The City of Los Alamitos and the Real Estate Development Business

By Arthur "Art" DeBolt

By purchasing the old Post Office Site the City Council has taken on the role of developer/ speculator using public funds.

Over two years ago the City Council authorized the use of public funds (over $500,000) to purchase the old Post Office Site on Pine St. The reasons given were "the ability of the City to control development in the area" and the creation a "Town Square".

As I stated to the City Council at the time, "there is nothing that the City can do to either promote development or control the type of development by owning the property that they cannot do by not owning it, except, to sell it at a lower price than they paid for it".

The City Council to encourage development could:
1. Relax the zoning requirements
2. Relax the parking requirements
3. Reduce or waive permit fees
4. Reduce or waive city sales tax revenue
5. Do anything they want to do to save a developer money

The point is the City can do all of these and not own the property. The only thing that owning the property does is enable the city to sell at a lower price to save a developer some money.

The money currently tied up in this "opportunity" on Pine Street as well as the lost interest on those funds could be used to plant trees, landscape our medians or otherwise improve the city.

IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE!!