In January 2012, Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin formed its newest practice group: the AGC Redevelopment Transition Practice Group. The Practice Group's mission is to provide legal guidance to public and private sector interests impacted by the dissolution of redevelopment agencies in California brought about under Assembly Bill 1X26.
AB1X26 promises to drastically reshape urban development in California and will transform the way local governments will operate for decades to come. In keeping with AGC's commitment to work on the cutting edge of legal issues in California, the Redevelopment Transition Practice Group is a comprehensive legal resource to address the complex and diverse challenges created by the dissolution of redevelopment agencies throughout the State. Among the areas addressed by the Redevelopment Transition Practice Group are:
- Advising city and redevelopment agency staff on legal duties which must be performed under AB1X26;
- Advising investors, developers, and property owners on matters involving the liquidation of redevelopment agency assets;
- Advising cities and other successor agencies of their legal obligations under AB1X26;
- Representing buyers, investors, and interest-holders in the acquisition of liquidated agency properties;
- Providing legal guidance concerning the differing fiduciary duties that mayors and city council members are held to when acting on behalf of a successor agency rather than a city;
- Developing by-laws, policies of procedures, and other guiding documents for successor agencies;
- Representing cities and other successor agencies in the marketing and sale of agency properties for liquidation;
- Providing legal guidance on matters of conflicts of interest which arise when mayors and city council members, city officials, and redevelopment agency staff take action under AB1X26;
- Recommending procedures and requirements for the formation of oversight committees, and advising oversight committees on the guiding procedures and documents that should be employed in their conduct of business;
- Providing legal guidance on the powers which oversight committees may exercise under AB1X26, and the fiduciary standards by which those powers should be exercised;
- Advising cities and other successor agencies on matters of litigation and whether to challenge the decisions of their oversight board, and vice-versa;
- Recommending actions to protect private sector assets from being placed at risk by redevelopment agencies and their successors;
- Developing recommendations on the implementation of agency bonds, security financing and contracts under AB1X26;
- Providing legal guidance on steps that cities and other successor agencies should take to safeguard redevelopment assets and obligations;
- Advising clients on long-term redevelopment financial agreements; and
- Advising cities and other successor agencies on the fiduciary obligations to investors, developers, property owners, and the State when liquidating the assets of redevelopment agencies.
The vast majority of attention on redevelopment dissolution has thus far come from the public sector - cities, counties, and agencies themselves grappling with the meaning and consequences of losing redevelopment agencies. However, the loss of redevelopment will likewise have extensive impacts in the private sector, as a very uncertain future is emerging for lenders, developers, financial institutions, bond holders, public housing advocates, and others involved in redevelopment transactions. AGC's Redevelopment Transition Practice Group is able to address the interests of these sectors - both public and private - who are each impacted by the loss of redevelopment in unique ways.