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City of Carson Raiders and Chargers Professional Football Stadium Zoning Initiative (2015)

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A zoning initiative for a professional football stadium for the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers qualified to be on the ballot for Carson voters in Los Angeles County, California, in 2015. It was directly approved by the Carson City Council, however, precluding the necessity of an election.[1]

After the county registrar of voters certified that the initiative petitioners had collected enough signatures, the city council scheduled a meeting to vote on the initiative for April 21, 2015. The city council ultimately voted unanimously to approve the initiative directly.[2]

This initiative changed the zoning of a 168-acre site near the intersection of the 405 Freeway and Del Amo Boulevard in order to allow the construction of a $1.7-billion, 70,000-seat professional football stadium. The stadium plan was developed by the owners and managers of the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders, who planned to share the proposed stadium. Plans did not include any public funding for the stadium.[3]

The development project was also designed to include parking, a hotel, commercial buildings, retail space and recreational opportunities.[4]

This measure, combined with an initiative in Inglewood backed by the owner of the St. Louis Rams, makes three teams that made bids to move to Los Angeles in 2015 after a two-decade absence of a professional football team in the Los Angeles area.[3]

Aftermath

NFL approves teams to move to LA

On January 12, 2016, NFL owners voted 30-2 to allow the Rams to move to Los Angeles. Their home stadium will be in the $1.8 billion stadium development project in Inglewood backed by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, which was made possible through an initiative that qualified for the June 2016 ballot, but was approved directly by the Inglewood City Council. The NFL owners provided the San Diego Chargers the option of joining the Rams at the Inglewood stadium. The team was given a year to consider the option. If the team declined after a year, the Oakland Raiders would be given the same option.[5][6]

Another Los Angeles stadium development project was approved through a similar initiative process in Carson. This project had the backing of the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders, but it was passed over by the NFL in favor of Kroenke's stadium.[6]

Responses to initiative approval

After the announcement of the council's vote to approve the initiative, Carson Mayor Albert Robles said, "There are two things we need in California: rain … and football. And football is coming to Carson!" Explaining the council's decision to bypass an election, Robles pointed to the nearly 15,000 signatures submitted and the crowds of supporters and said, "They want this. Why delay the inevitable?"[1]


Carson2Gether video, February 19, 2015

Support

The group organized by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders to circulate the petition and campaign for the initiative was called Carson2Gether.[7]

The group insisted the stadium would bring many short-term and permanent jobs to the area and boost the tourism and entertainment industry, while providing additional city tax revenue.[7]

Opposition

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns StubHub Center, publicly criticized the use of the initiative process to move forward with both the proposed joint stadium in Carson and the Hollywood Park stadium development in Inglewood.[8]

According to AEG Vice Chairman Ted Fikre, the chief concern of AEG was that the indirect initiative process bypassed important environmental reviews and public input when it was used to authorize large development projects. Fikre said, "As one of Carson's biggest investors and business stakeholders, AEG has an interest in advocating for a responsible approach to major developments in the community. We feel it is only reasonable to ask and expect that a project of this magnitude, like others before it, be thoroughly vetted in a transparent public review."[8]

Although admitting there was nothing city officials could do to stop a valid initiative petition, AEG insisted that each city should commission studies on the projects and should encourage public input. AEG representatives also said that the city councils should have required a public vote on each initiative to heighten awareness and discussion, instead of directly approving the proposals.[8]

Inglewood stadium proposal by St. Louis Rams

See also: City of Inglewood Hollywood Park Professional Football Stadium Initiative & Referendum Questions (June 2015)

Petitioners of an initiative backed by the owner of the St. Louis Rams and designed to allow the construction of a stadium development in Inglewood collected enough signatures to put the proposal before the city council early in 2015. The development proposal in Inglewood included a shopping complex, office spaces and residential development. The city council approved the initiative themselves in February 2015, precluding the necessity for an election, just as the Carson City Council did two months later. Motivated by the lack of a signed labor-agreement, a Los Angeles area union launched a veto referendum petition against the stadium project initiative. If the union petitioners had followed through, voters would have seen the issue on the ballot despite the city council's direct approval of the proposed development. Ultimately, however, the union struck a deal with the owners and developers behind the stadium proposal and removed the referendum petitions from the streets.[9]

