Ex-Landowners Make Bid for 252 Corridor : Caltrans Plan to Sell Property Disputed

In an 11th-hour bid to prevent the City of San Diego from acquiring the California 252 corridor for redevelopment, three former landowners organized by activist Warren Nielsen filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday contending that they have first rights to acquire the land.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, comes just two days before the California Transportation Commission is scheduled to vote again on whether the state should sell the 66-acre, 1.2-mile corridor in the Southcrest neighborhood to the city for commercial and residential redevelopment.

The suit claims that residents whose homes were purchased by the state in the corridor in 1972--when a highway linking Interstates 5 and 805 was planned--have the first right to purchase the land, said F. James Bear, attorney for the plaintiffs. Current plans call for the city to buy the land from the state for $3.3 million.

“They want a chance to buy their land back, like the state has apparently given the City of San Diego a chance to buy the land back in a sweetheart deal,” Bear said.

One of the plaintiffs is Daniel G. Struiksma, uncle of Councilman Ed Struiksma. The suit names the city, the state, the Transportation Commission and commission Chairman Joseph Levy as defendants.

The suit also claims that the state has not filed an environmental impact statement showing what the effect of the sale and consequent redevelopment would be, Bear said.

Richard Juarez, an aide to Councilman William Jones, said state law requires the state to offer the surplus land to public agencies--such as the city--before making it available to private buyers. Jones, who represents Southeast San Diego, has helped lead opposition to the highway, which residents say would further divide a community already traversed by Interstates, 5, 15 and 805, and California 94.

The lawsuit is the latest addition to a saga that is well into its second decade. Fifteen years ago, houses were razed and land was cleared to build Highway 252. But after protests from the Southeast San Diego community, the city terminated an agreement with the state to allow construction.

National City officials, who feared that their streets would be inundated by traffic, filed suit to get the highway built, but lost. In 1980, the transportation commission directed Caltrans to sell the land to the city for redevelopment.

The Transportation Commission reaffirmed that decision in a vote last April, but added the condition that San Diego and National City negotiate an alternate solution to National City’s traffic problem before the panel’s meeting Thursday.

Juarez said that the city is committed to spending $9.1 million to widen National Avenue, Division Street and Oceanview Boulevard to handle the growing volume of traffic that will pass through the area in coming years.

It has also offered National City $1 million to widen streets that will receive increasing numbers of people headed from Interstate 805 to downtown San Diego, and asked the state to pass on the $3.3-million corridor purchase price to National City.

But National City Councilman Michael Dalla said his city would need $47 million to acquire rights of way and improve three main east-west routes.

Conceding that the highway proposal is virtually dead, Dalla said that National City supports a compromise concept that would allow the construction of a roadway down the corridor and leave land for development. National City’s council was scheduled to vote Tuesday night on a resolution offering $1 million to Caltrans to help pay for the development of such an artery.

Nielsen has presented the San Diego City Council with plans for such a roadway, but Juarez said they are unworkable.

Daniel Struiksma said he did not fully understand that Nielsen intended to file suit when he agreed to support his efforts. He called the suit a “long shot,” but added that he would be interested in buying back the lot where he once had a single-family house and a duplex.

“I’m interested in it to a degree,” Struiksma said. “Just like anybody else, if there’s a chance to pick up anything, you go for it. If I could pick it up for what I was paid for it, I’d buy it.”