Image via WikipediaCerritos, CA
11:00 a.m.
April 23, 2010
Note to Cecy, Ben, and Krayoss... you "can't beat City Hall. Period...duh.
The California Court of Appeal has given a controversial senior housing project here a green light.
The Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District) ruling upholds an earlier decision by the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s validation lawsuit from the City of Cerritos, Cerritos Redevelopment Agency, ABC Unified School District, and Cuesta Villas Housing Corporation’s “Affordable Housing, Financing, and Disposition and Development Agreement.”
In the action, the trial court had entered a judgment in December 2008 determining that the agreement was valid and lawful in all respects and was not required to be submitted to a vote of the electorate. The Court of Appeal agreed and affirmed the judgment in full.
“The Court’s ruling is great news for the seniors and schoolchildren in the community,” said Cerritos Mayor Joseph Cho, Ph.D. “The project will provide high-quality affordable apartments for seniors, a new senior center and park, plus a new source of revenue for the school district.”
Under the agreement, the District will lease surplus property located at 16700 Norwalk Boulevard, the current site of the District’s administrative offices, to the Cerritos Redevelopment Agency.
The Agency will then assign its rights to the ground lease to Cuesta Villas, a private, non-profit corporation, which will then construct 247 apartments with 207 units for moderate-income senior households, 15 for low-income senior households and 25 for very low-income senior households. A new 13,000-square-foot senior center and a park will also be part of the development.
To facilitate the development of the affordable senior housing project, the City of Cerritos, using Agency funds that must be used to increase the City’s supply of affordable housing, purchased two properties located at 12880 Moore Street and 12881 166th Street to accommodate a kitchen/warehouse facility and administrative offices for the District.
The current ABC Unified School District office and kitchen/warehouse operations will be relocated to the purchased buildings.
Here are the highlights from the ruling:
•The Agency’s expenditure for the acquisition and renovation of the properties on Moore and 166th Streets is clearly appropriate as it is directly and specifically connected to the provision of low- and moderate-income housing.
•The City and Agency made all the required findings when they approved the financing agreement and when they approved the acquisition of the properties – including a finding that no funds were available other than those from the Agency’s budget.
•There is no merit to the contention by the appellants that the housing project must be submitted to a vote of the electorate under article XXXIV of the California Constitution.
•There is no merit to the appellants’ claim that the Agency failed to comply with California Redevelopment Law as it pertains to either the elimination of blight or providing housing for low- or moderate-income persons.
•There are no defects in the Agency report that would render the expenditure of tax increment as funds for the Norwalk Boulevard property invalid.
•There is no merit in the appellants’ contention that the “incompatibility of office” law doctrine would be violated by the members of the City Council also sitting as the initial board of directors of Cuesta Villas.
A copy of the Court of Appeal’s published opinion regarding the Cuesta Villas affordable senior housing project is available on the City of Cerritos website at http://www.cerritos.us/.
Let the building begin.....
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