Hawthorne Renews Bid for Caltrans Site After Private Offers Rejected

The California Transportation Commission has rejected bids for the purchase of a narrow, mile-long strip of Caltrans property along Glasgow Place in Hawthorne, putting into question the future of the 21 parcels of land.

During a Nov. 7, 1989, Caltrans sale of surplus real estate, eight private investors had bid on separate parcels, for a total of about $1.4 million for the 5.8-acre strip abutting the San Diego Freeway.

However, the commission--which has the final say on how Caltrans money is spent--rejected the bids during a Dec. 14 meeting, primarily because commissioners thought a majority of the bids were too low, said Bob Remen, the commission’s executive director.

The decision puts a halt to the sale of the land and puts the investors and the status of the property in limbo, Remen said.

Last Friday, Hawthorne City Manager R. Kenneth Jue, Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth and Public Works Director James Mitsch testified before the commission, requesting that the land be sold to the city. The commission tabled any further action on the matter until proposed legislation that might force the sale of the land to the city has been resolved.

Jue said the decision to reject the bids will give the city more time to lobby state officials to sell the property to Hawthorne, which has long wanted to develop it as parkland.

The City Council has maintained that the land between Wiseburn and Rosecrans avenues is not suitable for development, partly because it is too close to the freeway. Single-family homes that once occupied the strip were demolished when Caltrans acquired the land for freeway construction.

The City Council voted in 1983 to rezone the property from single-family residential to urban open space. However, that action was criticized by Commission Chairman William E. Leonard as being part of the reason the bids were low.

In a Dec. 26 letter to Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Carson), Leonard said: “In the case of the 21 parcels in the city of Hawthorne, a cloud was placed over the value of these properties when they were down-zoned to ‘Urban Open Space’ in 1983. This cloud clearly had a chilling effect when the properties went out to bid.”

As an example, Leonard said in the letter that the value of 14 of the 21 parcels--appraised under single-family residential zoning--totaled more than $1.5 million. However, after the parcels were zoned for open space, the total price offered for them was less than $800,000, he said.

“In the opinion of this commission and, I believe, the Department of Transportation, such down-zoning violates the state’s sovereignty over its property,” he said.

In a response dated Jan. 26, Floyd rejected the commission’s position and urged commissioners to sell the property to the city.

“In regards to the so-called Glasgow strip property in the city of Hawthorne, the city rezoned this property at the request of the community after the state had condemned the property, torn down existing structures, and for years left it a dusty eyesore immediately adjacent to the 405 freeway,” Floyd said in his letter.

Floyd, who has staunchly lobbied for the sale of the land to Hawthorne, persuaded legislators in September to provide the city with $200,000 to buy the Glasgow Strip. During the surplus real estate sale, Hawthorne bid that money for 20 parcels totaling 4.7 acres, but the offer fell far short of winning the bidding contest.

Floyd also was the author of legislation last year to require Caltrans to sell the property to the city for that same $200,000. Jerry McFetridge, a spokesman for Floyd, said the bill passed the Legislature last June and will be considered within the next two weeks by the Senate Transportation Committee. From there it will go to the Senate Finance Committee, then to the Senate. If passed by the Senate, it would be sent to the governor for final approval, he said.