Suit Seeks to Halt Redevelopment Plan

A group of North Hollywood residents and business owners has sued the city of Los Angeles for the second time in two years in an attempt to halt the extension of a controversial redevelopment project.

A previous suit by the group temporarily delayed the City Council from lifting the spending cap on the 75-acre redevelopment project from $89 million to $535 million and extending the Community Redevelopment Agency’s power to condemn property in the area to 2007.

That suit charged that the extension was invalid because the council violated state laws by failing to give the public an adequate chance to testify about the extension.

A judge agreed with the group, forcing the council to hold a new set of hearings on the plan. The council re-approved the extension in September.

The latest lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court charges that the agency once again used faulty procedures to adopt the plan and relied on erroneous data and unrealistic projections.

Mildred Weller, president of North Hollywood Concerned Citizens, said financial feasibility studies for the plan were out of date and that examples of blight in the area no longer existed.

Walter Beaumont, assistant project manager for the North Hollywood project, said the suit is being reviewed by the agency’s lawyers. “We will make the appropriate response,” he said.