BREA : City Holds to Plan to Widen Boulevard

Despite a legal challenge to the city’s effort to acquire three properties on south Brea Boulevard, city officials said their plans for widening the street will not be affected.

Marina Vega, who owns property at 224-228 S. Brea Blvd., has agreed that the city has a right to the purchase of sections of her land for development, but not to the entire property. Office complexes, a house and a storage yard now occupy the land.

The city only needs about 14% of the properties for the widening project, and Vega believes she should be able to keep using the rest of the land.

City Atty. Elliot Goldman said Brea would have to spend more taxpayer money to purchase certain sections of the properties than to buy the entire property.

City representatives and Vega attended a Superior Court hearing on Friday, and Judge William F. Rylaarsdam said he would issue a decision in the case next week.

Vega cannot develop the land because of zoning changes made in 1986 that require property owners to have at least two acres of adjacent land before they can develop it. The zoning, Goldman said, is part of a Brea Town Plaza specific plan that covers 196 acres of the city.

The three properties--two owned by Vega and one by Al Harris--amount to less than one acre.

Because Vega cannot develop the land, Goldman said the city’s purchase of the whole tract would be in her best interest.

Bill Vega, who has been handling the case for his mother, Marina, said he believes the city might want the entire property because it lies on the western border of a 22-acre area slated to become the Brea Town Plaza retail center.

Goldman said the city’s attempts to purchase the land “have nothing to do with that.”

Vega has been fighting the city’s attempts to get the land since last year. In October, Vega won a stay to block the city from acquiring the land.

City officials say the road-widening project should begin later this year or early next year.