Budget, Term of CRA May Be Increased : North Hollywood: Neighborhood workshops are reviewing a proposal to extend for 12 years the Community Redevelopment Agency’s expired power to condemn land.

The life of the North Hollywood Redevelopment District would be extended 12 years and its budget would grow by $180 million under a proposal being reviewed at a series of neighborhood workshops.

Since its formation in 1979, the Community Redevelopment Agency has focused much of its effort in the 740-acre zone toward revitalizing the central business core of North Hollywood, with construction of a major office complex, a theater and senior citizens housing. In the spring, construction is scheduled to begin on a hotel.

But there is much work left to do, said Don Spivack, CRA director of operations. Future plans include more apartments--many intended for low- to moderate-income families--additional offices, parks, a shopping center, cultural center and street widening.

However, the CRA’s ability to carry out these plans has been severely restricted this year, and the North Hollywood zone itself could be eliminated in four years if the City Council does not renew two powers that are vital to the agency. Redevelopment agencies typically are operated by city councils or other local governing bodies.

Under state law, CRAs have the authority to acquire land for new development in blighted areas by forcing property owners to sell, one of the most controversial powers. The CRA’s authority to seize land in North Hollywood expired in February.

And an $89-million cap on the amount of property tax money that the CRA can collect within the district will be reached by 1995, Spivack said. Those tax dollars are used to fund new projects within the redevelopment zone.

The proposal, which will be reviewed at public hearings scheduled for Aug. 27, Sept. 24 and Oct. 29, would extend the CRA’s power to condemn land for another 12 years and raise the tax cap to cover the estimated cost of the future improvements, at least $180 million.

Officials expect the approval process to take up to two years, during which time public hearings and City Council reviews will be undertaken.

Diana Hoffman, one of 16 people elected to a redevelopment advisory board, said she is among those who favor the extension.

“What’s been done so far definitely has uplifted the value and the demand for going into the area,” Hoffman said. “But we need to see more commercial growth, we need shopping, we need markets. We need a place where people can come in and talk and browse and know the neighborhood.”

However, the redevelopment agency’s power to condemn land is likely to provoke controversy during the public hearings and subsequently, when it comes before the 16-member advisory panel officially known as the North Hollywood Project Area Committee.

Five of the nine incumbents on the North Hollywood Project Area Committee were ousted in a February election after a tumultuous year during which the CRA’s policies were repeatedly questioned. Newly elected members, such as Mildred Weller, complained that property had been taken unfairly.

“They built some beautiful projects, but it’s a matter of property rights. They took people’s property away,” Weller said before her election.

Although condemnation has seldom been used in North Hollywood, Spivack said it is an important tool in negotiations to buy land.

About 200 North Hollywood residents and property owners, led by Weller, presented a petition against the extension to Councilman John Ferraro in October. But Ferraro favors the extension, his planning deputy said recently.

“I think it’s actually a pretty small number of people who oppose this,” deputy Renee Weitzer said. “Redevelopment has gotten a bad name because of some of the controversies. . . . People are afraid if you gentrify an area, they’re not going to be able to afford to live there, which usually isn’t true at all.”