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City looking to bond $9 million in public improvement projects(San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 25--MONTEBELLO -- At a time when cities are cutting back and halting developments, the city's Redevelopment Agency may fund $9 million in public improvement projects, officials said. The City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on issuing a tax allocation bond to finance projects in the Montebello Hills Redevelopment Project Area. The area is in the northern part of the city, past Lincoln Avenue, and includes the Montebello Town Center. "I don't know if this is the ideal time but on the other hand the city has the ability to issue these bonds," City Manager Richard Torres said. "These are projects that need to get done and this is one means of getting the projects underway." The projects include $3 million for rebuilding the Taylor Ranch House, which was demolished in December. An additional $5 million to complete improvements along Whittier Boulevard, $750,000 for police radios and $250,000 for a Geographic Information System. The money would come from the selling of bonds based on funds coming out of the project area, Torres said. The bonds will be sold to the Montebello Public Financing Authority which in turn sells them to the Wulff Hansen & Co., an underwriter. Essentially the bonds are a loan of money to the Redevelopment Agency and are repaid from tax increment revenue generated within the Montebello Hills area, officials said. With a strong cash flow in the project area due to oil production and sales at the Montebello Town Center, the city should have no problem selling the tax-exempt bonds, Torres said. "There is a tax-exempt market right now and we have projects that need to get done," Councilman Robert Urteaga said. "The redevelopment agency money will be here in a good economy or a bad economy." But Councilman Bill Molinari has a different outlook. While he said the projects are important, the city should focus its efforts on developments that produce sales-tax revenue. "The money is being allocated for projects that generate no revenue for the city," Molinari said. "There is no sense of urgency like every other entity in the country addressing these economic issues. "Everyone seems to get it except for our folks here in the city." The bonds are typically used to fund new businesses but with the current state of the economy there isn't much of a market for commercial developments, Torres said. The proposed projects come on the cusp of a proposed development in the Montebello Hills. Cook Hill Properties LLC submitted the Montebello Hills Specific Plan December 2007 to build 1,200 residential homes, a series of trails and a public park on nearly 480 acres of open space. Cook Hill is a development consultant for Plains Exploration & Production Co., which owns the property. Members of the Save the Montebello Task Force are critical of the tax allocation bonds. They believe some of the bond money will be used to fund the hills project. But the city says that's not the case. "It has nothing to do with that," Torres said. "None of this money is going into the PXP project area; it's not related whatsoever." The council will decide on the bonds at a special meeting 5:30p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 1600 Beverly Blvd. [email protected] (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2108 To see more of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sgvtribune.com. Copyright (c) 2009, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |