Caltrans Opts Not to Restore Homes in Freeway Path

The California Department of Transportation has abandoned plans to restore all the historic homes along the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension, and instead wants to shutter 44 structures because it has run out of money.

The agency has spent $20 million during the last two years to restore 37 of the 81 historic homes along the route. Some of the homes are 100 years old, and their styles range from Victorian and Craftsman to Spanish Revival.

But now Caltrans says the kitty is empty and it must board up the rest of the houses.

Caltrans officials say it comes down to saving money and is the best way to protect the homes while complying with federal historic preservation guidelines. Instead of paying up to $500,000 to rehabilitate each structure, the agency will end up spending between $100,000 and $200,000 to fix up the exteriors and then seal them off from intruders, figures show.

That will mean, however, that tenants in the remaining homes will have to find other housing, a Caltrans spokeswoman said.

The plan is drawing fire from preservationists, cries of dismay from renters and a warning from a local legislator.

“It is utterly unacceptable to board up these homes and evict the tenants,” said state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena), who called for an audit of Caltrans expenditures.

Ben Neil, a building contractor who rents one of the Caltrans houses for $2,000 a month, agreed.

“It would be foolish not to finish up the work,” said Neil, who faces eviction from the 1916 vintage home he has rented for 27 years on St. John Avenue in Pasadena.

The fate of Neil’s home and the 43 others now rests with the California Transportation Commission, which recently balked at Caltrans’ request for another $22 million to complete the rehabilitation project.

Executive Director Robert Remen said the commission is prepared to award only $5.8 million--just enough to bring the remaining homes up to the federal requirements for historic preservation but not enough to prepare them for occupancy. The commission will discuss the Caltrans request at its July 19 meeting but will not make a final decision until August, he said.

Remen suggested that Caltrans try to get money from officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But MTA officials said they don’t have any extra funds.

Without the money, Caltrans officials say, they may be forced to board up all the homes, even the ones they have already renovated, because they won’t have the funds for ongoing maintenance.

Critics say that if that happens, they will go to court.

“If they mothball these homes, we’ll be in court in a minute,” said Tony Rossmann, legal counsel for the city of South Pasadena. “We won’t let them escape their commitment. The state was a slumlord for years and destroyed these neighborhoods by neglect.”

And David Arnay, a spokesman for the Historic Property Tenants’ Assn., told the Pasadena City Council on Monday night: “Any closed-down property left to stand fallow is a breeding ground for vermin, moisture, mildew, termites and a host of other housing plagues.”

The homes in question are among more than 585 structures acquired by Caltrans since the 1950s along the proposed freeway route through Pasadena, South Pasadena and El Sereno.

Protracted legal and political battles have stalled construction of the controversial freeway extension. The $1.4-billion project is not expected to begin for another decade--if it survives legal and legislative challenges.

Meanwhile, scores of the state-owned homes along the path have become vacant and decayed, blighting once well-kept neighborhoods.

Most of the structures are houses and apartments built since the 1930s and are not considered historic. But after a 1995 Times story on the fate of the houses in the freeway corridor, a public outcry prompted Caltrans to set aside $20 million to repair 81 historically significant houses.

In April 1998, the Federal Highway Administration weighed in by approving the freeway project with the condition that the historic homes be brought up to code and rented out.

And last year, in response to a court challenge by environmental groups and some city officials, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson issued a preliminary injunction against the roadway that directed Caltrans “to maintain all state-owned properties acquired for the 710 Freeway project in a state of good repair.”

Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli said the new plan to shutter the 44 homes meets that test.

But Rossmann, South Pasadena’s attorney, said he believes Caltrans’ proposed shuttering of the landmark homes violates the spirit of that court order and he may ask Pregerson to intervene.

“Maintaining the houses in good repair means making them habitable. The judge said that clearly in court,” Rossmann said. “Caltrans is taking a neutron bomb-like stance on this issue: Get rid of the people to preserve the buildings.”

Rossmann said the new strategy is a reversal from 1998, when Caltrans Director James W. van Loben Sels wrote a state senator that the $20 million was sufficient for all renovations and none of the historic homes would be “closed.”

Caltrans officials, however, now say they underestimated the cost of repairs, which have run as high as $800,000 for one structure. They blame the overruns on the fact that many of the houses needed new foundations, lead paint removal and new floorboards.

Some critics are challenging Caltrans’ assertion.

“I suspect some of this money was used for other things. We’d love to see the invoices,” said Chris Sutton, an attorney for the Historic Property Tenants Assn. “The California Transportation Commission needs to conduct a full investigation before budgeting any money.”