Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Court Rejects Lancaster Plan to Use Housing Funds for Bridges

A city plan to spend $24 million in housing funds to build two highway overpasses violates California’s redevelopment law, a state appeals court has ruled, overturning a lower court decision in favor of the city.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles decided Lancaster’s financing plan was improper because “not a single unit of affordable housing is guaranteed.”

The three-judge panel Thursday unanimously reversed a decision last year by San Fernando Superior Court Judge David Schacter, who ruled that the overpasses would provide access to undeveloped sections of the city, allowing affordable housing to be built there.

City spokeswoman Nancy Walker said Friday that the decision will not affect the Avenue L overpass, nearing completion. When a lawsuit was filed, the city opted to pay for that project with other money not earmarked for housing, Walker said.

On Friday, city officials had not seen a copy of the court’s decision and would not comment on it, Walker said.

The case involved a city plan, unveiled in 1991, to use redevelopment funds restricted to housing projects to pay for bridges that would allow traffic to cross the railroad tracks at Avenues L and H, both near Sierra Highway. Construction of the Avenue H crossing has not begun.

The challenge was filed by Lancaster resident Delores Dibley, who argued that the money must be used to promote low- and moderate-income housing, rather than public works projects.

City officials argued that the plan was legal because it included financial incentives for developers to build low-cost housing in the areas served by the overpasses.