City of Santa Clara, California : 49ers Proposal for a Stadium

Future scheduled public discussions will be noted here.

Please note that the Tuesday City Council meetings are open to the public, televised live at 7 p.m. on Cable Channel 15, and rebroadcast the following Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Thursday at 1 p.m. DVDs of the meetings are also available at the Library for check out.

See links below for all previous materials on this topic that have been considered at City Council Meetings.

On June 8, 2010, Santa Clara voters approved the ballot measure for the proposed stadium project.

Now that the ballot measure has been approved, there are a number of actions that must occur before construction can begin.

Summer 2010: Council considers approval of Joint Powers Authority (JPA) agreement between the City and the City's Redevelopment Agency to form the Stadium Authority (SA). In addition, staff will continue to work with the 49ers to develop all the necessary documents and agreements, including a Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) and City and Stadium Authority Leases, consistent with the negotiated terms in the Term Sheet.

Summer-Fall 2010: Planning Commission considers approval of the PD Zoning District Ordinance and Offsite Parking Ordinance amendments, and Stadium Project entitlements.

Fall 2010: Council, the SA, and the Redevelopment Agency will consider several actions related to the proposed stadium:

Council considers approval of the SB 211 amendment, PD Zoning District Ordinance and Offsite Parking Ordinance amendments, Stadium Project entitlements, City/SA Conveyance agreement, and City/SA Ground Lease.
SA considers approval of the Disposition and Development agreement (DDA), the City/SA Lease, the Stadium Lease with the 49ers, Project Management agreement, Public Improvement agreement, and Community Facilities District (CFD) Reimbursement agreement.
Redevelopment Agency considers approval of the DDA.

2011: During this period, the Stadium design will be finalized, construction permits obtained, and the Stadium Financing Plan finalized. The Financing Plan will identify the amount and timing of the various funding sources and demonstrate to the SA’s satisfaction that sufficient assets, credit and revenue streams are available to timely fund the stadium construction.

January 2012: Anticipated start of construction.

The most frequently asked questions that the City has received on the stadium proposal, and the answers to those questions, have been placed on this City’s website.

Significant prior dates:

November 2006, 49ers announced their interest in building a football stadium in the City of Santa Clara, to be located on part of the parking lot of Great America Theme Park, 5000 Great America Parkway, just south of Tasman Blvd., on land which is owned by the City and leased to Great America for parking.
January 15, 2008, after a year of extensive research, discussions, public comment, and an eight-month feasibility study, the City Council determined that the 49ers proposed stadium presents a potential entertainment/economic opportunity for the City’s North Bayshore Area. Council directs the City Manager to enter into negotiations with the 49ers. The preliminary negotiations are non-binding – they do not commit the City to the stadium project – and are to create a Term Sheet agreement, to further examine issues and clarify and document understandings and guarantees of all parties involved in the proposed project.
January 22, 2008, Council discussed the type and timing of a ballot measure for the proposed stadium, with the goal that eventual Term Sheet elements could be reflected in potential ballot language.
June 2, 2009, Council approved the Term Sheet for the potential stadium, which clarifies and documents the understandings and commitments of the involved parties.
July 14, 2009, Council and the public received a presentation by the 49ers on the proposed stadium design.
July 30, 2009, Draft Environmental Impact Report for the stadium project is completed and released for public review and comment.
August – September 2009, a Charter Review Committee met to review and make an advisory recommendation to the City Council about whether or not to consider a second ballot measure in 2010 to amend the City Charter language regarding competitive bidding for the stadium project. The Committee also reviewed and considered proposed Senate Bill 43 (Alquist), a bill that would allow the City to use a design-build process for the stadium project without needing to modify the City Charter.
October 27, 2009, Council approved the Charter Review Committee’s recommendation to use the authority granted under SB 43 (Alquist) to allow for a limited design-build process for the stadium project.
December 8, 2009, Council certified the Environmental Impact Report for the stadium project and selected June 8, 2009 as the date to place project on the ballot.
December 11, 2009, a citizens group submitted to the City Clerk a Notice of Intent to Circulate an Initiative Petition titled “The Santa Clara Stadium Taxpayer Protection and Economic Progress Act.”
December 15, 2009, Council approved continuing discussion of a City ballot measure to February 2010, in order to allow the citizen-based initiative to continue to move forward. If the citizen petition fails to qualify for the ballot or if Council decides for some other reason to place their own measure on the ballot, the deadline to do so is the March 9, 2010 Council meeting.
February 9, 2010, Council approved ballot question language for the June 8, 2010 election, and approved the transfer and appropriation of $390,000 in Redevelopment Agency funds to place the measure on the ballot.
March 9, 2010, Council approved a resolution of of findings concerning significant environmental impacts, mitigation measure and alternatives, a Statement of Overriding Considerations, and a Mitigated Monitoring or Reporting Program for the proposed stadium project, and General Plan Amendment No. 72 to change the text of the Tourist Commercial designation of the Land Use Element to include specific language about stadiums and arenas.
March 30, 2010, Council approved moving forward with the process of forming a Community Facilities District (CFD). If approved by a vote of the hotel property owners included in the CFD, a special tax equivalent to 2% transient occupancy tax (TOT) would be placed on those eight hotels. This special tax would be pledged to finance portions of the publicly owned infrastructure for the proposed stadium project, up to a cap of $35 million (excluding debt service and other financing costs). At the same meeting, Council passed to print an Ordinance approving and adopting the proposed Amendment No. 20 to the Redevelopment Plan for the Bayshore North Project, which would expand the land use definitions to include stadiums.
May 11, 2010, Council approved moving forward with the formation of a Community Facilities District (CFD) as part of the proposed stadium project. The involved hotels voted unanimously to place a 2% special tax on their hotel room nights, to finance portions of the publicly owned infrastructure, up to a cap of $35 million. The hotel tax does not take effect until the stadium is opened. If the stadium ballot measure does not pass on June 8, the CFD would be dissolved.
June 8, 2010, City of Santa Clara voters approved moving forward with the proposed stadium project.

Links to Past Reports and Background Material

All reports considered by the City Council regarding the proposal of the 49ers to build a stadium in Santa Clara can be accessed online. Please note that the PDF files are very large and may take several minutes to load if you are on a dial-up connection.

Key Reports

Project Application Resubmittal

This is the majority of the project application resubmittal. The complete resubmittal, including full size plans, are available for review at the City of Santa Clara Planning Department during normal business hours.