Bell : Cheli Site Resolution Passed

The Bell City Council is urging Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci’s Commission on Base Realignment and Closure to declare the former Cheli Air Force Base on Bandini Boulevard as surplus property and release it to the city for redevelopment.

A recent economic study identified the Cheli site as potentially the most valuable developable land in the city, said city officials, who drafted a resolution that the council unanimously passed Monday night.

The council resolution is the latest in the city’s intensifying efforts to gain control of the federal land. City officials have met periodically with federal officials in recent months to forge an agreement, but so far have been unsuccessful.

The Cheli supply base, now called the Federal Service Center, is largely unused. Some of the low-slung warehouses on the 140-acre site near the Long Beach Freeway are vacant. Others house surplus supplies for various government agencies.

“(The) property is the last major undeveloped parcel in the city, and the proper development of this property is essential to the continuing economic vitality of the city,” states the unanimously passed resolution to be sent to the secretary of defense. “Sale of this property . . . (would) promote . . . economic and physical revitalization of a blighted area, . . . an increase of the tax base, . . . increased employment opportunities, . . . and increased shopping opportunities.”

The economic study has suggested that the best use for the land would be a regional shopping center, which would draw more than 734,000 people from nearby communities and generate retail sales of about $2.3 billion a year.