Blight and booze

The blighted block of East 11th Street, a micro-slum of sorts that attracts squatters, hard-drug users and crime to an otherwise placid residential neighborhood in south Chico, was the central discussion during the Chico City Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 3).

The properties include a quartet of dilapidated houses adjacent to Little Chico Creek and the warehouse on the corner of Park Avenue and East 11th Street—the site of the old Taylor’s Drive-In and a gas station. As Vice Mayor Sean Morgan put it on Tuesday, the corner “looks like it came from Detroit.”

Previous efforts to address the blight got complicated. If state funding hadn’t dried up following the Great Recession, a deal would have transferred ownership of all the properties from Hal LLC, led by local businessman David Halimi, to the city. In 2010, the city used state-sourced redevelopment agency (RDA) funding to purchase a pair of the homes and begin the process of purchasing the other two, along with the warehouse property. The deal was contingent upon whether the city received a state grant to clean up contamination left by underground gas tanks.

However, after the city completed the $200,000 cleanup, the state dissolved redevelopment agencies in early 2012—before escrow closed—and two of the houses and the warehouse reverted back to Hal LLC, creating a patchwork of publicly and privately owned structures that have since fallen further into disrepair.

On Tuesday, Habitat for Humanity presented the council with a proposal to purchase the two city-owned houses—at 168 and 178 E. 11th St.—and demolish them to build new homes for low-income families. In addition to the sale, the council was asked to approve a $35,000 Community Development Block Grant and a $120,000 loan for the project. According to City Housing Manager Marie Demers, the total property value is $78,100, a cost that will eventually be transferred to the future homeowners.

“We’re looking forward to working on this project, and specifically working in this particular neighborhood,” said Nicole Bateman, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Butte County. “We see it really does need to be revitalized.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the deal.

At Morgan’s request, the council also discussed the blighted Taylor’s Drive-In site. Hal LLC maintains it has been unable to sell the corner property for a profit, Morgan said, under the area’s current mixed residential zoning (the RDA had intended to use the site for low-income housing). Morgan suggested rezoning the area to community commercial, thereby increasing appeal to potential developers.

Councilwoman Ann Schwab argued that the city has already done enough for Hal LLC by facilitating the costly environmental cleanup.

“I’m not opposed to the property owner coming to us and asking us for a rezone, but I think the city has given quite a lot to this property owner,” she said.

Mayor Mark Sorensen pointed out that a state grant, not city funding, allowed for the gas-tank cleanup, though he shares Schwab’s concern that “the city has spent a great deal of money cleaning up this property, at state expense.”

The council voted 4-3, with Schwab and Councilmembers Tami Ritter and Randall Stone dissenting, to place the rezoning proposal on a future meeting’s agenda.

In other City Council news, the 1078 Gallery and Buffalo Wild Wings—a full-service sports bar and restaurant set for construction on East Avenue—received approval to serve alcohol.

The 1078, along with many other previously city-funded arts organizations, is seeking a steady source of revenue through beer sales in light of a lack of financial support from the city. Buffalo Wild Wings, on the other hand, said it would have pulled out of construction entirely had it not received approval, said retired Police Lt. George Laver, who presented the staff report.

Councilwoman Ritter argued that the city has been sending mixed messages on alcohol licensing, pointing out that both businesses are in census tracts already oversaturated with alcohol licenses, according to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“I’m confused about the direction we’re moving as a city,” Ritter said. “We’re saying alcohol is a problem, these undue concentrations are a problem, but we continue to make recommendations [for approval].”

The council voted 5-2, with Schwab and Ritter dissenting in both instances, to approve the licenses.