Valley Redevelopment Plan Faces Crucial Vote

A proposal to create the city’s largest redevelopment area in the northeast San Fernando Valley faces a major test this week when an election is held for 18 seats on a citizens advisory committee to oversee the project.

The election for the Project Area Committee will help decide the fate of the proposal to spend $490 million over the next four decades to redevelop 6,835 acres.

Candidates supporting the redevelopment program, including current committee Chairwoman Caron Caines, are competing against contenders who want the project killed, including Vice Chairman Jim Leahy.

“This election will make a difference,” said Leahy, who recently asked City Councilman Alex Padilla to pull the plug on the project. Padilla, whose district includes the proposed project area, agreed to attend a community meeting to hear from the public on the proposal, he said.

In the meantime, the councilman is supporting some candidates who favor redevelopment of the area, said David Gershwin, a spokesman.

The panel will play a key role in recommending to the Community Redevelopment Agency board and the City Council early next year whether to approve the redevelopment project.

“You need to have a Project Area Committee to help decide whether to move the project forward,” said Lillian Burkenheim, a CRA administrator. “This [election] is significant.”

Few people ran in the last election, and some who won later quit, leaving 12 seats empty. Because a quorum to conduct business is 12, the panel has been unable to legally function for the last few months.

Only about 40 people voted in the 1997 election that first created the 23-member Project Area Committee, officials said. So far, only 60 people have signed up to vote in Friday’s election at the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center in Pacoima, although voters can sign up until 7:30 p.m. on Friday.