back in business" with Thomas Enterprises after the city verifies Monday that the company has paid its taxes.

City Councilman Kevin McCarty held a press conference Friday morning to announce that if the company did not pay its taxes, the city should try to block as much as $47 million in state funding to the Railyards.

But Patterson said the city did not have the authority to block payments on amounts other than the $17 million from the grant.

The city could have written a letter asking the state’s Housing and Community Development Department to stop payments on additional state funds for the Railyards, she added.

Photo by Sacramento Press Staff Reporter Suzanne Hurt.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arbitration close for Railyards land

2009-10-29T02:27:04Z

The city of Sacramento and Railyards developer Thomas Enterprises expect to move forward Monday on attempts to put a price tag on key land needed for a future regional transportation center.

The city exercised its right to request an independent arbitrator after both sides failed to agree on the price of 33 acres needed to build the transportation center, an expansion of the historic Sacramento Valley Station into the 244-acre Railyards development.

A public hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Monday at Sacramento County Superior Court to help narrow down the list of potential arbitrators qualified to set a value and price for the land, which will also contain relocated railroad tracks and other infrastructure needed for the transit center and the Railyards development, said Sheryl Patterson, senior deputy city attorney.

Each side will submit five names to a judge. The judge will winnow that to a list of the five most qualified.

Both sides will then strike names from the list, after the judge tosses a coin to decide who goes first. Arbitrators will be crossed off if not available. The arbitrator is expected to be selected and the dates of arbitration hearings set by the end of next week, Patterson said.

Photo by Eric Whalen. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City halts Nestlé work

2009-10-27T02:48:16Z

A $14 million retrofit of a proposed Nestlé water-bottling plant has ground to a halt after the city of Sacramento issued a stop-work order while investigating whether the work began before the company had legal authorization from the city.

Late Friday afternoon, the city's Community Development Department issued a stop-work order for Phases II and III shortly before an interim or "urgency" ordinance request was added to the City Council's agenda for Tuesday night. The council is being asked to consider amending the city's zoning code to immediately require special permits for beverage bottling plants. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

On Monday, City Councilman Kevin McCarty and officials from the city's Community Development Department were trying to determine when Nestlé Waters North America began interior renovation of an industrial warehouse being leased for a new water-bottling operation.

"We're still assessing all the facts," said David Kwong, acting director of the city's Community Development Department. "We're trying to make sure there's nothing being done out of the ordinary."

Legally, construction cannot begin before a start-work authorization or building permit is issued, he said.

A building permit for Phase I was issued Oct. 7, but no start-work authorization has been found, Kwong said, adding that a start-work authorization was issued for Phase II the same day.

"I don't know if there was an authorization to work for Phase I," he said.

Phase I included foundation work and moving walls, Kwong said. Phase II involves work on water and drainage lines and other operational needs. However, the company's description of the work to be done appears to overlap in the two documents.

Nestlé maintains the company has not done anything illegal.

"Nestlé Waters is in compliance with the city's building and permitting laws," Brendan O'Rourke, the company's supply chain director and national director of natural resources, said in a written statement. He arrived in Sacramento on Monday to help respond to the unfolding situation.

Phase I construction is complete, the company said. Nestlé began work two months ago and is halfway through renovation of the plant at 8670 Younger Creek Drive, Chris Kemp, Nestlé's Sacramento plant manager, said Wednesday.

"To date, the company has invested more than $3.7 million into this plant in form of permitting fees, construction costs, due diligence payments and costs associated with the movement of equipment from other Nestle Waters plants to Sacramento," read an e-mail from Nestlé on Monday.

The stop-work order may be temporary. A draft ordinance was still being finalized by the city attorney's office late Monday afternoon. The draft goes to council members before being made public, said Amy Williams, spokeswoman for the city manager's office.

The council ought to carefully consider commercial requests to bottle and sell city water, said City Councilman Kevin McCarty, who requested the item be placed on the agenda and later posted a story about his decision.

"Water is increasingly one of more most precious and valuable resources," McCarty said Monday. "My proposal would mandate a further dialogue on all future water-bottling facilities. I think it's an important discussion to have."

Changing the process now would be "troubling," O'Rourke said.

"We have followed the city and state laws throughout this process, invested more than $3.8 million into this facility and hired people to work, all based on the the current law and it would appear that this is an attempt to change those laws midstream," he said. "We find that prospect troubling not only for this plant, but for any business looking for certainty in the siting process."

Nestlé also questioned the legality of the stop-work order. The company said the stop-work order may not be legal because the city already had issued a start-work authorization for Phase II.

"The city has not provided any evidence to support this stop-work order despite the rules that require they do so within 24 hours," said O'Rourke.

The city gave Nestlé preliminary authority to start work on Phase II, but that doesn't give the company the right to continue the work. In addition, no building permit was issued for Phases II and III, said Sheryl Patterson, senior deputy city attorney.

"We do have the right to issue a stop-work order when no building permit has been issued," she said.

An interim ordinance, which would not require review under the California Environmental Quality Act, would give the city time to consider a formal amendment to the zoning code. An interim ordinance requires a super majority or two-thirds vote of the council, to pass, Patterson said.

Nestlé has paid the city $65,000 in permitting and application fees. The company also agreed to hire local contractors and has committed to paying them $600,000 for their work.

Nestlé applied for a building permit through the city's Facility Permit Program in order to make tenant improvements, including underslab plumbing, demolition of existing partition walls and construction of new ones.

Questions also are being raised over whether it was correct to use the Facility Permit Program in this instance. "The Facility Permit Program facilitates a rapid approval process for tenant alterations and improvements of commercial and industrial facilities: minor tenant improvements, including maintenance, repair and minor alterations; and major interior tenant improvements and remodels. This includes tenant improvements to new and existing structures," according to the city's Web site.

"I'm not sure if it all adds up," McCarty said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.