The Pacific Institute has just released a new research report focusing on the relationship between development of the former Oakland Army Base and strategies to improve community health. 

By reviewing four Community Benefits Agreements - contracts made with developers to support community health in specific communities, around specific issues, with specific programs - and reporting on them as case studies in this report, the Pacific Institute is creating models Oakland can look to learn from and replicate as development proceeds.

To write this report, a team of  researchers - Eli Moore and Oakland Local contributor Marv Nettles - with support from Dr. Malo Hutson, University of California, Berkeley, Department of City and Regional Planning; Margaret Gordon and Brian Beveridge, co-directors of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project; and Kate O’Hara, Community Benefits Program Director at the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy dove into existing Community Benefits Agreements as reflected in media and literature and then analyzed the official Community Benefits Agreements and related documents for the case studies they choose. Each case provides precedents and lessons learned for holding a developer accountable to specific measures that protect and strengthen community health.

So what are some highlights of the reports? What did PI learn that we can share with you:

• The four cases discussed are 
• SunQuest Industrial Park (Los Angeles, 2001)
• Los Angeles Airport Expansion (Los Angeles, 2004)
• Ballpark Village (San Diego, 2005);
• Cherokee- Gates Rubber Company Redevelopment Project (Denver, 2006)

These cases were selected because they involved community health issues similar to those at the former Oakland Army Base in West Oakland. These issues include: decisions on specific land uses, accommodating the relocation of businesses, containing the impacts of cleanup and construction, setting green standards for ongoing business operations and specifying types of tenants compatible with community health goals.

• The SunQuest case demonstrates the diverse range of community benefits that can be included in a Community Benefits Agreement. The CBA provided a means to meet the community needs for a youth center, clean air, streets safe from heavy truck traffic, local investment in neighborhood improvement projects and living-wage jobs.
• The LAX Expansion case demonstrates how a community coalition can use a CBA to bring about major investments toward improving air quality, mitigating construction impacts and increasing employment opportunities.
• Ballpark Village again points to the flexibility and breadth of benefits that a CBA can cover. The provision for an on-site job center is unique to this case, as is the funding for arts and accommodation of a new grocery store.

Concerns about the health and environmental effects of chemicals in the soil at the Oakland Army Base are similar to those raised in Denver. The Gates-Cherokee CBA gave the community access to the information on the presence of chemicals that they could use to advocate for appropriate clean-up and to monitor implementation. The coalition was able to obtain seed money from the developer that they used to form the advisory board doing this monitoring.

One characteristic shared by all of the case examples is the presence of a broad-based coalition representing groups such as, but not limited to, community, environmental, labor, and faith-based members. This point is often stressed because it takes such a coalition to bring the developer to the table, and developers will often try to find isolated groups who are demanding less for their support of the project.

PI Community Benefits Agreements Studies