Redevelopment an open book for residents

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- In the spirit of back-to-school night, the city is

offering to school residents on the various aspects of redevelopment.

City officials will host a Community Redevelopment Workshop -- also

known as Redevelopment 101 -- tonight at the Neighborhood Community

Center.

The goal of the workshop, City Manager Allan Roeder said, is to

educate residents about what redevelopment is, what redevelopment

agencies can do -- or not do -- and how sections of the city are chosen

as possible study areas.

Eric Bever, a member of the Westside Improvement Assn, said the

meeting will be helpful in informing the public and relieving any

misconceptions people may have about redevelopment.

“Redevelopment is really technical, so many people seem to get the

wrong idea,” Bever said. “Misconceptions create a lot of unnecessary fear

and unnecessary resistance to many projects.”

Sixteen areas have been suggested for study by the City Council --

acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency. They include the 19th Street

commercial corridor, industrial and apartment neighborhoods south of 19th

Street, the industrial corridor on Placentia Avenue between Industrial

Street and 19th, and various apartments around Baker Street and Mendoza

Avenue, said Mike Robinson, planning and redevelopment manager.

Bever said the main goal of redevelopment is to improve an area so

property values rise. For residents who have voiced concern about blight

or “slums,” the workshop will provide more facts, he said.

The concept of blight, and the true definition, will be discussed

during the meeting, Roeder said.

There are very specific criteria given for blighted areas that may not

fall in line with what some residents see as rundown areas, Roeder said.

Educating the public is a necessary first step, Mayor Libby Cowan

said.

“These are concepts that must be understood prior to us going any

further in the redevelopment process,” Cowan said.

The redevelopment study was originally proposed as a Westside study,

but the council voted in March to add areas outside that part of town.

The workshop is the first step in the redevelopment process,

Councilman Gary Monahan said. The project areas will be narrowed and

feasibility studies are expected to be completed by October.

FYI

What: Community Redevelopment Workshop

When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today

Where: Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park Ave., Costa Mesa

Call: (714) 754-5245