BREA : City Awards Contract to Grade 32 Acres

The City Council has awarded a contract for nearly $1 million to Southern California Grading Inc. to grade 32 acres in the downtown area, the first significant work on a massive redevelopment project that is expected to begin after nearly a year of delay, officials said.

Grading will start in July and is expected to be completed in five months, according to Community Services Director Jim Cutts.

“When we break ground there, it will be a major step,” Cutts said. “It won’t look fancy because we’ll move an awful lot of dirt, but it’s a big deal.”

Cutts said the grading will clear the way for a proposed commercial complex, a residential project and a county public library and park at the west end of Birch Street.

Last week, the city also hired Cin-Mar Industries to demolish structures in the downtown area, including the Foursquare Gospel Church on Walnut Street. The demolition will cost the city $44,800, officials said.

The church congregation has moved to a temporary site on Brea Boulevard, across from city-owned land where a permanent church will be built.

Under a complicated land swap, the church agreed to vacate its current location and move to a new site in a transaction that cost the city about $3.2 million.

Moving the church was crucial to the downtown project, officials said.

Officials are excited that the downtown project is finally moving ahead, according to Sue Georgino, redevelopment services director.

She said that a lawsuit brought by a group of downtown merchants has delayed the project “nine to 10 months.”

Then, when the suit was settled last September, rain further delayed the project, Georgino said.

There are still unresolved problems with individual members of the Brea Business Coalition, the group that brought the suit, but the city has offered binding arbitration, Georgino said.

Southern California Grading’s bid of $952,216 was the lowest among 10 bids the city received for the grading project, Cutts said.

Grading will start at the corner of Imperial Highway and Brea Boulevard, the site of the commercial center project, Cutts said.

He said that as soon as the grading is completed, one of the tenants, Ralphs, will immediately start constructing its store.

After the rough grading, the Redevelopment Agency will start installing storm drains and sewer, water and other utility lines to serve the area west of Brea Boulevard, Cutts said.