Annexation hinges on millions
June Casagrande
Pretty much everyone who has weighed in so far agrees: The city of
Newport Beach can do a much better job of spending Santa Ana Heights’
millions in redevelopment money than the county can.
Even Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva thinks so.
“I think that it would be easier for the city of Newport Beach to
administer the redevelopment agency,” Silva said. “It would cut an
awful lot of red tape.”
City officials met with Silva last week in hopes of eventually
convincing the county board of supervisors to approve handing over
the redevelopment agency to the city. The agency has about $30
million set aside to make improvements to the Santa Ana Heights area,
as well as several million a year through 2035 from property taxes.
East Santa Ana Heights is already slated to become part of Newport
Beach. West Santa Ana Heights is being considered for membership in
the city, and city officials have said that taking control of the
redevelopment agency’s finances is a deal-breaker for that
annexation.
Regardless of who manages it, the money must be spent in the
redevelopment area.
“I believe we can spend that money faster than the county and get
the area up to speed faster,” Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.
The money will go toward improving streets, sewer lines, a fire
station and possibly a community center. But there are a lot of
details to be worked out before everyone will agree to put
redevelopment in the city’s hands.
One of the trickiest points involves John Wayne Airport. The
airport is part of the redevelopment area and is its biggest
contributor -- about $6 million a year of the airport’s taxes go to
the redevelopment agency. The city hopes to keep it that way. But
that could be difficult because the airport is the only portion of
the redevelopment area that’s not slated to be annexed to Newport
Beach. Thus, if Newport Beach annexes all of Santa Ana Heights and
takes over its redevelopment agency, the largest chunk of money
coming into the agency will be from the airport, which is outside the
city.
“We’re committed to working out the details in a way that’s fair
to everyone,” Silva said, emphasizing that the airport will remain in
the county.
Even many residents are optimistic that they can strike a good
deal with the city, but with some reservations.
“At this point, as a community, we’re willing to say to the city:
Convince us as best you can that you’re able to administer this in a
way that’s more acceptable to us than what we’ve had. If they can do
that, then we support this,” said Roger Summers, president of the
resident group that represents residents to the redevelopment agency.
Summers said that residents want reassurances that the city will
not disrupt projects now being planned by the county redevelopment
agency. These projects include putting utilities underground,
creating a horse arena and improving things like drainage, sidewalks
and fire hydrants. Summers also said he wants reassurances that the
city won’t derail the residents’ plans for a community center and
that the residents will get a good deal on a fire station.
The city wants to pay for a fire station in the area exclusively
with redevelopment money, even though the fire station would serve
areas that are already part of Newport Beach. Summers said that the
agency’s contribution to the fire station should be proportionate to
service calls in the redevelopment area.
“They’re trying to suggest that we should pay for as much as 80%
to 100%, but what if only 30% of calls go to the project area? Is
that fair?” Summers asked.
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