SANTA ANA
A judge ruled Thursday that the Orange County Transportation Authority cannot begin an environmental review of a $23-million parcel in Santa Ana until after a hearing in January to decide if the purchase of the property was legal.
The OCTA purchased the 31-acre lot last month to be the future site of a bus maintenance yard. Santa Ana officials filed suit against OCTA, saying that a proper environmental review would have forced the county agency to consider alternative sites for the bus barn. Santa Ana officials wanted the land, saying it is the only remaining area for a large industrial development in the city’s Empowerment Zone. City officials asked for the temporary injunction against the OCTA for fear that further work on the site could unfairly alter future developments.
“When you have one party which is the applicant, reviewer, builder and occupant . . . and they’re already $23 million into the project, it’s in our interest to see that the $23 million doesn’t become a snowball rolling down a mountain with the city of Santa Ana at the bottom,” said Benjamin Kaufman, chief assistant city attorney.
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