Activists Win Court Order to Stop Depot Demolition

Demolition of the landmark “Red Car” depot in Santa Ana was halted Tuesday morning after a coalition of architectural preservationists and supporters of low-income housing secured a court order that stopped the wrecking crew.

Workers had already torn the roof from the old Pacific Electric depot on 4th Street and were hammering chunks out of the walls when they received a temporary restraining order issued just minutes before by Superior Court Judge Judith Ryan. The order prohibits work on the site until after a formal hearing Monday.

The depot stands on the site of a planned 194-unit luxury condominium project that is part of the city’s redevelopment of the 4th and French streets area. City Atty. Edward Cooper said Tuesday that the depot’s facade and street lamps are to be saved and stored for reconstruction at another site.

Members of the Alliance for Fair Redevelopment, a group of citizens formed to demand that the city provide more low-income housing, have sued the city in an effort to block construction of the luxury project. Heritage Orange County, an organization dedicated to preserving historical structures, is a co-plaintiff in the suit, and representatives hope to prevent destruction of the depot and the adjoining Salvation Army building.

“Our goal right now is to save this building,” said attorney Salvador Sarmiento, who represents the alliance. Sarmiento said he understood that no demolition work would begin at the site without 48 hours’ notice. “All we’re trying to do is maintain the status quo and that’s becoming increasingly difficult.”

Sarmiento took the restraining order to the site after it was issued about 11 a.m. and served it to the demolition crew. One of the workers, who declined to give his name, said the work had begun about 7 a.m. and that he had been given no instructions to save any part of the building. When asked whether the entire building would have been razed without the court order, he replied: “Just give me another two hours.”

Cooper maintained Tuesday that the city’s intent is to save the facade. If the workers were actually aiming to destroy the entire building, they were doing so in violation of the city’s orders, he said. Efforts to contact a spokesman for the demolition firm were unsuccessful.

Cooper said Tuesday that he did state at a hearing two weeks ago that no demolition work was then scheduled for the site, but he added that there was also no agreement or restraining order preventing any demolition work. “There was never any understanding that no demolition would occur before (Tuesday’s) hearing,” he said.

Heritage Orange County President Hal Thomas said he believed that the building was worth saving because of its significance to the development of downtown Santa Ana. The depot, built in 1927, served as the terminal for the Red Car trains that carried passengers to Los Angeles and Long Beach until the line was closed in 1950. “It was the point for people to embark or arrive in Santa Ana. It was the lifeline of the city,” he said.

Cooper said the facade is considered architecturally significant because of a unique “corner-cut” design where trains entered and departed the depot.

Heritage and the alliance are attempting to have the buildings incorporated into the construction of low-income housing on the site, Thomas said. “It’s unfortunate that the city chose to act in bad faith,” he said.

Sarmiento said the lawsuit contends that the city should have conducted an environmental report on the project and that the city’s General Plan should be rewritten to include specific provisions for low-income housing. A report was conducted for the entire downtown area in 1975, and a subsequent city review concluded that no additional studies needed to be done for the condominiums.

The city purchased the land after holding public hearings on the project, which will be developed by Urban Ventures Inc. Plans call for the property to be conveyed to the firm in February, before construction begins. Deputy City Manager Rex Swanson said storage of the facade and its eventual reuse is spelled out in the development agreement.

However, there are no specific plans to relocate the rebuilt depot. “We’ll just have to wait for a developer to come in who can incorporate it into their plans,” he said.

City Manager Robert C. Bobb said Santa Ana already provides more low-income housing than any other city in the county, and there is no intention to destroy the depot. “Obviously, we have an excellent track record on preservation of historically significant structures,” he said.