Old Town Newhall Gazette, Summer 2008


		THE GAZETTE. Summer 2008 • Year 14, Number 2. Redevelopment Bucks Are In The Bank. Now What? — EDITORIAL — By LEON WORDEN Editor and Publisher. The biggest news in Old Town Newhall isn't anything you can really see, unless you've got your nose in the city's books. In early June, the redevelopment agency (read: the city) sold its redevelopment bonds to Wells Fargo Brokerage Services LLC. The sale netted the agency $27.85 million for general redevelopment, and $8.15 million for housing. (Twenty percent of all redevelopment agency funds must be spent either to improve existing or to build new affordable housing.) The cash arrived June 12, and it was a long time coming. For the first time since the redevelopment agency was established more than a decade ago, it has its own funds to make changes in Old Town Newhall. Up to now, all the improvements you've seen — from the subsidized storefronts to the realigned streets — have been accomplished with money the agency has borrowed from the city's general fund, with a few county, state and federal funds thrown in for specific projects such as the Newhall Metrolink Station and certain neighborhood upgrades. Why did it take so long to bond? Because the agency had to demonstrate a track record of growth before an investment house such as Wells Fargo would take a gamble on it. Redevelopment agencies collect "tax increment" funds, which might be easier to understand than it is to write, but I'll put it this way: As property taxes throughout a redevelopment zone rise above a specified baseline — Newhall's baseline was set in the mid-1990s — forty percent of the increase in property taxes can be used for redevelopment. That increase is the "increment," and it has been rising steadily. That's what the agency is bonding against, and what Wells Fargo is banking on: the belief that property values in Newhall, and therefore the total property tax revenues, will continue to climb. Now the fun begins. Twenty-eight million, plus eight million for housing, isn't nearly enough to do everything that's called for in the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan. That's the document that charts all the changes that are destined for our Old Town. Going in, it was understood that it wouldn't be enough to do it all. It's a $35 million redevelopment agency with — who knows? Maybe $50 million to $100 million in planned improvements. You do the math. Just as they did with the Metrolink Station and the curbs and gutters in Newhall's neighborhoods, the folks at City Hall are going to have to use their expertise to augment those redevelopment dollars with county, state or federal funds, as appropriate, on a projectby- project basis. They aren't going to blow through the redevelopment money if they don't have to — i.e., if they can find other ways to pay for things. Before the redevelopment money was even in the bank, various forces were already lining up to fight over the scraps. That's because three "immediate" projects are on the books that the $28 million won't fully cover: an anchor library, two parking structures and new streetscape along Main Street (see Page 1). Everybody's got his own idea of what should happen first. In one sense, that's a good thing. It shows that everybody cares, from the merchants to the residents to our city officials. That is perhaps the greatest change we've seen in the last, oh, twenty years. Most of the merchants want to see the streetscape completed first — all of it, from one end of Main Street to the other. "Piecemeal construction, that is, doing one block at a time when funds are available, prolongs the negative environment of construction," said the Old Town Newhall Association's board of directors — primarily downtown merchants and property owners. In a split decision at its June meeting, the Newhall Redevelopment Committee, an advisory body to the City Council-Redevelopment Agency, concurred. Look at the city's budget numbers for the coming fiscal year and you might get the idea the merchants prevailed. The city is planning to spend $2.2 million on storm drains and streetscape; only $200,000 toward the library; and nothing for parking structures. In truth, though, that's only one block of streetscape, between 6th and Market, from the Canyon Theatre Guild on the south to El Trocadero Restaurant on the north. The $200,000 for the library isn't for construction; it's to do some demo work on property the city has been purchasing for the eventual library, plus $300,000 that was pending at this writing for architectural plans. The actual library construction funds will probably come in the following year's budget, with the rest of the streetscape spread out over three or four years. Why is it happening this way? For several reasons. If you want details, come to the next Redevelopment Committee meeting on July 7 at 7 p.m. in the Century Room at City Hall. In the meantime I'll throw out a few thoughts. Newhall needs a new library for all of the reasons spelled out in the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan and more. The existing, quaint little Newhall Library was built in the 1950s for a community of a few thousand people. It can't handle the growth. It's bursting at the seams. True, people who use the Internet might not be borrowing books from libraries like they once did. But new libraries ain't what they used to be, either. They are places with homework help and other programs for kids. (The Boys & Girls Club and the Community Center can't accommodate all the need.) They are places where people can go online. (Compared to the rest of the city, Newhall has the fewest at-home Internet hookups.) They are places that can stock books to augment the elementary school curriculum. (Newhall School District Superintendent Marc Winger says his schools aren't getting enough state