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Our Concerns About RDA
Do you wonder why we're against the Redevelopment Project in Meadowbrook? Read the list below to understand our concerns.
California law requires that 80% of the area to be redeveloped must already be "urbanized." Do you think Meadowbrook meets that criteria?
Did you know Meadowbrook is next to several hundred acres of Wildlife Conservation land?
Did you know Meadowbrook is next to several hundred acres of Wildlife Conservation land?
Doesn't it bother you that the county hasn't offered translations in Spanish during the meetings with our Hispanic neighbors?
Why isn't the county sending notices and surveys about the RDA to property owners who don't live in their Meadowbrook homes?
• Developers are buying up Meadowbrook land. This means danger for our rural environment and lifestyle! Click on this link for a news article published last year that proves this is true: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_smeadow06.406eb96.html
• The State of California is going broke and currently seizing the funds of Redevelopment Agencies throughout the state. Riverside County was ordered to turn over $4.5 million of county RDA funds by May 10th. The state is literally stealing that money from the citizens who live in the RDA areas. We citizens will be paying for those lost revenues with our taxes for the next 45 years! RDA funds are not secure from confiscation by a desperate state government during fiscal crisis. Sacramento took RDA monies eight times during the 1990s. If we become part of an RDA, there is no assurance that our money will be used as the county promises. If the state takes our money, it's gone and won't be returned to us. But we still must repay the bonds that generated the money in the first place. Bottom line: We lose. We get less redevelopment that was promised to us, AND we still have to pay for what we don't get.
• The whole concept of Redevelopment means changing our community. The county wants to put businesses along Hwy 74 all the way from Perris to Lake Elsinore. To do that, they need infrastructure, like street lights and sewers. (In case you haven't noticed, Wal-Mart doesn't operate using a septic system). The county can't afford lights and sewers right now, so they will use OUR community tax dollars to do it. That's why they want to make us a Redevelopment Area, so we will pay for the improvements, with our tax money. With the necessary infrastructure (such as sewers), they can lure businesses and other development along Hwy 74.
• The Redevelopment staff shows pictures of improvements to areas they have worked on in the past. If you've seen them, you know the majority of the improvements went to businesses, not individual homes. Despite their promises to help us, the property owners, the RDA objective is to bring in more commercial activity with businesses and apartments so the county can get more tax revenue from sales and property taxes. The county NEEDS our money to do this because the county can't do it without us.
• The Redevelopment plan also wants to put in "medium density" housing in several places along Hwy 74 in Meadowbrook. Medium density is 5 to 8 homes per acre!! The land for this is already identified--on the east side of Hwy 74, from Greenwald, up to beyond River Road.
(If you own an acre of land, imagine sharing it with seven other homes in the same space!) In some areas, the plan is for apartment buildings. The county gets more money from property taxes on eight houses per acre than from our current limit (in Meadowbrook) of two houses per parcel.
• Once the businesses and higher density housing come in, the county is poised to change our land use designations. Apartment dwellers don't want to hear chickens crowing or smell livestock. That means more changes--with us losing our rural environment because newcomers don't want to share our lifestyle.
• Although, at this time, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors mandates that there will be no use of Eminent Domain, there is no guarantee that they will not change their position in the future. They have used Eminent Domain in other RDAs in the past to seize private property from landowners. If they want YOUR property and you don't like the price they offer, you need to be ready for an onslaught of Codes Enforcement activity which can ultimately force you to sell (or risk losing your property to liens on your property taxes for fines and interest due).
• When a Redevelopment Area is established, it has a negative impact on future sales of homes and properties in that area for 45 years. Buyers are very wary about buying a home in an area officially designated by the county as Blighted. There is too much left up to "chance" that the project will actually improve the area. Also, buyers are reluctant to commit their future tax dollars for Redevelopment projects that they had no voice to create (or oppose).
• Once the Redevelopment Area is established and approved, we citizens lose control over our community’s future and must rely on the “good will” of those in control of the Redevelopment Project and the Codes Enforcement Division.
• The Redevelopment Agency has relocation authority for residents to find temporary housing if our properties become uninhabitable during the redevelopment, BUT they are not required to relocate us within our community of Meadowbrook. In most cases, uninhabitability is determined by the Codes Enforcement Division. We can be "temporarily" removed from our homes for up to three years!
• By law, Redevelopment Projects require debt by the community involved. The debt is created by the sale of bonds which we citizens have no vote to approve or deny. The bonds must be paid off from our Meadowbrook taxes--for the next 45 years!!
• The bonds are sold to investors using our property and future tax increases as collateral for the debt to be repaid--by us. The bonds give the RDA money to work on redevelopment, but they also use the money to pay for administration costs, staff needs, and interest on the debt.
• Despite claims by Redevelopment staff, our community loses control over its future because we are only asked for input about our desires. If you live in Meadowbrook, you should have received a copy of their "survey" which asks what services you think our community needs. They didn't ask you if you don't want this project to go forward because they know it automatically will--unless we oppose it and make our wishes known. Other than that, we have no recourse to stop or alter the plans created by the Redevelopment personnel.
• Historically, in California, only a small fraction of RDA money goes to pay for actual redevelopment projects. The greatest share (70% to 80%) goes to maintain the RDA costs and interest on the bonds. (Drive by the large and modern Economic Development Building at 1325 Spruce Street in Riverside to see what we mean.)
• Once established, the Redevelopment Project remains in force for 30 years and the bonded indebtedness it has created remains in force for up to 45 years--until the year 2054. Will you still be alive by then? Your property may be indebted for the rest of your life.
• The funds collected from Meadowbrook's taxes can be used anywhere in the RDA area--that means our Meadowbrook money can be used in Goodhope, Warm Springs (The Grove), or Mead Valley, and we have no say about it. In fact, the money doesn't even have to be spent on any of the four communities within the RDA area, according to the proposal.
• Redevelopment requires our community to be labeled as “blighted”–which the current proposal specifically does. This lowers our property's potential value to buyers.
• Many of our homes are being described as “substandard,” and don’t conform to tract home conditions that are opposite to our rural lifestyle and environment. Codes Enforcement personnel can inspect properties within RDA areas at any time, without prior notification to the property owners.
• Redevelopment gives Codes Enforcement personnel a lot of power in the areas it controls.
• The proposed plan for Mead Valley, Good Hope, Meadowbrook, and Warm Springs (The Grove) stipulates curbs and street lighting which are not compatible with our rural environment and partial & multi-acre parcels.
• At this time, the Redevelopment Division has NO specific plans as to exactly how they will improve our community, yet they expect us to give them the green light based on promises that we will like what they come up with.
• Redevelopment is NOT free and the staff is not explaining exactly how all these changes are going to be financed–and what the indebtedness means to us as individuals and families.
• Redevelopment requires successful commercial enterprises to generate sales taxes to help repay the debt from the bonds. This is NOT a good time to be trying to lure businesses into our community. The current economic outlook can’t support new debt for our community.
