Beachwood and AB1991: The view from Sacramento

Capitol Weekly, which covers state goverment, has an article on AB1991 and the Beachwood settlement. It includes some interesting quotes from Leland Yee and Gene Mullin:

Yee said earlier that he agreed to be a co-author of AB 1991 before the settlement was finalized. But he has since witdrawn support, citing two "surprise" clauses in the agreement. The first calls for the city to pay developer Keenan $18 million even if the bill fails, scuttling the settlement. The second is a part of the agreement that lets Keenan build 46 homes on an adjacent piece of property that wasn’t part of the original lawsuit.

"It seems as if this ended up as a Christmas tree with all sorts of goodies under it," Yee said. "If it becomes a developers’ paradise, I’m not interested."

The main author of AB 1991 is Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco. He said that he will continue to push the bill, adding that he offered the bill to help to city avoid bankruptcy; his office did not participate in the settlement talks.

"We volunteered to them that if they engaged in settlement talks and needed a bill, I would have a spot bill available for them," Mullin said. He added: "They could have gone forward with an appeal. They chose to settle…We will fulfill our commit to carry the bill and work as hard as we can to make sure they don’t have to pay $18 million."
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Environmentalists say Mullin has some alleged ties to the pro-development old guard, but Mullin dismisses these claims. In the early-to-mid 1970s, Mullin said, his divorced father married Dolores Mullin, a longtime Half Moon Bay city councilwoman and one-time mayor. But Mullin notes that he was already in his late 30s at the time, so Dolores Mullin was never really his stepmother or godmother, as some have stated. Mullin’s father died in the 1980, and he said he had little contact with Dolores Mullin after that.

"She was a conservative Republican and I’m a liberal democrat," Mullin said. "We didn’t have a lot of interaction, to say the least."

The County Times also has a very good story on AB1991, which includes these details:

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, also agreed to co-sponsor the bill in response to a request Mullin’s office sent to the entire Bay Area delegation in February, according to Mullin. Her name is not attached to the "placeholder" bill Mullin submitted at the time, but will appear in the final, amended language that includes the details of the settlement.

That language is being analyzed by a slate of legislative attorneys, according to Mullin. It will be heard in the Assembly Committee on Local Government on April 30 before coming to a vote on the Assembly floor.
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The city’s Architectural Review Committee will, in fact, consider the proposed design of Keenan’s homes — but will only be able to apply the standards in effect when the city fist approved a building permit for Beachwood back in 1990.