Temple City : Firm to Develop 5 Proposals

The City Council has signed an exclusive agreement with Champion Development Co. to develop five proposals for a contested redevelopment project on the corner of North Rosemead Boulevard and East Las Tunas Drive.

The Long Beach company will bring the shopping center plans, some of which encompass land now occupied by homes, before the City Council in September, City Manager Karl Koski said. Each scheme will be analyzed in a draft environmental impact report, due about the same time.

Residents of East Elm Avenue, bordering the proposed development on the north, fear that homes would be condemned to make room for the project, although three of the five council members have pledged that they would not support condemnation. Other homeowners are worried that a shopping center would bring noise and traffic to the middle-class neighborhood.

Mayor Mary Lou Swain said the council asked for plans that did and did not include the homes “to see the scope either way.” While she remains against condemnation, which would require four of five council votes, Swain said homeowners might be willing to sell their land “if given the right price, if given the right incentives.”