Pomona : Freeway Financing Planned

City officials hope they have lined up the necessary financing to complete $57 million in freeway improvements in time for the scheduled October, 1991, opening of a regional shopping center in the southwest corner of the city.

The project will provide access to the shopping center, which will be located on a 72-acre piece of land at the intersection of the Pomona Freeway and Corona Expressway.

City officials appealed to the California Transportation Commission last week to allocate $20.7 million in state highway funds to the project. Mayor Donna Smith said commission members were receptive to the financing proposal, which is supported by Supervisor Pete Schabarum and Assemblyman Charles Bader (R-Pomona), among others.

The state Transportation Improvement Plan already includes $14.2 million for the improvements. Officials are also seeking to use $12.1 million already set aside for the widening of the Pomona Freeway.

The city will pay $4 million in construction costs, as well as bearing all of the $3-million cost of designing the freeway improvements. Pomona will also have to finance another $3 million in surface street improvements, said City Administrator A.J. Wilson.

The city will cover these costs by issuing revenue anticipation bonds, which would be repaid with the property tax revenue generated by the shopping center.

By overseeing the design of the project themselves, Pomona officials are hoping to streamline the design process and have final plans ready by November, 1989, said Ben Minamide, director of public works.

The $55 million shopping center, to be developed by May Centers Inc. of St. Louis, is expected to annually generate more than $1 million in additional property tax revenue, more than $1.7 million in sales tax revenue, another $1 million in utility taxes and create 2,200 jobs.