Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Officials Push to Merge 3 Redevelopment Areas : Building: The city says $200 million would be generated. The deadline for the plan is March 31. Some residents fear their property will be seized.

Facing a March 31 deadline, Palmdale officials are scrambling to assemble and approve the final documents needed to merge three of the city’s four redevelopment areas, a move that city officials say could generate $200 million for improvement projects.

The proposed merger has triggered concern among some residents in these areas, who fear the city will seize their property for an urban renewal project or impose new taxes.

Palmdale officials say these fears are unfounded and stem from complex legal notices the city was required to mail to about 8,300 property owners.

“They misunderstood, but I understood their reaction,” said Danny R. Roberts, the city’s redevelopment manager. “Unless you deal with redevelopment all the time, it just scares you.”

Roberts and other city officials acknowledged that the legal notices arrived with a poorly printed map of the affected area and little explanation.

Under the plan, the city’s Redevelopment Agency has agreed not to use its eminent domain powers to force anyone to sell any residential property for a renewal project, Roberts said. He also said no new taxes will be imposed under the plan.

The merger was initiated because the city will soon lose its ability to collect its share of property taxes in the current redevelopment areas. As new buildings are constructed in redevelopment areas, the land becomes more valuable and more property tax revenue is collected. A redevelopment agency receives a share of the increased revenue collected in these areas.

Without the merger, Palmdale will reach the limit on the amount of money it can collect in this manner within the next two to five years, Roberts said. Also, the merger will give the city more flexibility because money generated in one redevelopment area usually cannot be spent on a project in a different area.

The combined redevelopment area will encompass more than 7,000 acres. A new state law that revised redevelopment rules this year gave Palmdale, which was already working on its merger last year, until March 31 to complete the work.

At a meeting last week, Palmdale City Council members gave preliminary approval to several ordinances that would allow the merger to proceed.

They also scheduled a special March 24 meeting to take a final vote on these laws and on agreements with a local school district and a water agency, which will share revenue from the combined redevelopment area.

Councilwoman Teri Jones abstained from voting on the ordinances, saying she approved the merger idea, but did not believe the public had been adequately informed about the plan.

To help eliminate confusion, Mayor Jim Ledford instructed the city staff to mail letters of explanation to each property owner who received the original legal notice.

“I’d like for us to work up something in plain English . . . to explain what is the result of this merger,” he said. “I think it will put a lot of these fears to rest.”