Gold Line Deal in Peril, Threatens Project's Future

Seething Monrovia City Council members excoriated the Gold Line Construction Authority Tuesday and threatened to abandon a deal to bring a key piece of the Gold Line to Monrovia unless the two parties could come to terms in the next two weeks.

The council was set to vote Tuesday during its regular meeting on an agreement that would have allowed for the sale of about 12 acres of land to the GLCA for $39.6 million as part of a for the coming .

But Wesley Beverlin, an attorney for the GLCA, addressed the council and said that no deal had been reached between Monrovia and his client, touching off a series of angry responses from council members and the city manager, who said they believed a deal was in place.

"So the GLCA is telling us tonight that they’re not approving the deal that we negotiated in good faith, and we thought we had a partner in this process," said Mayor Mary Ann Lutz. "According to your statement tonight, it seems to me that you are not able to live up to the commitment that you have made to this city of Monrovia and to this region with regards to the Gold Line."

Beverlin told the council that the GLCA never signed off on the sale agreement the council was planning to vote on Tuesday and said that the council's approval of the document amounted to approving "a proposal."

"There should be no misunderstanding--it doesn't embody an agreement between the parties," Beverlin told the council. "What you would be doing in essence is no more than voting on a proposal."

An agreement is needed because the light rail project must have a maintenance facility built somewhere along the line for the Foothill Extension to progress. that Monrovia may sell to the GLCA is approximately half of what the authority needs to build a 24 acre maintenance facility.

No other site has been environmentally cleared, and if the Monrovia deal falls through, the Foothill Extension , according to GLCA Chairman Doug Tessitor.

City Manager Scott Ochoa said the city had reached a deal with the GLCA "on terms that were negotiated in good faith," but conceded that the two sides remained at odds regarding a lawsuit brought against the city and the Gold Line.

George Brokate, a property owner whose land could be taken through eminent domain by the GLCA for the maintenance facility, has sued both entities in an effort to block the maintenance yard.

"We have agreement on the major deal points, save a couple of big exceptions," Ochoa said. "What we disagree on is basically Mr. Brokate's lawsuit and what to do with Mr. Brokate's lawsuit."

Ochoa said that the GLCA is asking the city to share the costs of a potential settlement agreement with Brokate, but the city is unwilling to do so. Brokate's that the city would be breaching a previous settlement agreement with him that bars the city from executing deals that would effectively invite another party to use eminent domain against him.

Robert P. Silverstein, Brokate's attorney, was also on hand at Tuesday's meeting. He called the council's consideration of the sale agreement "surreal" because no such agreement had been reached with the GLCA.

"You're asking the public to believe that you're approving a purchase and sale agreement with a buyer when that buyer, at least publicly and as of now, is not interested in your deal terms," Silverstein told the council.

The fact that the sale agreement was being considered without being finalized amounted to a form of "subterfuge" by the city, Silverstein said in an interview.

"I don't know what type of subterfuge is going on, whether it's a subterfuge in terms of posturing against the Gold Line, whether it's an attempt to make it appear that there's friction when there really is agreement, and the end result is going to be to harm my client," Silverstein. "I know there's mischief going on, exactly what remains to be seen..."

Lutz made a motion to postpone a vote on the agreement until the council's next meeting on June 21. Councilman Tom Adams, voted against the motion. He said the GLCA was "bordering on being Public Enemy No. 1" in Monrovia because of its actions and called for the council to abandon the sale immediately.

"I would just as soon see us stop this now," he said.

The motion pased 4-1 as other council members voiced their displeasure with the GLCA. They painted the June 21 vote as the last chance for the deal.

"I hope in two weeks the GLCA will heed what we said for the good of the region," Lutz said.