BUENA PARK – The city’s redevelopment chief has asked the City Council to pay the state $11.3 million dollars, which would allow Buena Park’s Redevelopment Agency to move ahead with new projects.
As part of this summer’s budget package, the state Legislature outlawed city and county redevelopment agencies unless they pay a certain amount of money to the state treasury. For Buena Park, that amount is $11.3 million, though it could change a bit when the state provides updated numbers in August.
“I call it ransom money,” said May Hui, who runs the city’s redevelopment agency. But, she added, it needs to be done.
“We’re going to go forward,” Hui said. “We’ve made acquisitions of parcels and we want to see those projects through to fruition.”
She’s hoping a League of California Cites lawsuit against the state will make the matter moot, but wanted to ask the City Council to move forward just in case. If the council approves of the plan, the city will split the $11.3 million into two payments, one due in January and the other due in May.
The council’s approval means work on new projects could begin sometime in September, Hui said, depending on any court action.
“We haven’t stopped doing business,” Hui said. “We just can’t enter any contracts” until the city takes action to pay the state.”
Over the past few years, the agency has sold more than $130 million in bonds. With that money, it paid for a new police station, additions to the city’s recreation center and partnered with the Buena Park School District to build a new junior high gymnasium. The agency has also purchased several motels along Beach Boulevard, razing them to help make way for future development and is planning to build homes on the site of the old city yard.
One of the largest expenditures would be assisting the development of The Source – a retail and hotel project — at Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue. The city has offered to differ the developer’s payment of nearly $50 million in future sales tax. That money is to help the developer, Lynwood-based M&D Properties, to bridge the gap between the $203 million estimated cost of the project and the amount of financing the company is able to get.
The City Council will consider the issue during this week’s meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6650 Beach Blvd.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mmello@ocregister.com
