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$17.2M in Springs projects

As of midnight Feb. 1, the Springs Redevelopment Area was dissolved as part of a state Supreme Court decision that eliminated the 400-plus redevelopment agencies statewide.

In the nearly 30 years the Springs Redevelopment Area existed, the county completed 44 projects at a cost of more than $17.2 million, with all but one project finished since 1990. The one unfinished project is Phase II of the Highway 12 sidewalks and streetlights project that runs from Boyes Boulevard north to Agua Caliente Road. The redevelopment area was one of three areas of the county that was under the umbrella of the Sonoma County Redevelopment Agency.

First District Supervisor Valerie Brown said redevelopment allowed the Springs to use public money to clean up blight. “The county could have ponied up for the projects,” Brown said. But now the redevelopment money is going back into the county’s general fund where there’s more competition for funding.

Steve Cox served on the Springs Redevelopment Advisory Committee since it was formed in 2003 and was the chair when it too was dissolved last week.

Cox said that redevelopment was the one way the Springs could assert a voice and control its destiny.

“Redevelopment rallied the community around a vision,” he said. “Fortunately, that vision is still strong and will help carry the community forward, post-redevelopment.”

“The choice of where to spend redevelopment dollars was directly influenced by the Springs community. Not only won’t we have the money to spend on improvements, we will have less control on where that money is spent,” he said.

The various projects ranged from the $261 that was spent for a Springs cleaning in 2006, to the more than $9.3 million spent to date on the Highway 12 project.

Redevelopment aided in numerous affordable housing projects, including the Oak Ridge Apartments on Beatrice Drive ($1.1 million), Bonfili Affordable Housing ($621,250), Springs Village ($500,000), Villa Hermosa ($338,265) and Casablanca Apartment rehabilitation ($75,000).

The new Sheriff’s substation on Grove Street received redevelopment money ($457,295), as did the Valley of the Moon Teen Center ($235,000) and La Luz ($245,000).

Redevelopment money paid for the traffic light and safety lighting ($250,000) and built the Thomson Avenue Park and Ride in 1992 at a cost of $219,664.

Cox said he doesn’t think some of the projects would have been accomplished if not for redevelopment. “There are so many demands for county money and big county-wide projects and the political influence of the bigger cities like Santa Rosa and Petaluma would dwarf the influence of the Springs,” he said.

Cox said he’s proud the RAC helped with the Valley of the Moon Teen Center, the Ross-Drulis Architect building and all of the businesses that were spruced up by the façade improvement and commercial rehabilitation programs.

John Haig, the county’s redevelopment manager, said the $8 million to $9 million cash on hand in the Springs Redevelopment Area’s non-housing fund was folded into the cash from the county’s other two redevelopment areas, Roseland and the Russian River, and will be controlled by the Board of Supervisors which became the successor agency to the redevelopment agency.

Haig said the Springs’ $3.1 million in affordable housing funds have been melded with housing funds from Roseland and Russian River and will be assigned to the Sonoma County Housing Authority as the successor agency.

But both successor agencies are to eventually distribute the money to the respective taxing agencies.

“The Thomson Avenue parking lot will also be transferred to the successor agency for disposition,” Haig said.

Among the other assets that have been transferred to the successor agency are the Guerneville public restroom, the Highway 12 improvements with an unexpended balance of more than $10.75 million and the Roseland Shopping Plaza in Santa Rosa.