Redevelopment zone vote held up
Deirdre Newman
Westside industrial property owners, who have been stewing for the
past few months over the prospect of their property being deemed
blighted, finally got to air their concerns to the Redevelopment
Agency on Monday.
As of press time, the agency had not taken a vote to accept the
preliminary boundaries for an addition of 434 acres to the downtown
redevelopment zone that the Planning Commission approved Jan. 27.
The agency -- City Council members acting under a different title
-- couldn’t decide before the public comment session whether they
would even take a vote. Councilman Allan Mansoor abstained from the
discussion because he lives too close to the area, which is roughly
bordered by 15th Street, Whittier Avenue, West 19th Street and Pomona
Avenue.
Since more than 90 people were set to speak, agency Chairman Chris
Steel predicted that no action would be taken Monday.
But agency member Gary Monahan said he would like to see some
action taken on his proposal -- to extend the redevelopment area only
down the 19th Street commercial corridor and a residential area one
block south.
“I have no desire to go forward with the 434 acres,” Monahan said.
Agency member Libby Cowan also expressed reservations about
absorbing the entire 434 acres, which encompasses 627 properties,
into the redevelopment zone.
“I don’t know if the information we have at this time is
appropriate to create all the angst that’s being created,” Cowan
said.
Cowan’s comments drew resounding cheers from among the more than
300 people in the audience.
From the heckling of the consultants who presented the
redevelopment plan, it was obvious that a large portion of the
audience was against the proposal.
“I am concerned that the City Council will override the will of
the people,” said Pat Conlon, who has owned a business on West 19th
Street for 17 years. “I think the Westside has enough viability to
hold its own.”
The Downtown Redevelopment Project was established in 1973, and
new territory has been added three times -- the last time in 1980.
Before the vote, it included about 200 acres.
In October 2001, the city began a study on adding more land to the
area to spur economic development. The study provided sufficient
evidence that other parts of the city qualify for redevelopment,
according to staff reports.
The independent consultants did a preliminary study of blight to
eliminate properties that would not qualify and arrived at the
proposed boundaries. If the agency accepts those boundaries,
properties in the area will be subject to a more rigorous analysis.
The analysis would use 66 blight indicators, which include
physical deficiencies such as electrical hazards and industrial
odors, and economic ones such as depreciated or stagnant property
values and “abnormally high” business vacancy rates.
A section of the area could also be designated blighted based on
deficiencies in the infrastructure, such as problems with the street
and the sewer system. Properties that were not found to be blighted
could also be tagged for redevelopment to ensure contiguity.
Since the consultants are still in the early stages of studying
the area, the boundaries may be modified, even after approval by the
Redevelopment Agency, said John Huffman of Urban Futures.
Industrial property owners not only fear the loss of their
property, but are critical of the city’s redevelopment efforts
because there is no plan for the future of the Westside.
They also believe that the property tax the agency would get from
their properties if they were taken through eminent domain would be
used to pay off the agency’s staggering $41-million debt.
Agency manager Mike Robinson has said that’s not the intent at
this time.
If any changes are made to the preliminary boundaries approved by
the Planning Commission, the proposal must go back to the commission
for re-approval.
* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)
574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.