YORBA LINDA : Community Center Site Purchase Stalled

Pending completion of a downtown redevelopment plan, the city has delayed purchasing a closed service station that was to become the site of a new community center.

City Council members postponed spending $677,550 to buy a 3.3-acre former Chevron gas station site at the southwest corner of Casa Loma Avenue and Imperial Highway.

In April, the council selected the site for a $5-million community center, a 25,000-square-foot facility that would include meeting rooms for senior citizens organizations, arts and crafts clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. Since then, city officials have been negotiating to buy the property.

But an architectural firm also has been developing a plan for a 328-acre downtown redevelopment area, primarily along Imperial Highway and Yorba Linda Boulevard from the west city boundary to Lakeview Avenue.

Although no recommendations have been made, some council members say the community center could be built closer to Main Street instead of on the Imperial Highway and Casa Loma Avenue site. In that way, the center would help attract visitors to Main Street, a two-block area that is the historic core of the city.

Langdon/Wilson Architects is expected to have a preliminary redevelopment plan completed early this fall.

“I’d like to see things move forward in a reasonable, logical way,” said Councilman John M. Gullixson. “Thirty or even 60 days is not going to kill anybody. . . . Philosophically I’m saying, ‘Let’s purchase (the site) when we’ve got a plan.’ ”

Gullixson said a community center could be something that brings people to Main Street, a quiet street of small businesses. “We need to provide parking, and we need to provide a draw,” Gullixson said.

City Manager Art Simonian said that construction of the community center is expected to begin early next year. He added that those plans would be delayed indefinitely if the City Council decided to change the site of the facility.