Owner Sues to Spur Action on Property
A property owner has filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court to try to force the city’s Redevelopment Agency to either buy his commercially zoned property or let him develop the vacant land.
In the suit filed last week, Jose Gil DeMoura, who owns two lots on Manchester Boulevard, said the Redevelopment Agency has rejected his specific proposals for a commercial building, mini-mart or automobile retail center.
The suit alleges that agency officials also have delayed for seven years their written intention to acquire the property through eminent domain, an action in which municipalities can acquire property for the greater public good as long as the affected landowner is adequately compensated.
“It appears they wanted him to keep the property unimproved so they would not have to buy it improved,” said Santa Ana attorney Richard L. Riemer, who is representing DeMoura. “We can’t sell it and we can’t improve it.”
DeMoura is asking the court to force the agency to begin eminent domain procedures within 90 days of a hearing or take the property out of the redevelopment area. City officials have targeted the redevelopment area for automobile retail and auto-related businesses.
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