BREA : Relocation Plan Hearing Tonight

The City Council has scheduled a 7 p.m. public hearing today on a court-ordered relocation plan for the 50-acre downtown redevelopment project. The session may provide another round of sparring over the controversial project.

Sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, the council has set the hearing to gain more community input, although the city staff has already recommended that the council adopt the relocation plan as proposed.

The plan was put together by Pacific Relocation Consultants of Long Beach, which interviewed residents and businesses likely to be displaced as a result of the mixed residential-business project in the heart of the city.

Superior Court Judge Robert C. Todd ordered a relocation plan prepared after a coalition of Brea business people sued the Redevelopment Agency over the issue of relocation assistance.

In a June 29 ruling, Todd ordered the developer, the Watt Commercial Development Co., to stop work on the project until the plans are completed. Watt, which reportedly has already signed up prospective tenants, was set to start construction this summer.

The Redevelopment Agency is in the process of acquiring more properties at the development site and will probably displace seven more businesses and 11 households, according to the study by Pacific Relocation Consultants.

The businesses are an antique shop, an upholstery shop, a general contractor’s office, an insurance office, a bar, a research and development company and a fast-food restaurant.

At least 11 dwellings will be affected, involving 33 adults and 28 children, the consultant said.

Critics of the Redevelopment Agency have charged that poor people are systematically being driven away from the downtown redevelopment area. Since 1985, at least 255 households and businesses have been removed from the downtown area.

Renters who have been forced to move have been given $2,000 in relocation assistance, while homeowners were given fair-market value for their property, officials said.

To comply with the court order to get community input on the relocation plan, the city scheduled what it called an informational meeting on July 27.

However, the meeting turned acrimonious as business people accused the Redevelopment Agency of bad faith bargaining in the proposed relocation plan. They also demanded a re-entry program so those displaced can come back as residents or businesses once the project is completed.

One proposal called for granting discounted loans to help those displaced return. Redevelopment Agency officials said they will study the matter.