A Big Turnover for Bakery

Santa Ana city officials have paid $700,000 to a couple who charged they were tricked into selling their bakery at a loss to accommodate the city’s Bristol Street widening project.

Jorge and Maria Merino, who owned the popular South Coast Bakery for 14 years, agreed to the settlement, which was approved by a Superior Court judge Tuesday, the same day that a lawsuit filed by the couple against the city was to go to trial.

The Merinos, both 60 and immigrants from Argentina, were paid $790,000 by Santa Ana in 1998 and have now collected almost $1.5 million from the city.

Evicted from their business in July 1998, the Merinos have tried unsuccessfully to find jobs ever since. They had planned to retire in a few years and leave the bakery to their sons. Instead, the Merinos feared they would lose their Anaheim Hills home as their savings began to dwindle.

On Tuesday, Jorge Merino said he was satisfied with the settlement. The terms of the agreement also enable the family to collect additional funds, because the city agreed to indemnify them from additional future claims.

“We’re happy because this money will help us settle into retirement,” he said. “We still have some of the money they gave us earlier. We thought of buying another bakery, but we really can’t afford to start another business.”

When the city informed the Merinos that their property would be acquired through eminent domain laws for the Bristol Street widening, the couple hired an appraiser who valued their lot at $978,000.

However, the family agreed to accept the city’s $790,000 offer when officials promised to help them develop an adjoining property into a mall, with a new family bakery as the anchor store, Jorge Merino said. He spent $140,000 for an architect, soil engineer and other experts in preparation. .

But the Merinos said the city reneged on all its promises and evicted them. Two years later, the property remains vacant and the street project is on hold.

Officials at the city attorney’s office could not be reached for comment.

The Bristol Street widening project has been controversial since it started in 1993. In September 1999, the city agreed to pay $1.4 million for about 40 parking spaces at a shopping center at West McFadden Avenue and Bristol Street.

City Councilman Ted R. Moreno blasted the purchase, arguing that the city “paid $1.4 million for parking spaces that were never used.”