Westside boundaries expanded

Deirdre Newman

A concerned group of industrial property owners failed late Monday

to convince the Planning Commission to remove their properties from

an addition to the downtown redevelopment area.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved initial boundaries

for a 434-acre area that is roughly bordered by 15th Street, Whittier

Avenue and East 19th Street, adding in a section on Fairfax Drive and

a parcel north of Center Street and west of Pomona Street to early

outlines.

Independent consultants established the preliminary boundaries

after an initial study of the area. If the boundaries are approved by

the Redevelopment Agency on Feb. 10 , 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.

The owners reacted with disdain to the decision, saying it was

preposterous that the planners designated preliminary boundaries

before the comprehensive analysis was complete.

“There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the choice,” said Dan

Gribble, who owns property on West 18th Street. “I don’t think the

data is a fair representation.”

But the owners’ emotional pleas did persuade the commissioners to

recommend that the city consider revitalizing the area before it

dives into redevelopment.

“That was a positive note,” said John Hawley, who has owned

Railmakers on West 18th Street for more than 30 years.

Commissioners sidestepped the issue of eminent domain, a power the

city would have if it declared the proposed areas part of the

redevelopment zone. It is now up to the Redevelopment Agency to

decide if it will exercise that power, and if so on what types of

properties.

The Downtown Redevelopment Project was established in 1973 and new

territory has been added to it three times -- the last time in 1980.

It currently includes 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 additional

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 definitely not qualify, and arrived

at the proposed boundaries. Now properties in the boundary area will

be subjected to a more rigorous analysis.

They will be gauged on 66 blight indicators, which include

physical deficiencies like electrical hazards and industrial odors,

and economic ones like depreciated or stagnant property values and

“abnormally high” business vacancy rates. A section can also be

designated blighted based on deficiencies in the infrastructure such

as problems with the street and the sewer system. Properties that are

not found to be blighted could also be tagged for redevelopment to

ensure a conformity in the area.

Since the consultants are still in the early stages of studying

the area, the boundaries may be modified, said John Huffman of Urban

Futures.

The description of the area as blighted is not sitting well with

many of the property owners, who contend that their businesses are

neither blighted nor an economic burden.

“Our businesses have continued to grow and prosper,” said Mike

Evans, who owns a plumbing business on Whittier Avenue. “The

consultants have come up with statistics to show the values have gone

up 2.1% but ours have gone up almost 10% without redevelopment.”

Many of the commissioners said they approved the preliminary

boundaries with reservations, and that doing so was the only way to

explore other options.

“I don’t buy the fact that there’s no blight on the Westside,”

said Eleanor Egan. “But other tools can be used to jump-start

[economic development]. Maybe we need to look at rezoning.

Something’s going to work there.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].