SOUTH GATE : City Council Rejects Redevelopment Plan

The City Council voted last week to terminate a project that would have overhauled miles of the city’s commercial corridors.

The council followed the recommendation of the 14-member Project Area Committee, a group of community members elected to review the plan and reflect community opinion.

The group recommended by a 9-5 vote last month that the council reject a plan to redevelop 765 acres of primarily commercial property along Firestone and Long Beach boulevards, Atlantic Avenue and State Street.

About 100 opponents of the Commercial Corridors Redevelopment Project packed the council chambers Tuesday night prepared to raise signs that read “Stop the CRAP” (Community Redevelopment Agency project), but they never got the opportunity. Without discussion, the council voted 4 to 1 to reject the plan.

Mayor Mary Ann Buckles was the project’s lone supporter.

“I believe the rejection of this project area is going to prove to be a detriment to the citizens and the businesses in this city,” Buckles said. “Our city is built out. The only way to improve it is through redevelopment.”

Redevelopment opponents had feared that homes and businesses within the project area would be seized by eminent domain and warned that the city could incur more than $400 million in debt.

But Retha Champion, the committee’s secretary, said the panel’s recommendation did not represent majority opinion in the community.

The committee had sought input and mailed surveys to more than 1,800 residents and business owners in the project area, Champion said.

Although only 55 surveys were returned, the majority of those reflected a desire for some kind of redevelopment, she said.

“I would like to have seen (the council) shelve the project and get off their butts and talk to people” before voting, Champion said. The city could have allowed the public to vote on the project for a truly representative response to the plan, she said.

Councilman Larry Leonard assured business owners that the city would try to find an alternative to upgrade commercial areas: “We’re not going to desert those businesses who want to improve their station. We will find ways to help those people.”