STANTON : Panel OKs Architect for Civic Center Plan

The City Redevelopment Agency has authorized the drawing of blueprints for a proposed $5-million civic center, bringing the controversial project another step closer toward construction.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, the agency, made up of City Council members, voted 3 to 2 to approve the next phase of the project, which will be designed by BCER Architects of Rancho Cucamonga. Agency Chairman Sal Sapien and members Don Martinez and Joe Harris voted in favor of the plan, and members Harry Dotson and David John Shawver voted against it.

Shawver and Dotson have said that they oppose building the center while the city is in poor financial shape and that the redevelopment money earmarked for the project should instead be used to improve the city’s tax base.

However, in a letter sent to residents in July, Sapien called the project necessary because the current City Hall, which operates out of a defunct elementary school, is “absolutely inadequate and full of cancer-causing asbestos.” His support of the project triggered a three-month recall drive that failed earlier this month.

Construction of the center, which will be located at the southwest corner of Katella Avenue and Cedar Street, will include a 13,000-square-foot city hall and a 16,000-square-foot recreation center. Work is expected to begin later this year and is scheduled to be completed by fall, 1992.