Laserfiche WebLink
ob Adams, president of Adams <br />Iron, Inc. in Santa Ana. <br />Now Santa Ana is back with a plan that echoes the Renaissance Plan. The rationales have changed, but the <br />policies remain the same. With little outreach to business owners, City Council this year approved a <br />moratorium on the approval, expansion or modification of any industrial uses in the SD-84 Transit Zone. And <br />the city is working to permanently rezone the area. <br />I've talked to business owners in the area, who have had minor ministerial permits and business changes <br />rejected by city officials because of the moratorium. Even if the city lets them operate for the foreseeable <br />future, a permanent zone change will destroy the improved value of the land. (By the way, residents in the <br />"protected" Logan and Lacy neighborhoods fear the moratorium will drive up rental prices.) These businesses <br />invested heavily in the properties since 2007, including construction of new buildings. If they can't sell <br />for ongoing industrial uses, any sale price will be reduced to the price of raw land. According to owners I <br />interviewed, this means drops in value of 25 percent to 75 percent. And the city is making it tough for them to <br />keep operating as is. In an August letter, an attorney for Adams Iron Co. argued the city is holding up permit <br />approvals even though the ordinance "does not authorize the city to put on hold permits for existing industrial <br />