On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council unanimously approved an Memoranda of Understanding with Harvest Time in Brentwood for use of $2.4 million of Agriculture Mitigation Fees for an Ag Innovation Center.
Located at 3900 Sellers Avenue, the Ag Innovation Center will provide an emphasis on partnerships and collaborations as being crucial to the project, encompassing entities such as the CCC Ag Dept, 4H, California Farm Bureau, UC Davis, Contra Costa Wine Growers Association, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, garden clubs, local schools, Farm to Table operators and DIG. These groups would contribute to the facility’s operation, offer their expertise, provide volunteers, and facilitate community engagement through educational programs, events and workshops.
The facility’s programming and activities will support agricultural enterprise by offering classes on gardening, animal husbandry, composting, and sustainable farming practices. Community events such as farmer’s markets, plant sales, and food tastings will be hosted to promote the facility’s produce and products, providing hands-on activities for the community.
The Agricultural Innovation Center proposal also included the use originally outlined by DIG and assured to neither displace the East Contra Costa Historical Society nor adversely affect the adjacent site.
Editors Note – for the project & vision for the Agricultural Innovation Center, watch the video
Back in 2007, the city purchased the Nail Property (3900 Sellers Ave) where its sat vacant next to the East Contra Costa Historical Society. The idea was to become an agricultural park and history center on the site. Since March 20, 2010, a Use Agreement has been in place allowing the ECCHS to store equipment and hold meetings on the property. Unless extended, the existing Use Agreement will expire January 15, 2025. Other than a portion of the property used by ECCHS, the property has been vacant and the City has no current plans for the property.
After the presentation by Jessica Enos and Sean McCauley, they highlighted the ask for the funds and the request for the surplus land act process to be given to the non-profit.
“We are asking for a lot of money, but its really not. We are asking for $2.4 million. The most important thing is we feel like we can pull this off with that money,” stated McCauley. “Several of us have pulled a project like this off within that budget.
Assistant City Manager Darin Gale clarified if they sold the land they would have to go through the Surplus Land Act Process to make sure they meet state law.
Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza said the project looked amazing but had concerns on financials because she was concerned what would happen after three-years.
McCauley explained this project would last between 18-24 months and that after 12-months of operating the Ag Innovation Center they will be sustainable and not have to ask for money year-after-year which was their main goal.
Councilwoman PA’Tanisha Pierson asked if there was any collaborations that would occur at the innovation center or joint facility agreements with the city.
Enos said part of the project was land to participate with 4H and FAA programs so kids who don’t have land or able to take animals to fair will be made available. There are obvious collaborations that can be done—such as third grade visits and there is synergy
“Its important for our kids to be coming to our farms so we want to make sure they are never going to a field trip outside of Brentwood to learn about agriculture. We want them to only take field trips only within our sphere to be learning about agriculture,” said Enos. “We want to have opportunity for all kids.”
Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer said she was thrilled by everything being done to bring this forward. She asked if once these funds were used, are they gone or eventually be replenished.
Gale explained the funds would be replenished based on development which they estimate in the future the fund would again be in the $2.4 – $3 million in additional funding.
Meyer asked about the projected impact on City of Brentwood.
“This is the most exciting project the economic development team has got to work since I have been here,” said Gale. “Our single number one economic driver to the region is agriculture and what they do with the u-pick and how they are extending that to a year-round event. Its obviously the number one thing the city can invest in to promote the agriculture.”
Gale said this was an investment back into the community and see a direct return on investment—as they bring people to the community, they shop in the businesses, come to the downtown and have not created economic analysis to know impact but had no doubt they will see an increase.
Meyer then asked about farm to fork with the cooling center for the produce and how it could benefit local businesses.
Patrick Johnston, Dwelley Farms, shared one of the biggest challenges for restaurants is the accumulation of products. This would provide them a facility for a one-stop shop to save time and allows farms to consolidate farms to provide refrigeration services to keep foods fresher longer—this allows distribution to other markets.
Mayor Joel Bryant stated he was a “huge fan” of this project but asked if there was a contingency if Harvest Time could not make it work with this amount of money.
McCauley called it a good question, but felt like if they broke this project down by revenue generation they will start with the barn. He also pointed out that Bryan Lucay, of Serendipity Cellers, had already built the barn with the county and were pretty confident that they can get basic infrastructure in there for $2 million and left them with enough money to go into all the other items.
“We pretty confident we can pull it off for that amount of money,” said McCauley who noted if money got tighter maybe instead of an asphalt parking lot it becomes gravel. “We just can’t go over budget here but we can always leave out some things.”
He also said if they cannot pull it off, then they would want to raise the funds themselves.
During Public Comments:
Mary Black, East Contra Costa Historical Society, supports the project and called it an exciting project.
“We feel like this center will be a perfect compliment to our museum grounds as it is adjacent to the property. We would really like to work with Harvest Time to preserve our past to our present and the dynamic future,” said Black who called this a newer version from a 16-year-old vision while encouraging community groups on a working agricultural center. “You need to be aware that Knightsen is the first original 4-H group in California. So it would be a great honor to have it there.”
Bob Selder, Delta Informal Gardeners, says they have 95 members and are looking for a new location for their annual plant sale but noted this is not a one-day sale but they work from September through the day of the sale in May—they have sold between 7,000 to 10,000 plants which is there primary fundraiser. He requested the city approve the proposal so they could take the project to the county.
Council Discussion
Mendoza called this a “fantastic idea and was excited about it” but how would this transaction work.
Gale said this would come back before council for consideration and assumed it would be a lease while the city would still own the land while Harvest Time builds the improvements. If there was ever a sale, something would be set aside that this would be for agriculture mitigation—its not like it could be sold for for-profit uses. He said they would work with legal to meet intent of ag mitigation fund and would take two-additional steps with an MOU plus additional agreement.
Meyer again said she was very excited about the project.
The council then approved the item in a 5-0 vote.
Cash Balance of Agriculture Mitigation Funds:
- Projected June 30, 2023 Cash Balance of Fund 262 – Agriculture Administration: $ 679,018
- Projected June 30, 2023 Cash Balance of Fund 263 – Agriculture Land (Projects):$ 2,391,597
Should the City Council at a future meeting approve both funding proposals from Harvest Time, which consist of $244,200 for a three-year staffing and marketing agreement, and $2,240,000 for the development of the Agricultural Innovation Center, the balance of the Agricultural Mitigation fund would be approximately $500,000
Full Agenda – click here
1 comment
What a fantastic project to support agriculture today and into the future here in Brentwood.
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