Redevelopment Agency Gone As Of Today

As of today, Walnut Creek does not have a redevelopment agency.

The change doesn't affect Walnut Creek as much as it does other cities, but the agency has helped build parking garages and low-income housing in the past.

Without the agency, future housing projects and home loan programs could be eliminated.

The state budget agreement signed Thursday dissolves city and county redevelopment agencies throughout California as of July 1.

The $1.7 billion those agencies used to collect now goes to the state.

The League of California Cities and other organizations are suing to block the dissolution. They say, among other things, that the action violates Proposition 22, a ballot measure approved last fall that prohibits the state from taking away local funds for its own use.

One option for cities is to pay the state a healthy portion of their redevelopment funds to keep their redevelopment agencies. For Walnut Creek, that would amount to $1.3 million this fiscal year and $320,000 in the years following.

City Manager Ken Nordhoff calls the option "extortion payments." It is one of several redevelopment-related items the City Council will discuss at its July 19 meeting.

"We'll decide whether we want to continue and pay the ransom," he said.

Walnut Creek has had a redevelopment agency since 1971, when it was formed to help with projects in the South Broadway portion of town. The region was expanded in 1974 to include the Mount Diablo Boulevard corridor.

Those regions are set to expire as redevelopment areas in 2016.

Over the years, the agency helped fund the retrofitting of the Broadway parking garage as well as the construction of the South Locust Street garage.

The agency also oversaw the widening and upgrading of Mount Diablo Boulevard.

It also helped fund Habitat for Humanity homes and housing on North Main Street and Third Avenue as well as in the Almond/Shuey neighborhood.

Nordhoff said 75 units planned for Riviera Avenue would be shelved if the state plan is upheld.

Some home-rehabilitation loans as well as first-time home buyers programs also would be halted.

"There's no question if we lose $1.3 million in these funds, that there will be some effects," said Nordhoff.

City Councilwoman Kristina Lawson said Walnut Creek will not be impacted as much as other cities such as Pittsburg, Richmond and even Concord that use redevelopment money more extensively.

"The impact here is much more limited," said Lawson, who is also a land-use attorney and a former member of the city's Planning Commission.

She predicted that the redevelopment process would return in some form once the state resolves its financial crisis.

"I think we'll have some tools for economic development again," she said, adding that redevelopment is an important asset for municipalities.

"Over time, the agencies provide the largest reinvestment of real dollars into communities."