Brea : Council Votes to Extend Old Town Moratorium

Developers with residential plans for the downtown area will have to place those projects on hold until probably next June, the City Council decided last week.

The council voted to extend their 45-day moratorium in the area--known as Old Brea--until studies are completed and the city decides what it wants to do with its downtown.

The 45-day moratorium, implemented Nov. 5, now will extend to a maximum of one year, or Nov. 5, 1986, and include a freeze on residential--but not commercial--projects. The studies, however, will probably be completed by June and the freeze lifted then, said William R. Kelly, development services director.

But June is not early enough for the developers who protested the moratorium as a financial hardship on their companies.

“It boils down to the fact that the city has taken us eight months down the road, taken our money . . . and suddenly they’re saying you can’t continue anymore. You have to stop,” said developer Fred London from Jenkins & Erlinger Real Estate Development of Manhattan Beach.

Jenkins & Erlinger’s plan for a 45-apartment building on the 200 block of South Poplar Street is one of seven projects in the planning stages that are affected by the moratorium. London and other developers Tuesday unsuccessfully requested that the council grant them exemptions from the moratorium.

“We will build it in any way, shape or form they want. Let’s get on with it. It’s been eight months” since the company sought approval, London said Thursday. Jenkins & Erlinger has about $50,000 invested in the project in addition to the $39,700 it paid for the 1 1/2 acres, London said.

City officials said they extended the moratorium because new projects could conflict with zoning that eventually will be recommended by studies now under way.