Carlsbad Ponders a New Redevelopment Idea : Planning: City will ask consultant to determine if a second redevelopment effort should be launched.

Carlsbad is about to study whether to include roughly 1,000 acres for a potential new redevelopment area that could improve parks, traffic circulation and the downtown’s deteriorated barrio.

City officials on Wednesday began reviewing which consulting firm will win a $30,000 contract to help determine whether the city launches its second redevelopment effort.

At this point, nobody is predicting whether the city will go ahead with another redevelopment plan, let alone hazarding a guess as to what specific projects would be undertaken.

“We really don’t have any preconceived ideas,” said City Councilwoman Ann Kulchin. “You’re better off not formulating something in your mind.”

If this sounds like an uncertain way to begin a renewal project, consider that such redevelopment talk didn’t exist until a year ago, when some residents of the Latino quarter complained their circa 1916 barrio has been economically neglected.

Consisting of about 4,500 people and 1,300 modest dwellings, the barrio exists next to Carlsbad’s downtown that, under the city’s first redevelopment project, has evolved from a blighted area into a tourist-tempting commercial “village” of boutiques and restaurants.

The barrio is bounded by Carlsbad Village Drive (formerly Elm Avenue) to the north, Interstate 5 to the east, Tamarack Avenue to the south, and the railroad tracks at the west.

Latinos urged the City Council to include their barrio in the city’s 11-year-old downtown redevelopment area. Barrio property owner Ophelia Escobedo said: “I think they’re beginning to realize the Hispanic people are interested in developing the area.”

Beside improvements to existing streets and homes in the barrio, Escobedo and others want to see a bigger commercial area that would take on a Mexican cultural theme.

However, city officials have ruled out including the barrio in the city’s existing downtown redevelopment zone, or creating a second zone containing the barrio alone.

The reasons are financial.

Money for redevelopment projects comes from so-called tax increment financing. Under such financing, property tax rates are frozen when a redevelopment area is formed. But when property is reassessed at a higher value, like during a change of ownership, the tax revenue from the greater value is funneled into the redevelopment program.

Over the years, other government agencies, such as school districts, the county and service districts, have become upset because they lose their share of increased property taxes to the redevelopment effort.

Carlsbad officials, aware that such government agencies need money, are concerned that changing boundaries of the old downtown redevelopment area to include the barrio would give the agencies an opportunity to demand an increased share of the tax revenue.

“I know how badly the schools and county are (financially) pressed,” said Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis.

For different financial reasons, the city has also scotched the idea of establishing a new redevelopment area composed only of the barrio.

The barrio is so heavily residential and minimally commercial that officials doubt there’d be a broad tax base to pay for redevelopment improvements.

“It’s all residential, we could never realize enough money out of there,” said Marty Orenyak, the city’s director of housing and community development.

So, casting about for a means to help the barrio, the city is about to explore a much larger 1,000-acre area, some or all of which may be drawn into a potential new redevelopment area.

The study area includes the barrio, the Macario Canyon/Veteran’s Park area, property surrounding Agua Hedionda Lagoon, Holiday Park, and a long stretch of land west of I-5 from the northern city line to the southern boundary.

City redevelopment chief Kathy Graham said the vast area, which she estimated at 1,000 acres compared to the existing 200-acre downtown redevelopment area, is being evaluated to determine whether a new redevelopment project is feasible.

She termed the study “very preliminary . . . at this point, it’s a look-see kind of thing.”

Among other things, the consultant will tell city officials what properties qualify for placement into a redevelopment zone. Officials also will learn what specific projects are eligible to be completed by redevelopment funding.

It’s certain, officials say, that all revenue from a broader redevelopment zone would not be spent in one location like the barrio. Instead, the funding would be spread around for improvements throughout the redevelopment area.

Officials want to know from the consultant whether redevelopment funds can be used not only to upgrade the barrio, but to pay for sewer lines and road access to remote Macario Canyon/Veteran’s Park and for better traffic circulation at the busy Palomar Airport Road at I-5.

Until the consultant is chosen and a study completed--no due date has been set--Carlsbad officials are reluctant to commit themselves or raise hopes that a new redevelopment effort will come along.