On a florid night in Council Chambers freely flowing with the felicitous feelings of former feuders toward each other, the City Council, acting as a standoffish chaperone or mere observer, rather mechanically gave its semi-final — emphasize semi-final — approval to building a mixed-use project at 4043 Irving Pl.
Not that the tools of construction are going to show up anytime soon across the little street from School District headquarters.
One more lumpy bump in the rocky road — a financial settlement — remains to be hurdled.
Talks are so fragile that not even a filmy hint was even whispered, or thought of, aloud in Chambers amidst a preliminary celebration.
Agreement between long-protesting residents and the two-person development team was known going into last evening’s Council meeting.
What was not, and still is not, known this morning is whether they have a deal.
That is not expected to be determined for awhile.
No one was saying this morning how long he thinks it will take the City Council to decide whether it will accede to the wishes of the developers.
The Deal
Sal Gonzales and George Mitsanas are seeking about 50 percent more in compensatory funds than was previously agreed upon — because the contours of their original project have substantially changed.
The earlier, apparently agreed-upon, so-called refund of $550,000 has swelled to about $800,000, in view of the latest narrowing of the 26-condo, 1-business unit building.
The $800,000 represents roughly one-quarter of the $3.1 million acquisition price Mr. Mitsanas and Mr Gonzales paid the city two years ago for what now is a parking lot opening out onto Irving Place and Lafayette.
Ongoing negotiations between the developers and the city remain in such a frail state that no one is willing to even speculate about an outcome, lest he disturb the delicate balance.
‘Here Comes the Bride…’
A potentially contentious showdown between the four appellants to a Planning Commission decision last spring and the developers quickly melted — like an ice cream cone on a torrid July day — into an old-fashioned, 1960s-style love-in.
Some in the Council Chambers almost expected strains of the “Wedding March” to break out as appellants Judy Miller, Michael Miller, Jim Behnke, and the builders, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Mitsanas, strode, almost in lockstep, each smiling more widely than the next person.
All that remained to be settled was, who would give away the bride?
If billing and cooing are not to antiquesh, that was what the fivesome did for several minutes, as the birds of nearly-spring twittered, and rosey-cheeked cherubs sailed by on chubby vanilla clouds.
Among them, the five former foes graciously, and repeatedly, thanked three city officials for lifting them over a dozen once seemingly insurmountable humps.
The principals, and later a handful of Irving Place residents and neighbors, said they could not have climbed the mountain of mediation without the aid and comfort of City Manager Jerry Fulwood, Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld and Redevelopment Administrator Todd Tipton.
Standing in the back of the room, reduced to a passive, background role, the City Council, kind of got caught up in the spirit of the evening, voting confirmation, 4 to 0, with member Andy Weissman recusing himself.
A Silbiger Critique
Before the celebrants had a chance to empty out of the room, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger sought to restore order in his singular fashioned.
In a bizarre episode, Mr. Silbiger quizzed counsels as to whether the City Council had broken any rules during negotiations. His strangest inquiry was to wonder if the Council had done anything “ethically illegal” during the negotiation process.
He seemed satisfied by a series of negative answers.
Practically without drawing a new breath, Mr. Silbiger segued into a solo, and lengthy, harangue while his large-eyed colleagues sat there less than mesmerized.
Resurrecting a favorite storyline of his, the Vice Mayor complained that there had been insufficient public notice on an upcoming item that concerned “a discussion of community involvement in the development process.”
As the 4043 celebrantrs took their happiness into the chill late-winter air, Mr. Silbiger still did not seem satisfied with the feedback on the dais.
