At the June 26 City Council Meeting, the Santa Clarita City Council is expected to approve a redevelopment ordinance as required by Senate Bill (SB) 53 regarding eminent domain without allowing concerned citizens the opportunity of a public hearing. The first reading of this new ordinance is scheduled for the City Council meeting on June 12.
The text of this new redevelopment ordinance is scary at best, and certainly fits blogger Zuma Dogg's renaming of the Community Redevelopment Agency as the "Community Robbers Agency" where he accuses these agencies of "eminent greed and corruption".
The City of Santa Clarita is planning to redevelop (or seize property and turn it over to developers) amounting to 78% of the commercial property and 55% of the existing residential property in the Old Town Newhall redevelopment area, so not many businesses and residential rental properties will escape unscathed from this process.
"The Project Area is fraught with numerous instances of conflicting land uses and undersized parcels under multiple ownership that make it very difficult for the private sector to invest in redevelopment projects. By today’s standards, larger parcels are needed to achieve successful development in this area."
Or, more clearly stated, the City wants to take smaller parcels currently occupied by long-standing businesses and residential renters, buy them up, package them into larger parcels, and sell them to developers to build on for profit.
The new ordinance establishes the eminent domain process, which for the most part is standard stuff, where the City needs to appraise the property, make an offer to the current owner, etc.
But, here's the catch: If the owner does not agree to sell within 30 days after receiving an "offer" from the City to buy their property, then the City may start the condemnation (eminent domain) process.
And then it gets much worse than you could possibly imagine...
Per the new ordinance, the City can EVICT the current owner while the eminent domain litigation is still in process, further crippling the business and potentially throwing residential renters out on the street while virtually eliminating the property owner's right to a fair hearing. After all, how fair can the eminent domain hearing be if the business owner has already been forced to vacate the premises?
Per the ordinance:
The Agency, when it files the condemnation action or later, may seek an order of possession so it can gain possession of the property while the litigation proceeds concerning the value of the property. The owner may also challenge the Agency’s right to use its condemnation authority.
As many would say, WTF??? The City can actually throw someone out of their property BEFORE the legal proceedings regarding eminent domain are complete? Once again, our friend Zuma Dogg is right on target with his comment, "Y'all need to register at a medical marijuana co-op to get the good stuff so y'all won't trip on your eminent greed and corruption."
This completely sidesteps the possibility that the eminent domain proceedings could very well result in the City being barred from using eminent domain for a particular property, so they're making sure that they have a greater chance of winning the eminent domain battle by FIRST throwing out the property owners, and THEN asking for the court's permission to do so!
Properties may be acquired and cleared by the Agency if a determination is made that one or more of the following conditions exist:
The buildings and/or structures must be removed in order to assemble land into parcels of reasonable size and shape to eliminate an impediment to optimal land development;
The buildings and/or structures are substandard as demonstrated by an inspection of the property by the Building and Safety Division of the City of Santa Clarita;
The buildings and/or structures must be removed in order to eliminate an environmental deficiency, including, but not limited to, incompatible land uses and small and irregular lot subdivisions;
The buildings and/ or structures must be removed to provide land for needed public facilities, including among others, rights-of-way, public parking facilities, open space, or public utilities;
The acquisition of property is allowed by the California Community Redevelopment Law and will promote the implementation of the Plan.
Interesting to note is that the City apparently has its Code Enforcement personnel crawling all over the businesses in the redevelopment area, apparently looking for conditions stated in Item 2 that could allow them to declare a building "substandard".
And what about Item 4, relating to "public use" facilities? Now that the so-called "library project" has been reduced to a maximum of 24,000 square feet of library space in a planned 65,000 square foot building, can this still be called "public use" property, or is it really commercial development with a handy library attachment to allow the City to CLAIM "public use"? When does a duck stop being a duck, and turn into someone's dinner entree?
Not that the library is guaranteed either, since County representatives have stated that the "needs" for Newhall and Stevenson Ranch combined would be for an 18,000 square foot to 24,000 square foot library, but the funds have apparently not been requested nor approved for staffing or stocking this library. And why, oh why, would Stevenson Ranch residents travel to the far end of Newhall to use the library when the Valencia library is so much closer?
Also interesting to note is that the City of Santa Clarita is adopting hard-ball tactics in regards to eminent domain in a period where many California cities are creating ordinances to REDUCE their authority in regards to eminent domain. Many California cities and counties are enacting ordinances to change eminent domain rules at a local level, instead of following the very loose Federal guidelines regarding eminent domain. Most of these new ordinances are PROHIBITING the use of eminent domain to take properties for private development purposes, rather than writing themselves a blank check like we're seeing in the City of Santa Clarita.
For those who are in the area affected by the Old Town Newhall Revitalization Plan, it would likely be in your best interest to SHOW UP at the Santa Clarita City Council meetings on BOTH June 12 and June 26 to express your concerns about how this new eminent domain ordinance is worded. Since there will be NO public hearings, these will be your only chances to make yourself heard before the City signs the blanket condemnation orders on your properties. City Council meetings are held at 6pm in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, located at 23920 Valencia Blvd. in Valencia.
This site is sponsored by Linda Slocum of RE/MAX of Santa Clarita in Valencia. RE/MAX of Santa Clarita in Valencia does not make any representation or warranty regarding any information, including without limitation its accuracy or completeness, contained on this Web site.
