Talks Resume on Unpaid Costs of Blair Park Sports Complex Plan

The city of Piedmont is now back in negotiations with the Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO) over unsettled debts and accounts related to the abandoned plan to build a sports field complex at Blair Park, according to City Administrator Geoff Grote.

The city in unpaid costs for the project, and at the same time, $95,000 from the PRFO is sitting unused in an indemnity fund, Grote said.

In response to a Patch request for an update on the unsettled accounts, Grote said negotiations had been put on hold for several months through the end of last year as the city waited to see what additional costs might be incurred, including legal costs associated with a lawsuit against the project filed by Friends of Moraga Canyon.

"We held all these questions in abeyance until the legal costs were known," he said Tuesday.

He said the two sides met in late January and are now planning another meeting at a date yet to be determined.

"Talks are ongoing," he said, adding that no decisions have been made on dispostion of the accounts.

The $6 million-plus plan would have built two playing fields, chiefly for soccer, and added associated facilities at Blair Park on Moraga Avenue, privately financed through the PRFO. Blair Park lies in the bottom of Moraga Canyon, and the Friends of Moraga Canyon opposed the development.

The city pulled the plug on the plan in May, and a $30,000 settlement of the Friends of Moraga Canyon lawsuit was announced in November, with the PRFO agreeing to pay $15,000 for the Friends of Moraga Canyon legal costs and $15,000 for a park landscape plan.

The $30,000 was subtracted from the $125,000 that the PRFO deposited into an indemnity account under an August 2011 agreement between the PRFO and the city. The remaining $95,000 is still in the account with no claims currently against it, Grote said.

As part of August 2011 agreement, the PRFO also pledged to pay for "legal and consultant costs directly or indirectly incurred by City in connection with review and processing of the Proposed Project, including legal defense costs." The PRFO has paid $118,000 toward those costs, leaving a balance owed of $220,267, according a report to the council from Grote in May.

Grote said this week that the $220,267 figure is still current.