Compton : Proposal for Townhouses on Auto Plaza Land Denied

A proposal to put a townhouse development in the Compton Auto Plaza was rejected on a 5-0 vote Tuesday by the City Council after the Redevelopment Agency recommended against the project.

For months, the South Central Organizing Committee (SCOC), a political activist group organized around local churches, has been pressing the council to give it approximately 13 acres in the auto plaza so it could build 600 townhouses to sell to low-income working families for as little as $69,000.

City officials balked at the idea from the start, arguing that the land is in a prime commercial area and must be used to generate jobs and sales tax revenues for the economically depressed community.

In its report to the council Tuesday, the Redevelopment Agency said the housing plan exceeded density allowances in the city’s general plan and violated development covenants and restrictions on the auto plaza. The 1977 development agreement between the city and the auto plaza tenants, the agency said, prohibits residential development. The city is now negotiating with a Mack Truck franchise that wants to build on the land.

SCOC will continue to fight for housing on the auto plaza site, said Larry Foundation, SCOC spokesman. He said SCOC is now offering to buy the land from the city. He would not disclose the amount of the offer.