An Orinda resident urged the City Council to negotiate public trail access to roughly 1,000 acres of Wilder open space before the land leaves the developer's control.

Dan Slaughter, who lives in Orinda's Alice neighborhood, submitted written comment for the council's Tuesday, Sept. 1, compliance hearing on the Wilder development. City staff had recommended the council adopt Resolution No. 65-26, finding that developer OG Property Owner, LLC has not complied in good faith with its development agreement. The violations include an insurance lapse and breaches flagged in letters from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

Slaughter called the review what may be the city's last meaningful leverage before the open space leaves private hands. Once title passes to the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and the Geologic Hazard Abatement District (GHAD), he argued, "the City's ability to shape public access drops to almost nothing."

He pointed to the Ninth Amendment to the Wilder project agreement, which he said eliminated the Red-Tailed Hawk Staging Area. That removal, Slaughter wrote, means the trailhead capacity Orinda was promised in 2016 has quietly disappeared.

Four requests

Slaughter asked the council to direct staff to inventory and map existing informal routes before any land transfer, open talks with EBRPD about which routes could be adopted or seasonally managed, condition any release of remaining deposits on documented progress toward a public access framework, and revisit trailhead capacity to replace what was lost.

"Right now, while the developer is out of compliance and still needs things from this Council, is the moment to put trail access on the table," Slaughter wrote in his public comment.

Developer says funds are exhausted

Chris Yelich, manager of OG Property Owner, LLC, submitted a separate letter to the council proposing what he called a cooperative path forward. The company is winding down. Yelich wrote that it "exhausted our financial resources" and was "forced to eliminate our staff and ultimately wind down the company."

Rather than let remaining obligations become a point of contention, Yelich proposed tapping three existing funding sources: biological and management endowment funds seeded in 2009 that he estimated have grown from $3.1 million to roughly $7 million; GHAD assessment funds he described as exceeding original projections; and deposit funds the company still holds with the city, which Yelich asked be applied toward outstanding property taxes.

An attached bond calculation dated April 9, 2024, showed a required performance bond of $5,890,407 and stated that all construction and monitoring work had been completed. The endowments stood at $5.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to that document.

An Evanston Insurance policy covering OG Property Owner, LLC from Aug. 8, 2026, through Aug. 8, 2027, also appeared in the meeting packet, though no source confirms the council accepted it as curing the insurance lapse. The agenda set an Oct. 1 deadline for the company to obtain the required coverage.

Sidewalk vending ordinance faces objection

In a separate item, the council took up Ordinance No. 26-09, which would create a permit-and-standards framework for sidewalk vending under state law. Nick Waranoff, an Orinda real estate attorney, objected in written comments submitted Saturday, Aug. 29, and Monday, Aug. 31. He argued that "for a city trying to attract new restaurants and retailers, and sustain existing ones, street vending is no good." Waranoff acknowledged that the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act (SB 946) limits the city's options and asked the council to urge state legislators to sponsor an exemption for Orinda and other small cities.

Staff also flagged a correction to the ordinance, fixing a mismatched numeral in the revocation-notice period.

The council's votes on the Wilder compliance resolution and the vending ordinance had not been posted as of Wednesday, Sept. 2. The developer has until Oct. 1 to obtain the required insurance coverage.