County, Hidden Hills Settle Suit Over Redevelopment Agency

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved settling a lawsuit it had filed four years ago to contest the creation of the Hidden Hills Redevelopment Agency.

The county had filed the suit after alleging that redevelopment agencies are only to be created to improve blighted areas. The county alleged there was no blight in the wealthy city of Hidden Hills.

The Board of Supervisors agreed unanimously to drop the suit after Hidden Hills promised to give the county some of the tax revenue it will derive from the redevelopment agency.

In return, the county’s flood control district will build a $5-million drainage channel in Hidden Hills. The city formed the the redevelopment agency to construct the storm drain along Long Valley Road.

“It’s one of these nice settlements that occur where both parties feel they won,” said Wayne K. Lemieux, attorney for Hidden Hills. “The city gets what it wants--a drainage channel which the flood-control district said it was prepared to build anyway. The county gets what it wants. It doesn’t have to worry about diversion of tax money.”

The county had contended that the redevelopment agency would rob it of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Under state law, redevelopment districts can use some property tax money normally earmarked for counties, as well as school, water and other taxing districts.

The state requires a redevelopment agency to use its revenue to rehabilitate blighted areas within its boundaries. But in 1984, a county report noted that an inspection of Hidden Hills “revealed no blighting condition that could be characterized as a threat to the public’s health, safety or welfare.”

Hidden Hills Mayor Kathy Bartizal, however, said the city could not build a storm channel without a redevelopment district because Proposition 13 prevents it from raising taxes. This year, the small city has an operating budget of $589,000, she said.

“How do you go about it, if you can’t raise taxes?” Lemieux asked. “Redevelopment is a neat way to do it.”

Bartizal said the storm channel is desperately needed to prevent serious periodic flooding that plagues the city. She estimated, for instance, that a flood in the early 1980s caused $1 million damage.

Lemieux said one reason the city formed the agency was to prod the flood control district, which promised to build the channel many years ago.

The county’s associate counsel, Manuel A. Valenzuela, who is handling the case, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Both parties will ask a Superior Court judge on Thursday to approve the settlement. Lemieux said he expects the settlement will be protested by Murray Kane, counsel for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.

In his capacity as a private citizen, Kane has contended that the Hidden Hills agency, as well as some others, make a mockery of the intent of the state law. Kane could not be reached for comment Tuesday.