funds for enough books.) They are places that can offer computer training to seniors. (The Senior Center and senior housing are right down the street, with more on the way.) They are places that can showcase local art. (Newhall lacks a permanent art gallery.) The list goes on. The City Council and senior city employees are committed to building a new library for all the right reasons, and they note that the merchants of Old Town have much to gain from an impressive landmark facility that will bring potential shoppers and diners downtown. Why not forgo the library and use the redevelopment funds to do the entire streetscape all at once? The biggest reason, in the city's view as I understand it, is the manner in which Newhall is going to change. Entire blocks of current one- and two-story buildings are going to be demolished to make way for three- and four-story buildings with upstairs apartments and condos over ground-floor retail shops. It wouldn't make much sense (and nobody could afford) to put in the streetscape in front of the current buildings, then have to rip out the streetscape when you rip out the block, and put it in a second time. Rather, you put in the streetscape when the block is done, or as it's being completed. That's why the city is starting on the block between 6th and Market. It's basically done. The Trocadero building isn't going to be demolished anytime soon; the city-redevelopment agency spent $69,000 to make it look the way it does. Same with the Canyon Theatre Guild; the city-redevelopment agency put $400,000 into it. The other big factor is financing. Just as the city was able to use federal Community Development Block Grant funding for curbs and gutters in Newhall's neighborhoods, it will probably be able to apply for similar moneys for curbs and gutters (read: streetscape) along Main Street. The money doesn't come all at once, and it doesn't come retroactively; if the city spends redevelopment money on streetscape now, the feds won't reimburse it. What of the two parking structures? They'll go in as two blocks are demolished and rebuilt. The city will have to put millions of dollars into them — but whose money? Possibly some of redevelopment's housing money, since they're connected to affordable housing. Possibly some regular redevelopment money, if any is left. Possibly some other moneys. Too early to know. It would be nice to see Los Angeles County put some money into the new Newhall library since, after all, it is part of the County Library system, but sources indicate hell would have to freeze over first. Remember: The county didn't pay to build the Jo Anne Darcy County Library in Canyon Country. The city did. What does your humble editor think should happen? All of it. The library, the streetscape, the parking structures, and everything else in the Specific Plan. The $28 million isn't nearly enough, and if past experience is an indication of future results, then the city can and will pursue additional funding sources to stretch the redevelopment money. It won't happen all at once — and all of it won't happen, if the money wizards at City Hall have their hands tied. What should happen first? As far as I'm concerned, you do what you can, when you can do it. The city has an excellent track record of conservative fiscal management. While other cities are going broke in these difficult times of a deflated real estate market and insane gasoline prices, ours isn't. If outside money is available for the library, the city will go after it. If outside money is available for parking structures or streetscape, the city will go after it. I know the merchants don't want to see a permanent construction zone in Old Town Newhall. The truth is, with or without streetscape, it will be a construction zone for several years to come as the Specific Plan is implemented and the buildings are redeveloped block-by-block. NORTH NEWHALL. Gazette readers will remember talk of North Newhall, a plan for housing and commercial development north of Old Town, on and around the "Cowboy Festival parking lot." The plan calls for the removal of the existing at-grade railroad crossing at 13th street. It would be replaced with an at-grade crossing at Lyons Avenue, which is to be extended to Dockweiler. Several agencies must sign off on the plan, including the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates railroad crossings. Before launching the official approval process, the city asked the PUC for an opinion. The PUC generally frowns on new atgrade crossings because they're more dangerous to vehicles and pedestrians (not to mention trains) than are bridges over, or tunnels under, train tracks. Thus the PUC's response to the city was about what one would expect: It likes the idea of eliminating the at-grade crossing at 13th street but opposes a new at-grade crossing at Lyons. In a May 22 letter, the PUC said it "strongly recommends that the city grade-separate Lyons Avenue over Metro's tracks" (meaning a bridge or tunnel), and said the city should "examine whether a grade separation of Lyons Avenue is practicable." The city will go through the motions as part of the environmental impact report for North Newhall, but you don't have to be an engineer to understand the "practicality" of bridging over or tunneling under the tracks at Lyons. Either way, you'd have to start back at Newhall Avenue, and in the process you'd wipe out the north end of Old Town, not to mention the new library site that the city just purchased. The city's environmental documents will recommend an at-grade crossing at Lyons, followed by several months of debate at Planning Commission and City Council meetings, followed by a few years of litigation when opponents sue over the "danger" posed by a new at-grade crossing. Can you say Gate-King? ©2008, Old Town Newhall USA. 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