LOS ANGELES : 6 Redevelopment Areas in Quake Zones Proposed

In the latest effort to hasten the city’s earthquake recovery, Los Angeles redevelopment officials on Monday recommended establishing emergency redevelopment areas in six quake-ravaged areas in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood.

Generally, the proposed areas are scattered around the damaged neighborhoods, reflecting the meandering nature of the quake’s destruction, with the biggest areas in Northridge, Chatsworth, North Hills and Granada Hills, near the epicenter.

The proposal would take advantage of emergency provisions of the state redevelopment law that allow local agencies to establish project areas in disaster zones without completing the time-consuming environmental studies required for traditional redevelopment areas.

Under the law, local redevelopment agencies can keep all the property tax generated by new construction in a project area and use it to pay for improvements, such as new streets, parks and sewers, and loans for quake victims.

Although the city has rushed to establish the project areas to meet the state’s emergency guidelines, the Community Redevelopment Agency delayed until Friday a vote to launch the proposal because some agency members said they needed more time to study the plan.

At Monday’s meeting, redevelopment officials asked the CRA for authority to begin a 60-day assessment of the damage in the so-called “study areas” and craft recovery strategies.