Council Rushes Prospect Redevelopment Project to Beat the State

The managed to meet for a third time this month, with a held on Monday night. And, Santee Patch was the only member of the public in attendance.

So, here's the scoop- the Council moved forward with issuing bonds for up to $30 million that will be used for , namely developing the Prospect Avenue area and projects.

The catch is, the Council is moving at an unprecedented pace with the entire process because has taken a decided stance to do away with redevelopment agencies, which funded the building of such recent Santee projects like and Trolley Square. The City is acting on legislation that is in the air in Sacramento, but yet to come to debate, that would take away the redevelopment agencies ability to enter into contractual obligations and begin new projects, according to Santee City staff.

The City is attempting to beat the passage of this legislation, which won't affect them if they are entered into a binding contract for a project, according to City Attorney Shawn Hagerty.

The City is planning to issue $30 million worth of bonds by Friday and will have projects ready for bidding by March 11.

"I am terrified of the vast pace we are moving at, but happy with the City staff work," said .

To beat the state, the City is getting creative, as a normal bond issuance and project bidding would take until July at the soonest, according to Deputy City Manager and Director of Development Services Pedro Orso-Delgado. The City is now attempting to enter into a binding contract with SANDAG, and contract with them to do the nearly $30 million worth of projects.

These were the proposed projects:

• Prospect Ave. development
• North Woodside Ave.
• Lot assembly on Mission Gorge Rd. east
• Mission Gorge west revitalization
• Woodside/Magnolia revitalization
• Cottonwood sidewalk improvement

When asked by the Council which project the City staff preferred, the staff agreed that the Prospect Avenue area development would bring the City the most "bang for the buck."

Orso-Delgado said that this project would have the huge benefit of being near to Gillespie Field and the new .

The Prospect Avenue project area would include 127 acres that fall between Mission Gorge Road, Cuyamaca Street, Gillespie Field and Magnolia Avenue.

"Most of the area could potentially be developed. Probably 20 percent of existing structure would stay, the rest would likely be leveled and started anew," said Pedro.

"The Prospect project is worth all the risk," said Voepel. "It's one of the projects I got on the Council to get done."

The risk that Voepel is referring to, is the uncertain nature of the pending Sacramento legislation. The City is acting on the best information it can, but the specifics of the legislation could potentially change at anytime, thus throwing a wrench in City plans, according to City staff.

In the end, the Council was advised that, barring a long-shot nightmare scenario, the City will be no worse off for trying to secure the redevelopment funds; if the plan doesn't work, they'd be in the same position as if they'd done nothing.

More details should become available at the March 9 .