City Council OKs Docktown deal: Redwood City to pay $4.5 million to settle lawsuit

The remaining $1.5 million will be paid to attorney Hannig, who filed the complaint against the city in early November.

City Attorney Michelle Marchetta Kenyon told the council that if it didn’t accept the deal the cost to fight the litigation could be far more costly.

It could also have put the city’s $25 million general fund surplus at risk depending on a judge’s action, Councilman Jeff Gee said at the meeting.

The settlement also requires the city to develop an action plan on how to deal with the marina’s residents and any environmental damage that exists in the creek by the end of the year. The city then must start implementing the plan in 2017, according to terms of the agreement.

Docktown is considered to be a violation of the public trust by both staff at the State Lands Commission and state Attorney’s General Office.

The State Lands Commission itself, however, is scheduled to hold a public hearing in April that could ultimately decide the marina’s fate. If the commission does allow Docktown to stay, the settlement with Hannig can be amended, Kenyon said.

Many residents of Docktown and other neighborhoods in Redwood City showed up at the meeting urging the council not to accept the terms so quickly.

“Citizens were only given 72 hours to review the settlement. This action will eliminate 70 affordable housing units during this current crisis,” said Mount Carmel neighborhood resident Chris Johnson.

Others wondered why Hannig should be paid $1.5 million.

“The city is folding to Hannig. It’s a front or a shakedown. I don’t know who will be less popular, Hannig or the council,” said Alison Madden, an attorney who led an effort to save Pete’s Harbor before its eventual closure.

Many Pete’s Harbor residents relocated to Docktown.

Some insisted that the settlement means Docktown will eventually be shut down.

“The settlement means Docktown will be closed. Where will Docktown residents go? Docktown is in the way of new development and headed for extinction,” said Julie Pardini.

Vice Mayor Ian Bain, however, disputed that claim.

“The settlement does not close Docktown. We’re talking about people’s homes, there’s nothing more personal than that,” Bain said at the meeting. “I want to keep the residents in the community.”

He also suggested the city put on hold a Inner Harbor Specific Plan to concentrate on developing an action plan for Docktown.

The marina sits east of Highway 101 and is in the Inner Harbor.

The city owns and operates the marina.

Docktown resident Lee Callister said the deal made him “sad” and that the city was handing over a “bag of taxpayer gold” to Hannig.

He also said that the State Lands Commission has given the city no deadline for moving the marina and that there is no link to toxins in the creek and the houseboats that float on it.

The public trust dictates that certain waters controlled by the state must be accessible by all for recreation and other purposes.

The idea too that Docktown residents can just relocate to close by Ferrari Pond is also not viable, Callister said previously.

The Inner Harbor plan being circulated now shows a marina in place at the Ferrari Pond but the land is privately owned and there are no guarantees the owners would accept residents of Docktown to relocate there, he said.

The complaint also alleged someone at Docktown fired a high-velocity golf ball at Hannig while he was unloading groceries in the garage. He believes it was done in retaliation for making social media posts in the past concerning the environmental and public trust violations related to the marina.

Hannig is also the Daily Journal’s attorney.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102