IN SUPPORT OF A NORTH MARE ISLAND RESORT By Tim Heimstra There is an online Vallejo Open City Hall forum and Survey requesting public comments for a preferred LAND USE CONCEPT on North Mare Island (NMI). As a California licensed Real Estate Broker with a house that overlooks North Mare Island, I have extensively studied this matter for the past 3 years. I have come to the conclusion, the highest and best use for NMI is a mixed use development consisting of a Hotel Resort, large Convention Center, Satellite Wineries, Retail Shops & Boutiques, upscale Office Complex and Marina on this Napa River location. This overall concept by one of the proposed developers (FOMI), makes for a unique fit considering the new San Francisco Ferry Terminal that is currently being built on Mare Island close to NMI. Friends of Mare Island, LLC (FOMI) in the Bay Area and PGI out of Newport Beach is the master development team with the education, experience and assets to make it happen. FOMI has removed casinos and gaming as a condition of their development and will remove it from future conceptual renderings. To move forward, FOMI simply needs support from the City in the form of an Exclusive Right to Negotiate (ERN) agreement. In cooperation with Earthquake Protection Systems (EPS) on Mare Island, I am of the opinion FOMI would also help build a large upscale professional office complex on 40 acres. As many of you in the community have shared with me, this aesthetically pleasing tourist destination concept should have compounding exponential benefits that include: 1) New quality infill development within the City from technical and silicon based firms 2) Quality revenue for Vallejo that will be generated from the 11% Hotel Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT) and sales tax spent by professionals attending various events at the convention center 3) Additional funds for the Vallejo Participatory Budget (PB) 4) Educated Bay Area residents with discretionary income that see the value of relocating to Vallejo and surrounding areas 5) Higher standards in our public schools 6) Accelerated efforts to address rising sea levels and human suffering from heavy traffic congestion by responsibly building a 4 lane causeway with a bicycle trail on State Route Highway 37 from North Mare Island to Sonoma Raceway. This is approximately an 8 mile stretch that will enable emergency vehicles to get through and hopefully prevent the oil and grease on Highway 37 from getting washed into the Wetlands Opinions and ideas are a dime a dozen for North Mare Island. It is the execution of making your ideas and opinions count that matters, which can be done in a positive manner by completing the survey and commenting on the online Open City Hall forum. As residents, professionals and responsible citizens with a stake in our community, your opinion regarding economic vitality on North Mare Island will make a huge impact. On a final note, there will be a Special City Council Meeting on this topic at the City Council Chambers on Thursday, January 15th at 6:00 PM. If you are compelled, you can also make a positive difference by addressing the City Council with your qualified opinions at this meeting. The online City Forum and Survey website is ci.vallejo.ca.us/living/open_city_hall . Let’s make it happen…. Regarding North Mare Island, here is a link to some conceptual designs from one of the FOMI Architects – https://dropbox/s/gpn6b5jodlvl4m4/Binder%20-%20FOMI%20%26%20Gewalt.pdf?dl=0 that I thought you might want to look at. Additional materials are here as a pdf: vibvallejo/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/FOMI.pdf Note: All opinions expressed in the “Primal Scream” column are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Vallejo Independent Bulletin.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:33:26 +0000
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