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.
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.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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