Expanding city's redevelopment would be no joke

Although the City Council is focused on redevelopment plans for Yorba Linda’s 344-acre downtown section, many other areas would seem ripe for attention by the elected officials.

The city’s northern, eastern and southern sections could benefit from the same type of high-density projects proposed for the city’s historic central core and west-end areas.

The council created a Redevelopment Agency in 1983 to develop the then-vacant Savi Ranch area into an economic powerhouse, which contributes new tax revenues to city coffers.

The downtown section was added in 1990 for what most residents thought would be a long-needed refurbishment of the sleepy area. Instead, the council’s vision has grown to include a huge increase in retail space, new parking structures and more high-density housing units.

The city says all this is possible because the Redevelopment Agency has the ability to acquire private property from one private owner, not for a traditional government purpose, but for redevelopment by another private party – to eliminate physical and economic blight.

And to ensure easy acquisition of the private land needed for the project, the city adopted the authority eight years ago to use or threaten to use eminent domain in the area.

While other city areas might not meet the state’s lenient definition of physical blight, they can be considered economically blighted because redevelopment would bring in many more tax dollars.

New project areas could be brought under the Redevelopment Agency authority, with the eminent domain provision extended to those commercial and residential properties.

For example, the city could reconsider the Metrolink train station in the southeast. Surrounding residents who successfully opposed the facility before the 2004 election might become what the city likes to call "willing sellers," allowing officials to create a true transit-oriented urban village.

Also underutilized is the area around the city’s elite Black Gold Golf Club. Some expensive condominiums, a few new high-end restaurants, pedestrian pathways and a parking structure would create a lively day and nighttime entertainment venue along the city’s northern tier.

And a proposal to build a dense, three-story, mixed-use commercial and residential complex in place of the Yorba Station shopping center could be expanded to the full length of Imperial Highway, with the city creating a corridor of new shopping and loft-living opportunities for Yorba Linda residents.

All these new project areas could target what the city’s developer-partner Creative Housing Associates calls "creative-class homebuyers," such as "artists, engineers, designers, architects and others," who would enjoy living in one of the new pedestrian-friendly urban environments.

A FINAL NOTE

Since this is the eve of April Fool’s Day, readers might laugh off the idea that the city’s current or future elected leaders would alter Yorba Linda’s heritage in the ways described.

Not laughing, however, are many central and western residents who put in much time and effort in the 1970s – during a period of rapid population growth throughout northern Orange County – to carve out and preserve for future generations Yorba Linda’s special low-density environment.

Town Center debate targets density numbers

Some observations regarding the continuing Town Center debate and discussion:

--Residents and project planners clearly differ over the definition of high-density as they discuss the merits of housing proposals for the 344-acre Old Towne redevelopment area. Historically, Yorba Linda considers 10 to 15 units per acre on the high side, but the city’s development partner, Creative Housing Associates, sees an even higher number needed to ensure economic success for their pedestrian-oriented Town Center revitalization.

--The developers think high density – from 30 to 40 units per acre – can be disguised by design elements, and they point to their several Los Angeles-area projects as evidence. However, some residents note that Yorba Linda has been built as a low-density, semi-rural environment, and placing a dense retail and residential development in the heart of the city represents a historic change of direction.

--A Creative Housing document says the company’s proposed high-density units will target homebuyers from the "creative class," which they describe as "artists, engineers, designers, architects and others" who want to live in a pedestrian-friendly downtown.

High-density opponents point out that state law requires at least 20 percent of a redevelopment area’s tax-increment revenues be used to provide affordable housing for very-low-, low- or moderate-income households.

--A one-page biography of lead developer-partner Michael Dieden has surprised some of Yorba Linda's conservative Republican residents. The bio boasts that Dieden was "one of the youngest staff members"in Jerry Brown's 1974 gubernatorial campaign.

The handout also notes Dieden managed Tom Hayden's 1982 Assembly campaign and was appointed to the California Architects Board in 2002 by recalled Gov. Gray Davis.

--The well-attended four-day charrette pealed away some project opponents by penciling in a cultural arts facility and promising to preserve Old Towne’s historic buildings.

However, density, traffic, taxpayer financing and staunch opposition to the threatening nature of the city’s eight-year eminent domain authority, has unified other opponents.

--Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Redevelopment has retained prominent anti-redevelopment attorney Chris Sutton and will explore petitioning for an initiative or referendum vote by residents on all or various aspects of the project.

Some anti-redevelopment activists think a ballot initiative would gain more voter support than a referendum because a successful initiative could enact a mechanism that would provide density and other protections citywide, not just in the Old Towne area.

A FINAL NOTE

City Council members should take two actions to build a true community consensus for the Town Center project and avoid months of contentious debate, as well as a potentialballot initiative that would divide the community along geographic lines:

First, they should repeal their eminent domain authority, a power they say they don't want to exercise.

Second, they should put a density cap on Old Towne housing development and tell Creative Housing Associates to work within the city's historic parameters as the developers prepare their plans.

Council struggles with fairness on Town Center talk

Sometimes good sense is an early casualty when Yorba Lindans gather to discuss new development projects.

That’s been the case at recent City Council meetings, as residents and council members have wrangled over council actions affecting the historic Old Towne area.

Current council members earned well-deserved praise for ending the poisonous atmosphere of the mid-to-late ’90s, when residents regularly tuned into the city’s cable television channel to catch the antics of their elected leaders and their not-so-gracious supporters and opponents.

But now, as the Town Center debate becomes more contentious, council members are again struggling in their efforts to provide a fair forum for public comment during meetings.

Recently, a Town Center supporter was allowed to express opinions and criticisms of others during the council meeting’s oral presentations, but several opponents were forced to hold their comments until a Redevelopment Agency meeting convened much later in the evening.

Although City Council members also serve as Redevelopment Agency members, the two public bodies have separate meetings and agendas.

Council members should follow their own rules, which allow the public to speak for five minutes on non-agenda items at the council meetings.

Also, rules require speakers to address the entire council, not specific individuals. Yet council members often single out people in the audience by name for various comments or criticisms.

Certainly, it’s easy for council members to allow more time and greater latitude to speakers who endorse their actions or who make non-controversial announcements.

It’s much more difficult — but just as necessary — to give equal time and consideration to those who express contrary views.

On the other hand, some critics of high-density, low-income Town Center housing wrongly refer to proposed units as "tenements."

Moving hundreds of new residents into the Old Towne area is essential for the project’s financial success, but they certainly won’t be living in tenements.

Also, opponents shouldn’t suggest that council members aren’t representing the public’s interests because they don’t agree with the dozen or so speakers who oppose their votes.

Although the city’s own survey shows that most residents don’t know much about the council’s Town Center plans, that doesn’t mean the citizenry opposes the multi-million dollar undertaking.

Council members think a large majority of residents will support their Town Center project, and only a successful referendum vote against their current policies would prove them wrong.

A FINAL NOTE

Whenever council members purchase an Old Towne commercial or residential property, they always say the transaction involves a "willing seller" and a "willing buyer."

But would the seller be so willing if the city didn’t have eminent domain authority in the area for the next eight years, a power one councilman compared to a "sledgehammer?"

And does the city’s Town Center Master Plan effectively limit the number of willing buyers to one — the city?

Yorba Lindans deserve more straightforward talk from all parties involved in the redevelopment process.