Eyeing Renewal for Older Neighborhoods

As part of a campaign to enhance and preserve neighborhoods citywide, the Planning Commission Friday made 50 recommendations for east Anaheim.

Planning Commission Chairman Bob Messe said most of east Anaheim is “lovely, but some areas need improvement. . . . If we are able to get all these recommendations in, it will be an improved area and a model for the rest of the city.”

A blighted area south of the Riverside Freeway and east of State College Boulevard is among those that would benefit.

The neighborhood has 156 apartment units, many needing repairs, and has inadequate trash storage facilities and businesses operating illegally from garages, including auto repairs, senior planner Jonathan Borrego said.

“The area has declined, but it’s not to the point where it can’t be reversed,” he said.

A privately funded recreation center would be built for neighborhood children, and the city would focus on the area for strict code enforcement. Utility lines would be taken underground, and Sunkist Street would be landscaped.

A beautification program adding trees and landscaped medians along State College Boulevard, a highly traveled thoroughfare, is also recommended.

In the next 10 years, every neighborhood citywide will be examined to determine where improvements are needed. Borraga said 28 community planning areas have been established, with east Anaheim first on the list.

Anaheim native Lori Gutierrez, 38, said she is delighted that the city is taking notice of the older neighborhoods.

“It’s important for those who live and work in the city and want to continue to live here,” said Gutierrez, who has lived in east Anaheim for 17 years.

The City Council will consider the East Anaheim Planning Area program at its Feb. 25 session.