“Good Old Brea” Area : City to Discuss Plans for Improvement

To some, downtown Brea may have that old-time charm that brings to mind a small city’s bustling center of commerce and recreation. But missing from the picture these days--as it has been for many years now--is the bustling part.

In hopes of revitalizing the “Good Old Brea” section of town, the City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on a plan geared to upgrade the deteriorating downtown commercial district and its surrounding neighborhoods.

The project--in the works for more than a year--has been dubbed “Towne Plaza.”

The central feature is a new 20-acre commercial development in the area bounded by Imperial Highway to the south, Birch Street to the north, a flood control channel to the west and Brea Boulevard to the east.

Surrounding the proposed plaza are four residential neighborhoods.

Response to the proposed plan, which includes the revision of some zoning laws, has been mixed, officials said.

“Feedback ranges from ‘don’t do anything--leave us alone’ to ‘let’s get going--hurry it up,’ ” Kelly said.

Terrence L. Belanger, a consultant who represents 18 property owners and tenants on the block bordered by Imperial Highway, Birch Street, Orange Avenue and Brea Boulevard, said there is no consensus from the group, which is “still in the exploration stage.

“There are a lot of options that these individuals have; they haven’t decided where to go,” Belanger said.

Options for the business owners, some of whom have been around as long as downtown Brea has existed, include selling their current lots and moving, or joining with other local merchants to develop the block themselves, Belanger said.

Tonight’s meeting is another step in an overall scheme kicked off in 1983 to improve the Good Old Brea section by incorporating it into the city’s redevelopment area.

The seeds for the Towne Plaza plan itself were planted in late 1984 when officials began talking about widening Brea Boulevard. A group of property owners suggested that if the city planned to pour money into the area, it could also improve more than just the infrastructure, city spokeswoman Bonnie Dwyer said.

Interested parties formed a South Brea Boulevard Improvement Assn. A similar association was formed the same year for people in the Good Old Brea area. Since then, city officials and residents have held a series of workshops.

“We’re just trying to preserve what we have,” Kelly said. “We don’t want it to decline further.”