Concerns around labor standards are continuing to stall a 93-foot, fully affordable housing development at 1301 Broadway despite developer assertions that further delays could throw the future of the project in jeopardy.
Anders Fung
The Millbrae City Council asked for another two-week delay in authorizing $85 million in tax-exempt bonds so that the developer, AMG & Associates, can work with the Carpenters Local 217 union to reach an agreement.
“We were hopeful we’re going to have some productive discussion … in trying to make sure the entire community gets to benefit from [this] public financing, and those who build in San Mateo County get to live in San Mateo County with fair wages,” Mayor Anders Fung said at the council’s meeting Feb. 25.
Approval of the bonds was originally pushed back at the City Council’s meeting Feb. 11, but union representatives said the two-week period did not result in any fruitful agreement on labor standards.
“We are here tonight to ask you not to approve the bonds for 1301 Broadway until we have some meaningful dialogue with AMG & Associates,” said Neil Delander, a representative from Carpenters Local 217. “It is crucial to continue the conversation with them to help them understand this project deserves to have protections for workers.”
Those standards include living wage protections, health care and state-accredited apprenticeships, Delander said.
Developers stressed that time was of the essence for the council to approve the bonds, which have already been issued by the state. While the state deadline to utilize the bonds is in July, council approval is required expeditiously to move the project forward, California Municipal Financial Authority advisory Anthony Stubbs stressed.
“In order to meet that deadline … all parties involved in finances have to be underway right now,” he said. “The longer this gets delayed, the harder it is.”
The legality of delaying the bond approvals for a union-related issue might also be tenuous, Stubbs said.
“These are two separate issues,” he said.
While councilmembers granted the continuance, they stressed the importance of reaching agreement quickly.
“Don’t wait to pick up the phone,” Vice Mayor Reuben Holober said. “I don’t want to hear ‘the ball’s in their court’ from either of you at the next meeting … don’t be scared to be the first one to make the call either way.”
AMG & Associates will continue dialogue with union representatives — which has been ongoing since the City Council’s first request, representative Gene Broussard said — but moving forward on the project is a top priority. The lack of “soft funding” for the project also makes it more challenging to offer benefits for workers, he said.
“We are under a tight timeline to get this project funded,” Broussard said. “There are a lot of extremely low-income families that need this project.”
(650) 344-5200 ext. 105
(650) 344-5200 ext. 105
Daily Journal staff
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(1) comment
Since this new development is designed to be affordable housing, then the unions need to give in a little. Otherwise if union wage gauging requirements are not lowered, then affordable housing cannot be built.
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