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June
20, 2006
Corona Chamber
Supports Balanced Growth
The City of Corona is actively pursing redevelopment
opportunities as a means of invigorating the Downtown, as well
as rejuvenating eastern Corona and North Main Street. The
Chamber is concerned about the current climate of state
legislative reform that could substantially hinder efforts to
bring jobs, housing and economic prosperity.
It is critical that all redevelopment tools, including the power
of eminent domain, be available to the city, assisting
organizations, and developers so that urban decline and blighted
areas can be returned to productive contributors for the local
economy.
Background
The recent U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Kelo v. City of New
London, has resulted in several legislative proposals to
constrain, and in some cases eliminate, the ability of
redevelopment agencies to exercise the power of eminent domain.
It is critical that notwithstanding the plethora of materials
written subsequent to the Kelo ruling, everyone needs to be
aware there are significant distinctions between California’s
requirements and those of Connecticut. One such distinction is
there must be discovery and documentation of blight and
detrimental conditions.
Specifically in California is the requirement that findings of
blight, as defined in Health and Safety Code Section 33030 et
seq,, must be present and well documented by the redevelopment
agency. Connecticut State Law does not require this important
step.
The Legislature and people of California have long acknowledged
the need for the public sector to have a role in redevelopment.
Much attention has been focused recently on the condemnation of
private property and the perceived usurpation of private
property rights
As a concerned and involved Chamber of Commerce, we believe that
equal, and overriding consideration must be devoted to ensuring
the health, safety and general welfare of the people living in
blighted communities. Those redevelopment agencies that take
extra efforts not only to comply with legal minimum standards,
but also perform above and beyond in the interest of landowners
and tenants should not be sanctioned because of the poor
behavior of some redevelopment agencies.
Corona
Chamber Position on Redevelopment In Depth
The Corona Chamber supports responsible and quality
redevelopment of areas that are convincingly proven and
documented as blighted and suffering from environmental decay
that severely lags in economic vitality compared to the
surrounding community.
1. Health and Safety Code Section 33031, describes the
conditions in which many people live in our community are
adequate and do not require reform.
2. The citizens living in these conditions should have the
expectation of a better life in terms of the physical
environment and a more robust economic base in the community.
3. The burdens of blight upon a community should not be a
physical and economic liability for a city, with no prospect of
improvement since private enterprise acting alone cannot reverse
a City’s patterns of decay.
4. The health, safety and general welfare of an entire blighted
community should receive more consideration than the private
property rights of a small number of persons.
Conclusions
1. The Corona Chamber of Commerce believes that the ridding our
community of blight is and has been a priority for the state
given the various legislative findings and declarations
contained in the Health and Safety Code.
2. Kelo should not be used as the benchmark as to whether
eminent domain is, or could be, abused in the state of
California since the California Community
3. Problems in the redevelopment process evolve from how well
redevelopment agencies document blight conditions for the
purpose of establishing a redevelopment project area.
4. Evidence and documentation of blighted conditions is the area
in need of reform.
5. Since the existence of blight is the cornerstone for the
entire redevelopment concept, we all can agree that the
elimination of blight is in the public interest. A precise
accounting and documentation of the blight encountered must be
of the highest standard and care.
6. Those redevelopment agencies meeting the requirements of law
and properly meeting the state’s goal of eliminating blight
should not be penalized by having needed redevelopment tools
removed.
7. By making the difficult practice of redevelopment more
onerous through new state legislative requirements and
prohibitions, all that is really achieved are lost opportunities
to remove blight and replace it with economic vitality, jobs,
needed public improvements and facilities, as well as affordable
housing.
8. Redevelopment agencies should strive to exhaust all efforts
to obtain land through a negotiated sale, and should have a
robust body of evidence on the record to support such claims.
The State should employ a more rigorous posture and practice of
monitoring such performance, taking appropriate corrective
actions for instances of non-compliance, than the real problem
would be addressed rather than punishing those redevelopment
agencies that are performing properly.
June 2006
The
Future of Redevelopment Impacts on Corona Businesses
By Bobby Spiegel
President and CEO
Corona Chamber of
Commerce
In April 2006,
the Corona Chamber decided on its position regarding needed
redevelopment in Corona and how the tools the city and assisting
agencies need to get the job done need to stay in place—namely
eminent domain. The recent
United States Supreme Court ruling in the City of New London,
Connecticut has placed fuel on the flames of reform. It is
important that all residents and businesses in Corona committed
to improving the quality of life in our community become very
aware of what is going on in the courts and our state
legislature. “The future of our envisioned redevelopment can be
deeply affected if eminent domain is taken out of the formula,
confirmed Tom Kinney, Chair of the Corona Chamber’s Legislative
Action Committee.
The use of eminent domain can be complicated as well as
emotionally damaging to a community. At the same time proper use
of the power to take control of specific private property for
the “greater good” of a community can produce wonderful results.
Unfortunately the former, not the latter gets all the publicity.
“It’s a value judgment,” as one elected official recently
stated.
To a degree, that elected official is right—it is a judgment
made regarding what the value of the property is to the people
of a community seeking improvement in its quality of life.
Eminent domain boils down to a value judgment that leads to
seizure of private property for public use. Acknowledging that
it is a value judgment and that there are those that have
misused the power, it does not mean that one set of values can
be imposed to neuter eminent domain because they feel that
individual property rights trump municipally driven
redevelopment. You cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater
and over-regulate a perfectly legitimate tool that city’s have
available to remove blockades from redevelopment projects.
The California regulations are well written as they stand. They
require precise discovery and documentation of blight and
detrimental conditions. Those that follow and usually exceed
compliance codes cannot be sanctioned because of a few
unscrupulous land developers and public officials that misuse
the power. But there is a movement in many states to eliminate
most of the good that can be accomplished by prudent use of
eminent domain. Now a New York based foundation has dropped $1.5
million into a campaign led by Americans for Limited Government
to qualify and eminent domain reform initiative on the November
ballot.
The ballot measure known as “Protect Our Homes”, the initiative
would ban government from using eminent domain for the purposes
of forcing transfer of property from one private owner to
another. Any property purchased by the government without owner
consent would remain in government jurisdiction or for a public
use that government would regulate.
The Corona Chamber will continue to follow these issues as they
develop so that we can take appropriate action, if necessary,
that will protect out communities’ redevelopment needs. We are
all committed to seeing the quality of life in the Corona
business districts to improve.
Everyone should become very aware of the issues and proposed
solutions. The future redevelopment of Corona could be
drastically altered.
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