800 in Brea to Brainstorm Redevelopment Plan

About 800 Brea community representatives will join city staff members and urban planners in brainstorming sessions to plan an extensive redevelopment of downtown Brea, officials said Friday.

In a press conference announcing the redevelopment project, City Manager Frank Benest called the partnership between residents and professional planners unique and said it would “develop a downtown that isn’t anywhere else.”

The planning session will take place Oct. 6 and 7 and will culminate at the end of the year in a “vision for the downtown,” Mayor Gene A. Leyton said.

After coming up with ideas and proposed improvements, the city staff will meet with developers in a separate session Oct. 8 to determine which suggestions are feasible.

Staff for Resources

“It will be a community-driven project with a resource team (the city staff) to flush out the resources needed,” Leyton said.

A planned shopping center on the 22-acre site at the northwest corner of Imperial Highway and Brea Boulevard will be a main focus of the redevelopment plans, Benest said. Three “major developers who have shown they have a vision other than a cookie-cutter shopping center” will create proposals for the center based on the suggestions from the community, Leyton said.

The companies will submit detailed master plans for the site that also allow for the future development of an additional 40 acres surrounding the shopping center.

Trammell Crow Co., Watt Community Developers and the Alexander Haggen Co. will compete for the project when they display their sketches and designs to the community on Nov. 29 in the theater of the Brea Civic and Cultural Center.

Benest said a developer would be chosen near the end of the year in a “major economic decision” for the city.

The plan is to develop a residential type of downtown in the midst of a busy industrial boulevard, Benest said.

Community members and staff will discuss the possibilities of “multi-use buildings,” which might include both residences and businesses, Benest said.

The actual work is scheduled to begin in March or April of 1990, Leyton said.