Westside property on city agenda

Deirdre Newman

City leaders today will re-consider the Planning Commission’s

recommendation to add about 440 acres to the downtown redevelopment

zone.

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, postponed a

decision on the issue seven months ago because of uncertainty over

whether the proposed area is lagging economically. Instead, it

instructed staffers to accomplish nine directives to get more insight

on the status of the area.

Since then, city staffers have started an economic study of West

19th Street and the Community Revitalization Action Committee has

issued its final vision and recommendations for the Westside.

Today, the agency will be confronted with three options: approve

the preliminary boundaries of the 440 acres already approved by the

commission; approve a request by industrial property owners to

eliminate all industrial property, thereby reducing the size of the

area to 204 acres; or limit the project area to the West 19th Street

commercial corridor, which could include as many as 52 acres.

The issue pits residents, who feel the city’s redeveloping the

Westside is necessary to improve the area, against industrial

property owners -- many of whom have been in the area for decades --

who believe they can improve the area without redevelopment.

In the past seven months, opinions have become more polarized, and

a feisty crowd is expected to pack the community center chambers.

“It’s going to be a free-for-all,” Mayor Gary Monahan said.

Redevelopment is a formal process that earmarks qualifying

properties and siphons associated taxes into a fund for area

improvements.

Independent consultants established the preliminary boundaries,

encompassing 434 acres, after an initial study of the area. If the

boundaries are approved, the consultants will embark on an in-depth,

parcel-by-parcel assessment of the approximate 627 properties in the

zone to see which ones are blighted and which need to be included to

ensure a contiguous redevelopment.

In January, the Planning Commission gave preliminary approval to

the boundaries, which run roughly along 15th Street, Whittier Avenue,

West 19th Street and Pomona Avenue. It also added four acres that

include properties on the north side of Center Street, between

Placentia and Pomona avenues, and the balance of the Hoosier Mobile

Home Park north of 19th Street and west of Harbor Boulevard.

Approval of the preliminary plan is the first major step of intent

in the redevelopment process. When the agency decides how much

territory it wants to add, it also has to delineate its plans for

eminent domain, the bugaboo for industrial property owners.

Staff points out that just because property is included in a

redevelopment project area, it doesn’t mean it will be acquired

through eminent domain. For example, city staffers point out, in the

Downtown Redevelopment Zone, less than 20 acres was acquired through

eminent domain since the project area was created in 1973.

Industrial property owners, however, point to part of the

preliminary plan’s stated objectives that include the reinstatement

and inclusion of the agency’s power of eminent domain. They worry

that their property values will go down if they are included in the

redevelopment area.

A group of them has banded together as the Westside Revitalization

Assn. to rejuvenate the area without redevelopment.

They feel their efforts have been successful, proving that they

are not a physical or economic burden to the community, said John

Hawley, who owns Railmakers.

Some residents believe that however well-intentioned these efforts

are, they won’t go far enough.

“While it is great that these business owners have shown some

initiative to get their own houses in order, their efforts will still

fall far short of the massive infrastructure needs of the area,” Eric

Bever wrote in a Sept. 7 article in the Daily Pilot.

Monahan said he strongly supports the smallest redevelopment

alternative.

“I firmly believe the only area that makes financial sense for

redevelopment is the 19th Street corridor,” Monahan said, adding that

the concept just needs more work and the corridor needs to be defined

a little better.