Former San Diego Councilman's Views on Imperial Beach, California Redevelopment Agencies

Cities large and small in California scramble with the loss or possible reorganization of redevelopment agencies (RDA) with the signing of the state budget. In slicing California's more than 400 redevelopment agencies, Governor Jerry Brown predicts $1.7 billion in annual savings.

Mayor Jim Janney said the City Council has yet to fully discuss the ramifications of the state budget and the role of the City of Imperial Beach Redevelopment Agency, but expects it to be on City Council's agenda in the very near future.

Former San Diego City Councilman and president of Citizens for Private Property Rights Fred Schnaubelt is a staunch supporter of Brown's decision to eliminate RDAs.

Participating in several debates and author of several articles concerning redevelopment, he is considered an expert in the region on why RDAs are detrimental and ineffective in California. In February he participated and National City Mayor Ron Morrison.

In this interview Schnaubelt shares his perspective on RDAs, redevelopment projects he calls ineffective, the perplexed definition of blight and the continuous struggle between government and free market expansion.

With the governor's new budget and the change of redevelopment agencies, how does a small city, like Imperial Beach, that relies so much on redevelopment funds continue to develop new and existing projects funded under the agency?

"Regarding Imperial Beach: I don’t live there so it’s difficult to be specific," Schnaubelt said.

"However, a few years ago I brokered the build-to-suit for North Island Credit Union moving from 731 Palm to 1131 Palm. The move was precipitated because the city voted in 2005 to condemn the old site for a redevelopment project, near the Palm split to Coronado. I drove by there several months ago and no new construction had begun on the old vacated site."

Redevelopment agencies were allowed to start projects in areas considered blighted. You think zoning code can be responsible for blight?

"The city changed the zoning to allow a mixed use with condos above commercial in anticipation of a more beautiful project with increased tax revenues. North Island Credit Union would have rebuilt on their old site with new zoning and no subsidies but did not want to fight the city. It would be interesting to see what are the taxes generated to date."

"Blight is in the eye of the beholder and I question if vacant lots are more attractive then older developed ones that are viable without subsidies."

"Most of the time redevelopment, in my experience, has entailed rezoning for higher densities with municipalities taking credit for the new development when it fact it is due mostly to rezoning to meet changing consumer demand."

"The cities, of course, give away millions in infrastructure costs which are hard for developers to turn down. Zoning quite often is responsible not only for blight but deterioration to slums. Houston Texas, the fifth largest city in the nation (more people choose to live there than in San Diego) has no zoning. It has been rejected three times by the voters, principally by low and middle income. Upper income households are the main instigators of rigid zoning and for “saving the cost for the poor” by making it more expensive."

Imperial Beach

"How did Imperial Beach grow from its beginning without humongous subsidies? The rules were simpler, the zoning allowed far more uses in every category. I have a copy of San Diego’s 1960 Planning and Zoning manual with about 35 pages. I think today there “may” be over 450 pages.

"The city of Imperial Beach should put all the land its redevelopment agency owns up for auction to the highest bidder, like Houston, with no zoning requirements, only health and safety, fire code, street setbacks etc. Let the free market determine what is to be built, not a handful of politicians and bureaucrats who have never built anything in their lives (in land development)."

"They are just someone’s neighbor who happens to work for the government of Imperial Beach and have no particular wisdom or omniscience simply because they go to work in a government building with no responsibility for any mistakes they make."

"You might follow the trajectory of Greece which has the potential for bringing down the European Union, its banks and possibly another disaster for America’s financial system because non-responsible government types want to determine the direction of the Greek economy and all that goes with it."

Cities versus Private Developers

"Cities are rarely better than private developers at determining what consumers want and most often much worse. This doesn’t mean private developers never make mistakes, but with their own money on the line they make fewer mistakes and the mistakes are much smaller."

"The City of San Diego touts its Horton Plaza [a redevelopment agency project], but never mentions the failures of the Dells Project, Brown Field Business Park, or the failure of Campus Point near Torrey Pines Golf Course that took maybe 20 years to break even."

Horton Plaza Fountain in Disrepair

"In 1970, the water pumps not working, light bulbs burned out, covered with pigeon poop, an embarrassment to the City. The city council voted to restore it, and while at it, plant new sod, replace the tall palm trees with ones more to human scale, and close the smelly public restrooms beneath it. [They] also, put in new benches with arm rests in the middle to keep the alkies from sleeping on them."

"The city then decided to close the Plaza & Cabrillo theaters across the street and buyout Bradley’s Bar & Grill and build a new shopping center. To make it economically feasible it was determined they needed a new convention center on Broadway & Columbia so conventioneers would have a place to shop."

"Still not feasible, so let’s build a trolley from Tijuana, the Tijuana Trolley as I named it, to bring shoppers from Mexico given a report that over 25 percent of shoppers at the new Fashion Valley Center were from Mexico. So this is the evolutionary process of how it came together."

"How many know that the $46 million private Santa Fe Towers was killed so as not to compete with Horton Plaza Redevelopment? Or, maybe just delayed 30 years! How many know that University Towne Centre, 11 miles away, was reduced by 2/3 so as not to compete with Horton Plaza? How many know that Carmel Mountain Ranch Regional Shopping center was killed so as not to compete with Horton Plaza? It went to Escondido’s North County Fair instead. How many know Horton Plaza was the death knell for College Grove Center?"

"Government programs have a way of growing and taking on a life of their own."

National City

"National City seems to have a lot of vacant lots in its Redevelopment Area downtown and I believe (but have to confirm) both of its high-rise towers near 8th and National Boulevard were colossal failures until recently sold at tremendous discount. The Miles of Cars may never return but that doesn’t stop the city from dreaming and preventing alternative developments with the changing times. When it becomes a slum area, a future City Council may relent."