Bristol St. Plan Puts a Crack in Their Nest Egg : Redevelopment: Couple who bought parcel in 1979 hoped to cash in at retirement. Now Santa Ana’s plans to turn their property into a park are tarnishing their golden years.

It seemed like the perfect retirement plan.

With nine years to go before retiring from his job as an electrical engineer, Donald E. Smith and his wife, Paulette, decided to build their nest egg by investing in two adjacent parcels of land on North Bristol Street.

Paulette Smith would run a nursery school on the property until her husband could retire. Then, they would sell the nursery school and their home in Garden Grove and perhaps move to the country near avocado groves.

But now, three years after retiring, the Smiths suddenly find their pot of gold turning to dust.

Because of the city’s plans to include the Smiths’ property in a “linear,” or strip, park as part of the Bristol Corridor redevelopment program, Donald Smith said potential buyers won’t touch the land once they learn they eventually would have to relocate.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency also refuses to buy the land at this time. The Smiths’ property is in an area that will not be redeveloped for another 10 to 20 years. And even if the city could buy the property sooner under a “hardship case” agreement, officials say they will not have any money until next July, at the earliest.

“The time frame they are talking about is eating into my actual life expectancy,” said Donald Smith, who turns 62 next month.

Desperate, Smith said he even offered to sell the land to the city “on credit” since officials would be taking the land eventually.

But the proposal, he said, was rejected.

The Smiths’ problem is different from that of some other property owners who do not want the redevelopment project to gobble up their businesses and homes along a 3.9-mile section of Bristol Street. Unlike many other landowners resisting the project, Smith said he is willing to sell his property at fair market price. The problem, he said, is that the threat of eminent domain has reduced the marketability of his land.

“Instead of being useful,” Smith said of the property, “it’s sort of an albatross.”

Hoping to eliminate blight, widen Bristol Street and rebuild a “higher quality urban design character,” the city has embarked on the $335-million project that targets about 783 acres between Warner and Santa Clara avenues. More than 100 businesses and 236 housing units will be relocated under the plan to make room for landscaping and rehabilitated businesses.

The Smiths bought the property--totaling about 16,000 square feet--in 1979 for $125,000. They put it on the market last year for $400,000.

Donald Smith said that at first he was not too worried about being able to sell the site because the last redevelopment plan he had seen about a year ago showed his property would be set aside for “professional” land-use.

But when he and a prospective buyer went to City Hall earlier this year to check on the land’s status, Smith said he was surprised to learn that the property was going to be designated for “open space.”

The would-be buyer then backed out, Smith said.

“I spent a year trying to get someone to fall in love with that property,” he said. “It’s terribly disappointing to see someone walk away.”

The restrictions on future use of the Smiths’ land, as well as other property on Bristol Street, were formalized by the City Council last month, when zoning was changed to conform with the redevelopment plan. With that action, the council effectively ruled that any future owner must continue using the property as it is now--a nursery school--or revert it back to residential until the property is acquired by the city Redevelopment Agency.

Bob Hoffman, real estate manager for the city’s Community Development Agency, said a day-care center is a “clean industry” and one that the city would like to see continued.

“If it’s a viable business with a built-in customer base and it’s functioning well on Bristol, it should be able to be sold,” Hoffman said. “I am just not sure that (Smith) could not sell the business.”

If the property is marketed correctly, Hoffman added, city officials will gladly explain the program to potential buyers and offer assurances that once the property is ready for acquisition, the business will be moved or purchased by the Redevelopment Agency.

But real estate agent Chuck Hardy, who once tried to help Smith sell the property, strongly disagreed, saying the city had inflicted an “economic hardship” on Smith and others in similar situations.

Hardy said enterprises such as a restaurant, a retail store or a professional office building that might have been possible under the commercial zoning are now out of the question because of the zoning change.

“Everybody that we talked to kind of goes away when they know that the usage is going to be restrictive,” Hardy said.

Hardy said that if the city prevents the property from attaining its “highest and best use,” then the market value drops and it becomes more affordable for the city to acquire.

Community Development Executive Director Cindy Nelson said there is a possibility the Smiths’ case could be handled as a hardship. But she and other redevelopment officials said it is difficult to tell when the city can begin buying the land since federal, state and local transportation funding for the project is not yet in hand.

In the meantime, Smith simply waits for the start of his retirement.

“With that property still hanging over us, it does not make any sense to make any other plans,” he said. “Maybe that’s what happens to everybody who gets in the way of these redevelopment plans.”