Two-Way Street : Firms Facing Relocation Fight Alhambra’s Plans to Allow Car Dealership
To make room for a car dealership, the Redevelopment Agency is considering evicting a business owned by a hometown football hero, a church, a pet clinic and a home for the blind.
“A lot of people accuse us of having no feelings,” said City Manager Kevin Murphy, “but you have to balance interests.”
The church, the home and eight businesses that occupy the south side of Main Street between Poplar Boulevard and Primrose Avenue would be moved to create a 3.2-acre site for the Superior Pontiac dealership now located in Monterey Park.
Dr. L. A. Frics, who runs a veterinary clinic that would be displaced for the expansion of Alhambra’s Auto Row, said it is unfair for the city to oust a group of small businesses to attract a larger one.
Support Sought
“I could see it if it was for a park or something of that order,” Frics said. But the businesses that face eviction, he said, provide needed services to the community and employ about 100 people, the same number of jobs expected at the dealership.
Frics and other business owners have asked their patrons to join them in urging the City Council to reject the auto dealership proposal at a hearing Monday. The council, acting as the board of the Redevelopment Agency, will meet at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall to consider a disposition and development agreement with George B. Frey, who is buying the Superior Pontiac dealership with financial backing from General Motors Corp. The dealership also sells Subarus and GMC trucks.
The proposed agreement calls for the Redevelopment Agency to acquire the land and resell it to Frey at a discount. The city’s financial analysts have estimated that it would cost $22 a square foot to buy the property, which would be sold to Frey for $12 a square foot. The loss on the property transaction would be offset by revenue from sales taxes paid by car buyers.
Gain in Taxes Estimated
Officials estimate that the dealership would generate an additional $30,000 in property taxes in 1988-89 and $1 million over the next 25 years above what is now produced by the businesses to be displaced. The city treasury would also pick up an additional $300,000 a year from sales taxes.
The agency would help those displaced find new locations, preferably in Alhambra, and compensate them for their move.
Murphy said some people mistakenly believe “that we’re just going to throw people out in the street,” but, in fact, the Redevelopment Agency will hire relocation experts to help make the transition. Murphy said the Redevelopment Agency has moved more than 100 businesses over the last 15 years and many have emerged stronger than before.
In addition, Murphy said, owners will receive compensation for any loss of business they suffer as a result of moving.
Michael Martin, deputy executive director of the Redevelopment Agency, said that businesses and homeowners who are forced to relocate face at least an inconvenience, and some uncertainty. In addition, he said, there is no way to compensate them for any “sentimental attachment” to their property.
Leo H. Carroll Jr., 43, who runs a brake shop next to the house where he grew up, said that he inherited the property from his father and received the deed in July only 12 hours before “the city comes along and says they are going to take the land away from me.”
Tells of Shattered Plans
Carroll, a 6-foot-6 defensive end who played football at Alhambra High School, San Diego State and five years in the National Football League, said he worked with his father in the brake business and was bringing his three sons into the business when his plans were shattered.
“It’s destroyed my personal life with stress, worrying about what I’m going to do,” he said.
Bill Clark, who bought the auto service business next to Carroll’s brake shop in May, said the facilities cannot be easily duplicated elsewhere.
“It’s very hard to find a decent location,” he said.
Clark said he checked with the Redevelopment Agency before he bought the business and was told there were no plans to acquire the property.
Murphy said the city originally planned to put the auto dealership on the north side of Main Street on property occupied by Progressive Savings & Loan. But the acquisition of that property ran into legal problems, including a dispute between the savings and loan and the property owners over terms of a long-term lease, complicated by the fact that two of the 10 owners had died, tying up matters in probate court. Murphy said the agency began looking for another location after it became clear that the original site could be obtained only through lengthy legal proceedings.
Home to 14 Dealerships
Alhambra has 14 auto dealerships, most of the them along Main Street. The area west of Atlantic Boulevard has been designated as Auto Row, and with the help of the Redevelopment Agency, several car dealerships are expanding and new dealerships are being created for Chrysler and Acura automobiles.
Murphy said the property selected for the Pontiac dealership is the only site along Main Street of a suitable size.
The area to be acquired includes two houses, a meeting hall for the Alhambra congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and residential cottages occupied by the Center for Living Independence for the Multi-Handicapped Blind (CLIMB) Inc. There are 41 handicapped persons living at the center, which has a staff of 35. Officials of the center could not be reached for comment.
Murphy said that forcing the relocation of small businesses, not to mention a home for the blind, in order to advance the interests of General Motors puts the Redevelopment Agency in an awkward position.
“A lot of people accuse us of having no feelings,” Murphy said, “but you have to balance interests.”
Could End Utility Tax
The added sales tax revenue would help the council meet its goal of eliminating the city utility tax, he said. Sales tax revenue makes car dealerships attractive to cities, and has created a competition among cities to induce dealers to relocate.
“Yes, you are helping the big guy,” Murphy said, “but for the little guy, it’s a win, too.”
The increased tax revenue benefits all residents, he said, and even those who are displaced should wind up no worse off after receiving fair market value for their property, relocation expenses, rental subsidies and compensation for business losses.
But Frics said he and other property owners are still troubled by the uncertainties they face, and upset about the inequity involved in extending assistance to a new large business at the expense of small businesses, some of which have existed for 30 years or more.
Spending Plan Described
The disposition and development agreement calls for the Redevelopment Agency to spend $6.1 million for land acquisition, demolition, relocation and various improvements. About $1.6 million would be recovered by reselling the land to the car dealer.
The car dealer would construct $3 million worth of sales and service buildings covering 30,000 square feet.
Martin, the deputy executive director of the Redevelopment Agency, said, that from strictly a financial standpoint “it’s a good deal for the city, but a rotten deal for the Redevelopment Agency.” The net cost to the agency is estimated at more than $4 million.
It is not the purpose of the Redevelopment Agency to make profits, Martin pointed out, but to stimulate economic growth, benefitting the city.
Martin said that based on past sales history, Superior Pontiac would become the second largest source of sales tax revenue in Alhambra, trailing only the Price Club. The 6.5% state sales tax on purchases includes a 1% tax for the city.
The city’s $21-million annual budget includes $6.4 million from sales taxes, with 30% of that amount already coming from car dealerships.
