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March 4, 2024 Dear Santa Ana City Council Members, At the recent March meeting of the G7 Neighborhood Leaders Alliance, a group of leaders from 17 different neighborhoods in Santa Ana, voiced a serious concern that a once in a generation proposal to transform an aging shopping center into a vibrant new landmark in south Santa Ana, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in community benefits, sorely needed tax revenue for the City, thousands of jobs, 13 acres of open space, and $2.913 in economic stimulus is slipping away —and quickly! Without immediate action to advance formal hearings to consider the Related Bristol project, which offers an unprecedented opportunity, the likes of which has been rarely proposed in our City's 154-year history, the developer may be forced to pause their efforts indefinitely or abandon the Project altogether. If that occurs, the opportunity to create 7,500 new construction and permanent jobs, many of them local hires, and generate $500 million in net surplus revenue to the City in the first 30 years of the Project, could be lost. Also at risk is the project's $535 million community benefits package, including 13 acres of actively programmed open space, a police substation, and $80 million of offsite public infrastructure improvements (that our city does not have sufficient resources to fund) but Related has agreed to provide as part of their Project. The enormity of this opportunity can't be overstated with the total package of proposed community benefits; about three times the required amount for a Project of this size and scale. By all accounts, the developer, Related California, has done everything possible, and more, to move the Project forward expeditiously in advance of major deadlines. We are increasingly concerned that the City's Development Agreement Ad Hoc Committee protocols have proven inefficient, ineffective and are the primary cause behind the project's delays and issues that now threaten the Project's viability, including the expiration of nearly 100 retail leases in 2025 on the existing site.