San Gabriel Valley : State to Sell Houses Not in Freeway Path

The California Department of Transportation will sell 54 state-owned houses on land no longer needed to build the Long Beach Freeway extension, Caltrans Spokesman Jim Drago said Tuesday.

The 43 homes in South Pasadena and 11 in Pasadena--including everything from a $600,000 historic craftsman mansion to a duplex--will be offered first to their renting occupants, Drago said.

The homes, which were once slated to be razed by Caltrans, were deemed to be surplus nine years ago when changes in the freeway route took them out of the roadway’s path.

U.S. District Judge David Kenyon, who oversees litigation involving the 6.2-mile freeway extension, indirectly gave the go-ahead for the sale last week when he ruled that Caltrans did not need his approval for such a move.

Caltrans attorney Robert Vidor said the agency had requested the judge’s approval “out of an abundance of caution.”

Caltrans Director James van Loben Sels called for the sale after a Times report in April revealed that 110 of the more than 600 state-owned homes in the area were surplus and were not up for sale, in spite of a law requiring Caltrans to put surplus properties on the block.

Under that law, Caltrans must now sell the homes at affordable prices to former owners who are renters, low- to moderate-income people who have rented for two years and anyone who has leased a house for five years.

Antonio Rossmann, South Pasadena’s legal counsel, said the sale was an attempt to divert attention from more than 150 homes along the freeway route that have fallen into disrepair.