BUENA PARK : City Widens Power of Eminent Domain
The City Council has given initial approval to extending the city’s ability to acquire property in a Beach Boulevard redevelopment area.
The ordinance would allow the city to use its power of eminent domain on 26 parcels along a one-mile stretch of Beach Boulevard from the Riverside Freeway to La Palma Avenue. The original ordinance allowed the city to use eminent domain on only six parcels in the area known as the Entertainment Corridor.
Sally Wachi, whose mother owns an International House of Pancakes restaurant in the area, asked the council to remember the business owners.
“This piece of property is her sole source of income,” Wachi said. “What is going to happen?”
Officials assured Wachi that merchants would be treated fairly.
“We are not going to start condemning property at 8 o’clock in the morning,” Mayor Donald L. Bone said.
Plans for the property have not even been considered, said May Hui of the Economic Development Department. “We just wanted to make that tool available,” Hui said.
Under eminent domain, public agencies may buy property at fair market value without consent of the owners. If fair market value is disputed, the matter is settled in the courts.
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