The Carson City Council moved Tuesday to further lay the groundwork for an NFL stadium, taking votes to ensure the site chosen by the Chargers and Raiders is ready for immediate construction if the project is approved later this year.

Council members voted unanimously to set up financing for the final phase of environmental cleanup on the 168-acre former landfill site so the two teams can move if they fail to secure new stadiums in San Diego and Oakland.

“Everyone in the region is excited about this project,” said Mayor Albert Robles. “Literally everyone except for one city, the city of Inglewood. They say they’re ahead of Carson, that Carson is being taken advantage of (as leverage in another NFL deal), that Carson doesn’t have its act together.

“This piece of land is ideally situated for an NFL stadium, much better than that piece of dirt in Inglewood.”

Last month, Carson already waved off time-consuming environmental pre-construction reviews after more than 8,000 residents signed petitions in favor of the stadium. Inglewood has done the same with its own plans for an NFL stadium. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke plans to finance the $1.86 million stadium there with or without a team.

The Chargers and Raiders are in escrow to purchase the Carson land from its current owner, and contractually agreed Tuesday to transfer it to Carson’s Reclamation Joint Powers Authority, which oversees remediation of environmentally damaged properties. Once it owns the property, the city can charge the teams rent. City Attorney Sunny Soltani said that would amount to more than $1.2 million per year.

The teams also have agreed to spend $19 million toward a public benefits program over the life of the project, Soltani said. In its entirety, the city expects to receive more than $200 million in benefits from the long-term project.

Goldman Sachs has promised up to $1.7 billion for the Carson project, said Tim Romer, a municipal finance manager for the bank.

“We’ve been working with both the Chargers and the Raiders to help develop a solid financing plan,” Romer said. “We are very excited about this project as a firm. We’ve very committed. I think it’s the best site in Southern California for a football stadium because it’s the most fan-friendly site.”

The land sits between the Avalon Boulevard and Main Street exits along the 405 Freeway, and is one of the largest remaining undeveloped parcels in the county so close to transportation corridors.

Former landfills beneath the property already have been contained with thick liners, and mitigated with a system of pipes that funnel methane gas and other lingering hazardous chemicals safely out of the pits. But about $50.5 million worth of cleanup and preparation remains.

The city’s Redevelopment Agency pledged in 2009 to pay for much of the environmental remediation to spur development on the property, which for years was eyed as a mall and entertainment site.

Since then, the state dissolved all local redevelopment agencies and remediation work stalled. State agencies said they would divert those property tax funds back to Carson to pay for the work, since the funding plan was approved before the Redevelopment Agency was dissolved, city officials said.

What’s more, the Chargers and Raiders promised to reimburse the city any public funds spent on the stadium plan.

“We’re going to rely on those 32 owners of the NFL to say, ‘Why not Carson?” Councilwoman Lula Davis-Holmes said. “Come to Carson. We have what you need. We have residents waiting for you with open arms.”

 

dailybreeze.com

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