Council, CRA advance Adelante Eastside plan with added limits on eminent domain and administrative costs
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Summary
City Council and the Community Redevelopment Agency advanced the Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Plan March 17, 1999, approving CRA resolutions and forwarding an amended ordinance to a second reading after adding a council-approval requirement for eminent domain and limiting CRA administrative costs to 15% of program budget.
The City Council and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) moved forward Wednesday on the proposed Adelante Eastside Redevelopment Plan after agency staff summarized outreach efforts and the CRA adopted a set of resolutions endorsing the project.
John Molloy, identified in the hearing as administrator for the redevelopment agency, told the joint public meeting that agency staff received 10 oral objections and three written comments during the prior hearing and that the plan does not identify specific sites for acquisition. Molloy said the plan includes protections for residential properties and relocation benefits under state law and noted that the ordinance incorporates a council motion to limit the agency’s annual administrative costs to 15% of the program budget.
Members of the public who testified voiced concern about possible displacement, insufficient outreach and the potential use of eminent domain. Manuel Garcia, program director for Plaza Child Observation and Development Center, said his organization and many local merchants had not been informed and warned that families and children could lose access to local services if properties were redeveloped.
After the CRA adopted resolutions certifying environmental findings and approving the plan, the council considered the submitted materials. Acting Council President proposed and moved an amendment requiring City Council approval before the CRA may exercise eminent domain in the plan area; that amending motion passed on the council roll. Council members also approved the administrative-cost limitation as part of the ordinance package.
The CRA’s resolutions certifying review of the final environmental impact report and approving submission of the plan to the City Council were moved and carried by the agency. On the council side, the ordinance for the Adelante segment was taken on first reading with the two amendments; because first-reading ordinances require 12 votes, the measure will return for final action at second reading next week.
Opponents at the hearing said the CRA’s past practice left them skeptical that promised protections would be sufficient. “Eminent domain is a way of cheating us from our rights,” one business owner said during public comment, arguing that mailed notices and limited outreach left many merchants unaware of the plan. Agency staff responded that adoption of the plan does not itself require property acquisition and that eminent domain provisions exclude property that is “100% and exclusively used for residential” occupancy.
Council action Wednesday added procedural protections and spending limits to the plan, and set the ordinance for a second reading next week so the council can record final votes with the required 12-member threshold.
The CRA’s resolutions were adopted and transmitted to the council; the council adopted motions to require council approval on any CRA use of eminent domain in the plan area and to limit administrative costs to 15% of program funds. The ordinance on the Adelante segment will return for second reading and final action at the council’s next meeting.
