ORANGE : Business Owners Protest Seizure

Wayne Lewis knew several years ago that his hair salon would eventually be sacrificed to the widening of La Veta Avenue and Main Street, but he was still not ready Tuesday when the City Council approved the seizure of his business.

“It’s almost like a thief in the night,” said Lewis, who owns Alley Cuts Creative Hair & Nail Design. The stylist said he had recently spent thousands of dollars remodeling his salon, where he trims the locks of doctors, lawyers and other professionals from nearby offices.

Lewis and five other business owners are the first of about 100 who will be displaced by a $20-million project to widen La Veta, Main and Chapman Avenue, said Gary Johnson, acting public works director. The project was proposed in 1989.

If, as anticipated, Orange County Superior Court grants the city immediate possession of these six condemned properties, the stores will have to relocate around the first of the year, City Atty. Robert Franks said. All of the businesses lease space in a complex owned by the Daum family of Orange.

Arguing against the seizure of his business, Sandwich Saloon co-owner Dana Daum said the city could not adequately compensate for the loss of his location.

“It’s devastating,” he said. “What is really harmful to us, as a small business, is there is really nowhere to go.”

The city has hired a specialist to help the businesses find new homes and offered the Daums $1.2 million in compensation, Franks said.

David Daum spoke briefly for his family at Tuesday’s public hearing. “We only ask that you consider our rights as property owners,” Daum said, adding after the hearing that the family has hired an attorney to negotiate with the city over its offer.

Johnson said the fate of the six stores was decided in 1989 when the city adopted its General Plan.