Historic Main
Street: SWEATHEART
DEAL?
February 14, 2006, City
Council awarded to Sheldon Public
Relations an exclusive right to develope the parking lot on the west
side of Main Street.
August 3, 2006, over the howls of many, the Planning Commission
approved an enhanced Sheldon Project, 25% denser than the original
proposal.
October 24, 2006, the City Council by-passed normal protocols.
They declared all of Main Street blighted and the parking lot as
surplus City property. Then, they transfered ownership of the lot
to the Agency For Redevelopment, so it could be sold without going
through a competitive bidding process, and approved a developmental
agreement with Sheldon.
January 22, 2007, unable to
effect redress, the Garden Grove
Downtown Business Association petitioned the court for judicial
review. They want a say in the disposition for the parking lot
that they bought with their own monies through special tax
assessments. Merits of
the project aside, the approval process seems
outrageous. Complete
details are available at the Downtown Business
Association's website: http://www.savehistoricmainstreet.com/
October 20, 2007, Judge Thompson
ruled against the Downtown
Business Association. Unless the Association appeals, the case is
closed.
November,
2007, the GG Downtown Business Association elected to
appeal! IT IS NOT
OVER! See Letter to the
editor
page 3 in
the January 17,2008 issue of the GG Journal.
February 7, 2008, latest shot
fired in letter to the editor "Condo Deal Stinks" by Mike
Silva a Main Street business owner page 9 for the
February 7th edition of the Garden Grove Journal.
Another shot fired at the Main Street
Condo Project; this one
from Lennie DeCaro of San
Juan Capistrano. See "Sweatheart
Deal for Main Street Condo" plan
page 3 of the February 7th edition
of the Garden Grove Journal.
Brief Filed with the 4th District Court of Appeals! See
press release below. GARDEN GROVE
DOWNTOWN
BUSINESS ASSOCIATION FILES OPENING BRIEF The Garden Grove
Downtown Business Association (GGDBA) is filing
their opening brief against the City of Garden Grove last week in the
California Fourth District Court of Appeals. The case is expected
to be heard by three Justices later this year. The complaint
filed by the Association is to obtain relief against the City and it’s
actions to take the Historical Main Street Parking lot from the
merchants and sell it to Sheldon Public Relations for the purpose of
building a 5-story, 100 unit condominium complex.
This has been a contentious issue
between the Main Street Merchants and
the City since February 14, 2006, when the City Council granted an
exclusive negotiating agreement to Steve Sheldon without notifying or
communicating with either the business owners, the property owners or
the Parking and Main Street Commissioners (PMSC).
The legal issues of which the GGDBA
are presenting to the Court for
relief are:
- Did the City violate State law
by circumventing
the Parking and Main Street Commissioners in selling the district
parking lot to Sheldon’s PR Firm without their approval.
- Did the City abuse it’s
discretion in making the
legal determination that the parking lot was no longer needed for Main
Street patrons and businesses.
- Did the City violate it’s own
ordinance which
provides for the Parking and Main Street Commissioners to have approval
or dis-approval rights regarding any new development projects within
the Historical Downtown Main Street District.
- Did the City violate the
Government Code when it
sold public parking property directly to a private party without first
offering it up to other public agencies for other beneficial community
purposes such as for parks and/or schools, as is required by law.
- Did the City abuse their
discretion by determining
that Main Street was “blighted,” which was the designation required in
order for them to be able to take the property from the Parking
District and deliver it directly to a hand picked developer without
offering it up for bid to all other interested and potential purchases
and developers.
- Did the City violate State law
in designating that
the proceeds from the sale of the parking district lot would go
directly to the City’s coffers, and not back into the parking district
acquisition fund, as is also required by law.
The
appeal is filed by the GGDBA’s attorney Robert Ferguson. Mr.
Ferguson was retained due to his extensive knowledge and experience in
re-development law abuse as well as his prior, successful engagement in
opposition to the City in the 1970’s, when he represented then Garden
Grove Mayor Bernard Adams against the Garden Grove Redevelopment Agency
in another lawsuit very similar to this case.
Dec. 17, 2008, the 4th District
Court of Appeals hands down a
ruling favorable to the City.
The
battle to Save
Historic Main Street by the GG Downtown Business Association seems to
be lost, but the war may have been won. The current economic
climate may doom the project.
May 26, 2009, Main
Street Parking
Commission set to be abolished! On a vote of 4 to 1
the City Council
voted to initiate the process to disolve the Main Street Parking
Commission. The Commission was formed under state law before
Garden Grove was a city to purchase and administer parking facilities
in and around the Main Street shopping area. Morally the parking
lots belong to the merchants who bought them thru a special
assesment. Legally, however, they belong to the City. The
Commission recently took the City to court when a deal was struck with
a developer to turn the lot on the west side of Main street into a
condominium complex.
See: www.savehistoricmainstreet.com
for more information or contact:
Scott Weimer; GGDBA 714-534-0992
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