ANAHEIM : Anaheim Plaza Plans Back on Track
Stalled plans to rejuvenate Anaheim Plaza, the county’s oldest shopping mall, are once again on track after a lawsuit against the city’s redevelopment plans was dismissed last week.
Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer dismissed the lawsuit in Superior Court on Thursday because he said that the two plaintiffs had not participated in the public forums held to hear opposition to the city’s redevelopment plans.
“Basically, we’re just really pleased with the results,” said Lisa Stipkovich, executive director for the city’s community development. “We never felt the case had the validity. Now, we’d just like to move on and work on the redevelopment plans.”
The suit was filed in August by Los Angeles attorney Jonathan Lehrer-Graiwer, known for challenging redevelopment projects to ensure that low-income people in the area to be redeveloped are also helped.
Lehrer-Graiwer filed the suit for Anaheim residents Maria Torres and Maria Lara, who claimed the redevelopment plans did not create enough low-income housing.
State law requires that 20% of the tax-increment money collected in the redevelopment area be used to establish low-income housing, or for related uses such as roads and lighting that would facilitate housing development.
The city has been studying the 350-acre area for redevelopment for years, and the night that the City Council finally approved the redevelopment plan in June nearly 100 residents and plaza shopkeepers celebrated at City Hall.
The mall-just off the Santa Ana Freeway at Lincoln Avenue, in the older section of central Anaheim-is 35 years old. In recent years, it has suffered from heavy competition from more modern m1634495603
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