Padilla to Seek Delay on CRA Project

In an unexpected shift, City Councilman Alex Padilla said Tuesday he will seek a two-year delay on a massive redevelopment project planned for the northeast San Fernando Valley, questioning the city redevelopment agency’s competence for the job.

Padilla said he will introduce a motion at today’s meeting of the council’s Housing and Community Redevelopment Committee requesting a moratorium on all further Community Redevelopment Agency activity in his 7th District, which includes Pacoima, Sylmar, Sun Valley and Arleta.

“This is a project with an agency that is not ready to move forward,” said Padilla, who until now has supported massive city redevelopment in his district. “Until I have confidence that [the CRA] has the ability and we see they can do this job, I will not allow them in my district.”

Don Spivack, deputy administrator of the CRA, said the agency is fully capable of carrying out the project successfully, but added that the agency could support a limited moratorium that permits the planning process to continue.

“I don’t think there is a question that we need to take as much time as we need so that residents and Councilman Padilla are comfortable with the project,” he said. “I don’t think he’s uncomfortable with the CRA itself, just the project.”

Negotiations on the proposed 6,835-acre project have been tumultuous of late, climaxing with a fistfight during a citizens advisory panel meeting three weeks ago.

Padilla said he changed his stance on the project because he had grown dissatisfied with the way the redevelopment agency responded to questions.

Padilla has been accused of trying to limit input from some area residents who claim he sought to seize control of the elected Project Area Committee.

Advocates say the project, which is twice the size of the city’s largest current redevelopment project, would bring much needed improvements to the infrastructure of communities that have been underserved for years.

Opponents say the proposal would control too much land and push out local merchants and residents, while wasting tax dollars.

Padilla said the project had become mired in politics, and a postponement would give him the chance to work with a new mayor, possibly new leadership at the CRA and a clearer picture of how the Valley secession issue will play out.

“The original redevelopment plan was well-intentioned, but it wasn’t planned very well,” Padilla said of the plan, initially proposed in 1998, when Padilla’s office was held by Richard Alarcon, now a state senator.

“I still believe in the concept of redevelopment,” Padilla said. “I just don’t believe in the agency handling it. Technically speaking, I could just sit on this for two years and let it drag on with the CRA. But this is important enough to hold off for two years officially, and use our other resources. We still have empowerment zones and enterprise zones we can use to create jobs and revitalize the community.”

Ken Larson, president of the Sylmar Chamber of Commerce and a project supporter, said piecemeal upgrading without the guiding vision of a large-scale project would lead to insignificant pockets of redevelopment.

“Any new building would look like a shiny dime in a handful of dirty pennies,” Larson said.

Two of three committee members must approve Padilla’s motion for it to reach the full City Council, which could approve or reject the moratorium. Councilman Nate Holden, who sits on the committee, said he thought Padilla wrong to attempt to shut out the CRA but said he would still vote in favor of the motion.

“It’s his district,” Holden said. “Why should I stop him?”