Bellflower May Get Chance to Vote Again on Renewal Agency

The City Council, risking political backlash, apparently is preparing to take another stab at forming a city redevelopment agency to bolster the economy in this predominantly residential community.

Next week, the council is scheduled to decide whether to ask residents to remove a 1983 ordinance that requires voter approval to create a redevelopment agency. If the ordinance is eliminated, the council would be able to set up an agency, said City Administrator Jack A. Simpson.

Previous redevelopment proposals have generated strong resistance and have sent some local politicians into early retirement. Opponents have expressed concern over an agency’s power to acquire property through eminent domain.

Four of the five council members said in interviews this week they are willing to submit the issue to the voters in November.

The council considered a similar ballot proposal earlier this year but rejected it. Redevelopment agencies manage both commercial and city improvement projects aimed at beautifying the city and bolstering tax revenue by attracting business to the city.

“Long Overdue”

Redevelopment “is long overdue in this city,” Mayor Kenneth J. Cleveland said. “We cannot continue to run the way we are now or we’re going to run into trouble.”

He said that Bellflower’s operating budget is far below those of neighboring Lakewood, Downey, Norwalk and Cerritos. He also pointed out that two auto dealerships have announced plans to move from Bellflower to the auto mall in Cerritos, adding that redevelopment would be the best way to ensure the financial future of the 6.1-square-mile city of about 60,000 residents.

“It’s the best thing for the city,” said Cleveland, a Bellflower real estate developer who has served on the council for almost 11 years. “If I have to sit around and worry about the politics of this thing, then I don’t deserve to get reelected.”

Councilman William J. Pendleton agreed. “I think it’s an absolute must,” he said. “We’ve got to do what we can in forming a redevelopment agency.”

Support Anticipated

Council members John Ansdell and Randy Bomgaars also are expected to support the proposal.

Councilman Joseph E. Cvetko, who was voted into office on an anti-redevelopment platform, said he would “probably vote against” putting the redevelopment question to the voters.

Conceding that Monday’s vote will probably put the measure on the November ballot, Cvetko criticized other council members for wanting the issue on the ballot without requiring specific guidelines for a redevelopment corridor or an estimation of start-up costs for an agency.

“I don’t think people will have an intelligent vote,” Cvetko said. “Without knowing where the corridor is, people get afraid” of having their property included in a redevelopment plan.

Simpson confirmed that city officials have not drawn up a firm redevelopment map or a proposed budget. He said that a study would begin if voters approve a ballot measure.

Although most council members believe a redevelopment agency could help strengthen the city’s finances, they may continue to have trouble persuading voters to drop the ordinance.

At last week’s council meeting, several residents objected to Cleveland’s proposal to put the redevelopment question on the ballot. For nearly an hour, council members and residents debated the issue, officials said.

Cleveland has said in interviews that although support for redevelopment has spelled an end to political careers in the past, he and other city officials are willing to back a proposal to start an agency.

Earlier in the year, former Mayor Maurice G. Brassard, a real estate developer, became the latest local politician to suffer after supporting a redevelopment agency.

Lost Council Seat

In January, he surprised his fellow council members and residents by suggesting a redevelopment measure be put on the April ballot. Brassard’s suggestion was voted down by the council. He lost his council seat in the April election.

In 1982, a year before residents made it more difficult to create a redevelopment agency, three council members lost their bids for reelection after they supported redevelopment.

But City Administrator Simpson said the latest redevelopment move has the support of various business and civic groups and a consultant group that was hired in the spring to conduct an economic study of the city.

In the $50,000 study, Williams-Kuebelbeck & Associates called redevelopment a “realistic option” for the city to fight off threatened losses of tax revenue, Simpson said. He would not elaborate on other aspects of the study, which has not been released.

Suburban Pontiac and Don-A-Vee Jeep AMC, two of five new-car dealerships in the city, have announced plans to move to the nearby Cerritos Mall. A third, Ray Fladeboe Lincoln-Mercury is considering a similar move, Simpson said.

New-car dealerships constitute about 26% of the city’s total sales tax revenue.

Potential Corridor

Studies by Williams-Kuebelbeck and the Bellflower Chamber of Commerce suggest a potential redevelopment corridor along the Artesia Freeway (91), possibly stretching from the Cerritos border to North Long Beach.

Pete Ellis Ford, the city’s most lucrative business, is on Artesia Boulevard, next to the freeway.

A proposed auto mall for the city’s three remaining new-car dealerships is being considered near Pete Ellis Ford, said Simpson. Other projects would include mini-malls, and office and retail complexes.

Redevelopment agency opponents in Bellflower have complained about agencies’ power of eminent domain. They claim that residents in nearby cities have lost their homes and small businesses to commercial projects.

They have been led by former Councilman James Earl Christo, who cites the potential dangers of the agency’s power of eminent domain.

A redevelopment agency can take a property through eminent domain when it deems a project is “in the public interest.” The agency, however, must pay fair market value for a property and all moving costs.

“Waste of Money”

Christo said he was confident that voters, when faced with the threat of losing their homes, would soundly defeat any attempt to bring redevelopment into the city. He said a ballot measure, which would cost $15,000, would be a “waste of the taxpayers’ money.”

Christo, a two-time mayor, said it is too late to keep the car dealerships in Bellflower. He noted that by the time he took office in 1982, three other dealerships had already left the city and that Suburban and Don-A-Vee have been on waiting lists for years.

“They have always wanted to go,” said Christo. “Nothing the council is going to do is going to stop that.”

Simpson said opponents have resorted to “misinformation” in the past to turn voters against redevelopment. He added that “it should be made clear that the City Council does not want to take people’s homes.”