Politics & Government

City Council Continues Redevelopment Agency Under State Mandate

Lemon Grove Community Development Agency will continue—but at a price.

Members of the Lemon Grove City Council held their noses Tuesday night as they chose to operate the city’s redevelopment agency under the mandates of a bill signed into law earlier this year.

Council members, who act as the Lemon Grove Community Development Agency’s board of directors, voted 4-0 to adopt the Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program ordinance as required by Assembly Bill X1 26, the legislation that went into effect June 29 which eliminates redevelopment agencies but allow cities to continue their operation under Assembly Bill X1 27—if cities pay an annual fee.

City staff estimates that cost will be $521,000 in its first year. City Manager Graham Mitchell says the annual payment will adjust in subsequent years, starting at $123,000 in 2012-2013 and increasing by $2,000 to $3,000 each year reaching $197,000 in 2036-2037.

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Referring throughout discussion to the annual fee as “ransom” and “extortion,” council members had little choice but to approve the action. Not doing so, says City Councilmember Jerry Jones, would hamstring future councils.

“This is about making Lemon Grove a better place to live,” Jones says. “But it’s an emotional thing to have the state extort us.”

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The decision does not affect current redevelopment projects, including the Main Street Promenade.

In other action Tuesday, the City Council rejected the four bids it had received on construction of the promenade project. According to Mitchell, the lowest bid received was $200,000 over the allotted budget.

Bids on the civil aspects of construction—installing sidewalks, planting trees and the like—were right on target, says Mitchell. It’s the project’s public art elements that bidders seemed to have trouble estimating. Those items will be separated and bid out to companies that specialize in that area, and the basic project will be rebid.

Mitchell expects the delay to slow down the project 30 to 60 days.


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