The Oakland Army Base Development project has taken a significant turn this week as city staff confirmed on Tuesday a temporary and partial solution to address the need for additional truck parking.

As Oakland Maritime Support Services (OMSS) and owner Bill Aboudi completes the move to his new site on Wake Avenue, the city has committed to using 3 acres within the project area for the overflow of truck parking.

The new truck parking lot will help at least some of the hundreds of truckers who previously parked at Aboudi’s 15-acre site and keep some of the big rigs off of city streets.

Approached by Post staff, the mayor refused to comment on the impact of the Army Base project on local jobs and neighborhoods.

It is unclear whether OMSS or a private company will manage the new 3-acre lot, to be located on Burma Road at the OMSS old site. City staff says they have been working to resolve this issue with the Port of Oakland, OMSS, and CCIG, owned by the city’s Army Base developer Phil Tagami.

The Post reported last week that the demand for space and trucking services has left many independent truckers in a bind and at the mercy of long lines and higher costs for mechanics and other services.

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The volume of trucks lined up at Port Scales, Inc. continues to increase as truckers wait an hour in line with the close of the 24-hour mini-mart and truck scale previously located at Aboudi’s OMSS.

“Sept. 13 was a difficult day for Bill [Aboudi] and a lot of people. I would say from there on, there’s been what I would consider a lot of cooperation between OMSS staff, city staff, port staff, and CCIG staff,” said John Monetta, project manager for the city’s Army Base project.

OMSS was hooked up to electrical power at its new site on Tuesday and received water hook ups last week thanks to the work of port staff, but Aboudi says his business, which is the home of a number of small tenant businesses, is still struggling to recover.

“One of my biggest issues right now is the unemployment of about 75 people. Mechanics can’t get back to work unless we completely move to the new site. We can’t move onto property that has no water and no sewer connections. We’re waiting for those services to be supplied,” said Aboudi.

Mayor Jean Quan has maitinued her silence on the Army Base struggle. Photo taken by Spencer Whitney.

Aboudi says he and his staff have been running between the old and new sites to keep his tenants happy.

“We were assured by the Mayors Office that we would have enough time to get those services, but it didn’t happen that way,” he said.

Aboudi and his tenants now have until Oct. 3 – 20 days after the Sept. 13 eviction – to remove all their personal property from their site on Maritime Street as the city moves forward with its Army Base development project.

“The ultimate remedy to move forward with the project is to auction the remaining personal property,” said Monetta at the city’s Community and Economic Development (CED) meeting Tuesday.

“We don’t want to do it, but at times you need to establish certain deadlines for folks, or folks just don’t move,” Monetta said.

Councilmember Lynette McElhaney, chairing the CED meeting, pushed for city staff to give tenants the opportunity to redeem their property or cover costs to have it relocated to the new OMSS site.

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