Judge Halts Brea Redevelopment Project : Ruling: The city is ordered to stop construction until a relocation plan is developed and then approved by the state.

A Superior Court judge has halted almost all redevelopment activity in a 50-acre parcel in downtown Brea, including construction of a multimillion-dollar shopping center that was set to begin this summer.

Judge Robert C. Todd issued a writ of mandate Monday forbidding the city to continue with all but a few activities in the downtown redevelopment area until officials can show a relocation assistance plan for businesses and residents still remaining there.

The plan, Todd wrote, must comply with California law and be submitted to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for approval.

A shopping center planned by the Watt Commercial Development Co. for 22 acres of the redevelopment site is the project most affected by the ruling.

Watt has signed up several tenants for the shopping center, with construction tentatively set to begin this summer. Officials at the company were not available for comment Tuesday.

In his ruling, which was received by attorneys Tuesday, Todd said that while Brea has not “acted unfairly to any given parcel owner/occupant, it is clear that the defendants have conducted their redevelopment activities outside of the legislative mandates and administrative guidelines.”

A lawsuit was filed by the Brea Small Business Coalition and downtown merchants who argued that the city never complied with state guidelines for providing proper relocation assistance to those affected by redevelopment downtown.

Reaction to the ruling was muted, as representatives on both sides of the case said they needed time to study it.

“We are proceeding with a relocation plan,” said Sue Georgino, director of the Brea Redevelopment Agency. “We will continue.”

Bill Vega, a member of the coalition, said he had yet to carefully read the ruling.

Todd’s ruling specifically allows Brea to continue with a planned widening of Imperial Highway by the state Department of Transportation. Part of that project passes through the 50-acre site. The ruling also allows the city and redevelopment agency to continue negotiating with several property owners in the redevelopment area, although the city may not forcibly displace them.

However, Todd’s ruling allows Brea to proceed with the forced relocation of inventor Michael Kunec from his aging warehouse, which the city took possession of Tuesday in an eminent domain action.

Since 1985, Brea has relocated 255 residences and 41 businesses to make way for the ambitious redevelopment project. Yet the city only submitted a relocation plan to the state Department of Housing and Community Development this April, more than six years after beginning relocation.

Ed Goebel, a lawyer with the state agency, testified in court June 1 that state law required Brea to have the plan approved before moving anyone for the project site. Moreover, he said, the plan that was submitted to his agency was riddled with flaws, including the omission of public input as required by state law.

In his ruling, Todd said that the city must get the names and addresses of all people remaining in the redevelopment site and furnish them with copies of the relocation plan and instructions on how to comply with it, as well as allowing them to apply to participate in the redevelopment process, if they so desire.

Tim O’Donnell, Brea’s assistant city manager, said Tuesday that city officials are reviewing comments made by the state about the relocation plan submitted in April.

Georgino said all work on the relocation plan would be completed by the end of the summer. “I don’t think it will take very long,” she said.