Redevelopment plan workshop set for March 6

You can learn about redevelopment activities in The Springs at an information workshop on Thursday evening, Mar. 6. The workshop is hosted by the Springs Redevelopment Advisory Commission (RAC).
Redevelopment is a state-authorized but locally controlled financing process designed to eliminate blight, promote economic development and provide affordable housing. The primary financing mechanism for redevelopment is “tax increment financing,” in which a portion of property taxes from the growth in property values in the project area is reinvested there.
The Springs redevelopment project area encompasses 323 acres of unincorporated county territory along a two-mile corridor of Highway 12, from Verano Avenue north to Agua Caliente Road. The project area extends west along Boyes Boulevard to encompass some residential neighborhoods between Greger Street and Railroad Avenue.
The area’s redevelopment program began in 1984, when the County Supervisors adopted a plan which has now been in effect for over 23 years.
A few of the projects that have been funded through redevelopment during that time include storm drainage improvements, the new sheriff’s substation, playground equipment at elementary schools, landscape improvements at Verano Avenue and Highway 12, affordable housing and preliminary work for Highway 12 improvements.
The redevelopment plan has recently been amended to increase the available funding from $20 million to $120 million over the course of the next 20 years, with a $7 million annual cap. It would also increase the limit on bond indebtedness to $40 million from $8.5 million. Capital improvement projects have also been added, with the largest single item remaining the Highway 12 improvement project.
Even people who do not live or own property in the redevelopment project area are affected by the plan, since approximately 24,000 people travel that stretch of Highway 12 daily, according to Caltrans figures.
The amended plan will go to the Board of Supervisors for review on March 18. If approved, it will enable the Springs redevelopment program to continue. If it is not approved, the tax increment funding, which began in 1984 will expire later this year, thereby ending the program.
The amended plan will not change the boundaries of the project area, and property taxes will not increase. The redevelopment plan also prohibits the redevelopment agency from using the power of eminent domain (condemnation) to acquire property in the project area against the property owner’s wishes.
All members of the community are invited to attend the Mar. 6 meeting, which will be held at the Boys and Girls Club, 100 Verano Avenue at 7 p.m.
For further information, contact Boris Sztorch, Sonoma County Redevelopment Manager at 707.565.7508 or visit www.sonoma-county.org/cdc/redevSonomaValley.htm.