Rendering of proposed stadium in Carson

Reports and analyses

Raiders and Chargers report

A report funded by supporters of the initiative was commissioned from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. The report showed the following economic benefits of the stadium proposal:[10]

  • About $500 million in new spending in the area
  • 9,000 permanent jobs upon the completion of construction
  • 10,000 temporary construction jobs over three years
  • $8 million in new tax revenue to the city each year

Christine Cooper, the author of the report, said, "This is new activity that's going to occur here. This is going to create jobs that we can see, based on spending that will occur."[10]

The city's report

The city of Carson announced that it commissioned its own fiscal impact report about the initiative. The city's report was completed in the last half of April 2015. Shortly before the city council voted to approve the initiative, the city-commissioned impact report was published. It largely cited unknown variables and unfinished or unprovided planning documents to say that conclusions in the report amounted to only vague estimates. Specifically, it said, "As of the date of completion of this Report, no official project design documents have been provided by the Stadium Developer." The report did, however, raise some potential harmful impacts, such as construction noise, parking availability and the possibility that the development project would keep the city from qualifying for up to $1.4 million in federal housing funding.[1]

AECOM consultant David Stone, however, responded by saying that housing could be built in many other locations and that the report erred too much on the side of caution. Speaking of the proposed development, Stone concluded, "I think this is a good deal for the city."[1]

San Diego stadium negotiations

See also: City of San Diego Stadium Proposal for the Chargers (December 2015)

The Chargers' management engaged in a session of negotiations with San Diego city officials concerning a possible stadium deal that would, upon voter approval, provide over a billion dollars in public funding for a new stadium in San Diego. City officials were eager to keep the Chargers in San Diego. The stadium proposal hinged on getting a ballot measure before San Diego voters by December 15, 2015, requiring a finalized agreement and plan by September 24, 2015. The city claimed it found a way to comply with state environmental review mandates and still meet this tight timeline. Representatives of the Chargers, however, ultimately said they could not see a legally defensible way to do this and abandoned negotiations over a December ballot measure. For the full story, see this page.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in California

The signature campaign, funded by the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders, needed just over 8,000 valid signatures to qualify the zoning initiative for the ballot. The petitioners collected over 14,000 signatures, submitting them on March 23, 2015. This made it probable that more than enough valid signatures had been filed to meet the required threshold.[3][11]

On April 15, 2015, the county elections office certified at least 8,059 signatures as valid, allowing the initiative to be sent to the city council. At this point, the council had two options: approve the initiative directly or put it before voters. The city council scheduled a meeting about the initiative for April 21, 2015. At that meeting, the city council voted three against zero to approve the initiative directly.[1][2][12]

Related measures

Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot City of San Diego Stadium Proposal for the Chargers (December 2015)
Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot City of Inglewood Hollywood Park Professional Football Stadium Initiative & Referendum Questions (June 2015) Approveda

See also

External links

Additional reading

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Los Angeles Times, "Carson City Council gives unanimous approval to NFL stadium," April 21, 2015
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Las Angeles Times, "Carson council to vote on NFL stadium plan after signatures verified," April 15, 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Los Angeles Times, "Backers of Carson NFL stadium file ballot initiative as first step," March 4, 2015
  4. ↑ San Diego 6, "PETITION TO BEGIN THURSDAY FOR PROPOSED CARSON STADIUM," March 11, 2015
  5. ↑ ESPN, "Rams' relocating to L.A. leaves St. Louis a two-time NFL loser," January 13, 2016
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 ESPN, "Rams headed back to Los Angeles; Chargers have option to join," January 13, 2016
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Carson2Gether, "Home," accessed March 26, 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Los Angeles Times, "AEG tells Carson officials ballot measure on NFL plan 'deeply flawed,'" March 18, 2015
  9. ↑ San Diego 6, "INGLEWOOD CITY COUNCIL APPROVES NFL STADIUM PLANS," February 25, 2015
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Los Angeles Times, "Carson NFL stadium plan report projects $500-million spending boost," April 1, 2015
  11. ↑ San Diego 6, "CARSON STADIUM INITIATIVE GETS REQUIRED NUMBER OF SIGNATURES," March 21, 2015
  12. ↑ Daily Breeze, "NFL stadium proposal moves forward in Carson," April 15, 2015
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