TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

What will likely be the last meeting of the Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency took place Tuesday as city staff and board members discussed how to wind down operations and thanked each other for their work over the years.

Bakersfield's redevelopment agency and about 400 others across the state will soon end operations following a California Supreme Court ruling that effectively eliminates them. Last Thursday, the court validated the state legislature's decision in June to dissolve the redevelopment agencies. It also said the agencies couldn't be allowed to continue by paying a large part of their funding to the state.

Bakersfield's and other redevelopment agencies had been relying on that option to stay afloat.

The Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency has been responsible for an array of projects including the Rabobank Arena, McMurtrey Aquatic Center, Maya Cinemas, the Bakersfield Ice Sports Center, affordable apartments at Cityplace, affordable townhouses on Baker Street, the ongoing street improvements to Q Street and several senior housing developments.

Now the agency is faced with handing over the projects the city is already committed to and ending operations.

Economic Development Director Donna Kunz detailed the future of those projects.

Cityplace apartments, a 70-unit affordable housing project, opened last November as part of the development at South Mill Creek. That leaves two other projects at the site -- Creek View Villas and The Courtyard apartments.

The final map for Creek View Villas, a 36-unit affordable townhome project, still needs to be approved, but once it is, those homes can be sold, Kunz said. The plan is to use the proceeds from those sales for additional project phases. Federal funding may also be used for loan assistance for home buyers, she said.

The Courtyard, 57 units of family housing, will proceed about six to eight months behind Creek View Villas, Kunz said.

The senior housing project at 19th Street has received a funding commitment from banks, Kunz said. Plans for that project had been delayed as banks were reviewing the project in the past few months, but with the funding commitment, work will proceed on the apartments, a parking structure and food court.

At Baker Street Village, another affordable housing development, the agency has overseen the building of 24 townhomes and 13 lofts. The agency had planned a second phase for that project, but those plans now appear to be on the back burner. Kunz said some additional property associated with the project will be sold and some will be turned over to whichever agency succeeds the Redevelopment Agency, likely the city itself.

However, a low-income veterans' housing project on 20th Street could be in jeopardy, according to Kunz.

"That one is going to be a challenge for us," Kunz said. That it's a low-income project will make it costly, but the city could vie for grants and other funding for the project. Construction likely wouldn't start on it for at least 18 months, she said.

"This is totally and absolutely undeserved," City Manager Alan Tandy said of the state court's decision. "It's a function of the disfunction of the state."

Gov. Jerry Brown and others who advocated ending the redevelopment agencies argued that the tax increment they received would be better spent on local services like schools and police.

Mayor Harvey Hall thanked the board for its work and gave each member a box of Dewars candies.

"I'm here today to express my appreciation for the years of service that you have provided," Hall told the board. "As you drive around the projects that you've all been a part of, you need to look at that as your legacy. We are hopeful that the government won't come in and slice the projects that ... you want to finish."

City staff weren't anticipating the court would decide against the redevelopment agencies, said Joshua Rudnick, a city attorney. They're now faced with trying to figure out somewhat confusing new regulations outlining how the projects are to be handed over and to whom.

Most likely, the city council will vote to make the city the overseer of the projects in the short term, after the Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency is dissolved on Feb. 1. As the likely successor to the Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency, the city would be overseen by a yet-to-be-created board of city and county representatives that would review any ongoing projects.

Kunz and others have mentioned the possibility that the state legislature could move to revive the agencies through new legislation, but if and when that could happen is unclear.