Santa Ana Council Expected to OK Plan for ‘City Within City’

The idea of the late architect William Pereira to transform a depressed area of Santa Ana into a “city within a city” will go Tuesday before the City Council, which is expected to approve a preliminary agreement with his development group.

When Pereira died of heart failure on Nov. 13, city officials withdrew a proposed preliminary agreement with his development group. In a meeting with the City Council and other officials in October, Pereira had stressed that he would have hands-on participation in each step of the project.

Pereira’s credits include the master plan for Irvine and such familiar structures as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Art Museum.

“It was a real blow to lose Mr. Pereira,” said Hank Cunningham, assistant director of economic development for Santa Ana. “That sent kind of a shock wave through things.”

But after several meetings and analysis of the developers’ experience and capability, the City Council on Tuesday will consider a one-year preliminary agreement for a master plan of the area, more than 300 acres bordered by French Street, the Santa Ana Freeway, Grand Avenue and 1st Street.

In return for the plan, the development group, headed by Duquesne Properties and Pereira Associates, would have the first right to propose developments on sites in the area.

“It’s basically the same proposal to prepare a master plan that Bill introduced to the city,” said George Bliss, president of Duquesne Properties. He said the plan is to transform the area into a self-contained community with shops, schools, residences and industrial areas in a development that de-emphasizes use of the automobile. One key feature would be bikeways and footpaths linking all the areas.

Bliss said the city within a city wouldn’t be finished until 2005 and would involve a commitment to provide low- and moderate-income housing. No current residents would be permanently relocated.

“Redevelopment doesn’t necessarily mean tearing things down and clearing the way for new construction,” Bliss said. “It also means rehabilitation and preservation of existing structures.”

City project manager Sandy Daniels said six residents of the area have been selected to serve on a committee that will begin meeting with the developers in mid-January, and a draft of the master plan should be available by April. She said the city is committed to making Pereira’s plan work.

“It would have been wonderful” to work with Pereira, she said. “I would have loved it, and it would have been really beneficial to the city to have his insight. But we feel comfortable in going ahead with this development team,” she said, adding that Pereira Senior Vice President Alistair Laws would lead the effort.

Bliss said the firm has worked on similar low-income, depressed areas before, including projects in La Mesa and Baldwin Park, “but never anything on this scale,” he said. “This will be a unique opportunity.”