HOW DID WE GET HERE ?

This was written 3 months ago in the middle of August, 2021 - and provided to all Members of the City Council.

If you have lived in Tracy for any length of time, you'll remember The Great Plate Bar & Grill. It was housed in one of the oldest buildings still standing in downtown Tracy. For about 16 years it served as the city's largest independent restaurant and entertainment venue. There was always something going on there and a long list of famous and not so famous musicians entertained us. Owner Brandon Perry was a local and constant presence with his brother Shawn. Many great memories were formed, relationships begun, and experiences shared inside of those historic brick walls.

We have been trying to save this historic building with its long past extending to the start of this City. But it seems we have almost lost our battle. And without help from concerned Tracy citizens, the City may get its wish to turn it into just another empty forlorn downtown parking lot.

The Great Plate building currently needs about $100K in repairs. The repairs have been designed, planned, permitted, contracted and budgeted for. Custom metal has been fabricated and work is literally about to begin. And no, we don't need funds, labor or anything like that. The City of Tracy and its building, planning and development departments have been fighting us tooth and nail during our attempts to restore the building. They have stated that they want to help us but delay our work at every turn. Now they insist that they be allowed to tear down this historic building.

They have given lip service to not wanting to do this, but actions speak louder than words. Everything they have actually done has resulted in delays and technicalities to prevent us from starting the work. And given that they have the resources of a City, they always have the upper hand when we appear in court to fight them.

Back in January of this year we submitted our engineer's plans to obtain a building permit for all of the required repairs so our contractor could begin work. A permit had been issued previously but it took too long for us to find a contractor to perform the work and it expired. The 1st permit was granted almost immediately so once we hired a contractor, we thought we were good to go. This time around we were nitpicked and repeatedly rejected. The City used the maximum allowable (per the City) timeframes every time and effectively ran out our clock.

New requirements from the City included new ADA parking space requirements, nonsensical questions about lot lines, and detailed cost estimates for work we were performing – and paying for. And while they were creating these delays, they kept hammering away at us for a trial. Finally in May as we were about to make our 3rd plan re-submission, they had us backed into a corner. The upcoming trial date loomed as the City continued to run out our clock, using every tactic they could.

Brandon left California in August 2020 and was deployed with the US Navy in the Middle East, serving this country, until his return in June 2021. The fact that the owner was away during these proceedings mattered not to the City. We finally caved and agreed to what we thought would be an easily doable settlement that gave us 90 more days to complete the work. We knew the City’s tactics would involve more delays and asked for the timeline to start when we received our building permit. The City refused that reasonable request and the clock started ticking the day of the hearing.

Unforeseen at the time, the 3rd permit re-submittal resulted in more City generated delays and additional submittal requirements that involved totally new issues – as they are known to create. Long story short, 60 of those 90 days were taken up by more permit delays – driven by the City’s slow response and utilization of as much time as they could get away with. The permit was not issued until July 20.

We quickly met and mobilized with inspections, contractor staging, CARB required lead and asbestos testing, metal fabrication, equipment and supply purchases, and more. However, having started the process at the ‘beginning of January, the 30 remaining days were not enough to complete the 4-6 week construction process. We reached out to the community organization that has been using our parking lot (for free) to gain access to our property and needed areas. The contractor created an accelerated 30 day timeline for completing the work. Unfortunately, it was going to run past that previously stipulated date.

We presented the plan to the City, hoping for a reasonable accommodation, after all we have done everything in our power to comply. The City stonewalled us. And then they outright refused to budge. They won. They are going to get their parking lot – and to destroy that beautiful old historic building. We lost.

This morning we met at a hearing with City representation. The City’s request/desire/goal? Demolish the building. The City has only presented one option, from the beginning, demolish the building. They have not budged on their desire for that result. We are ready, permitted, funded, and mobilized to complete the repairs to ensure that part of Tracy’s history remains.

Now, our only hope is to ask the community to reach out to the Tracy City Council and convince them that this historic building is worth saving. We sure think it is! We just need a little more time and the repairs will be complete and allow the building to thrive again!