Theater Won't Get Final Curtain Call

The city should be able to hold onto most of the properties which were owned by the now defunct Redevelopment Agency, including the Camino Real Playhouse, the City Council learned Tuesday.

The council held a special meeting to decide whether it wanted to become the so-called successor agency that dismantles the Redevelopment Agency. It voted unanimously to do just that, and also form a local housing authority so that it may hold onto the about $12 million the Redevelopment Agency had set aside to address low- and moderate-income housing needs in the area.

With the Redevelopment Agency’s functions now split in two, the future of the many properties the agency owned, mostly in downtown and the , was on the hearts and minds of the City Council and the members of the public who attended the meeting.

The Redevelopment Agency owned six parks, four parking lots, a 16-acre property near Stonehill Drive known as , a right-of-way for the Camino Capistrano bridge that crosses San Juan Creek and the .

But as long as it can be shown that each property has a public, governmental use, they can remain with the city, said Tom Clark, the city’s redevelopment attorney.

“Most of the property the agency owns is for governmental purposes,” he said, even the parking lots.  The city can also make a strong case that the Camino Real Playhouse is a public use because the city leases it to a non-profit.

Thank you from the depth of my heart emotionally as well as from my mind in recognition the community contributions the theater makes.

     – Camino Real Playhouse President Tom Scott

“Thank you,” said playhouse President Tom Scott, addressing the council, “from the depth of my heart emotionally as well as from my mind in recognition the community contributions the theater makes.”

Scott had attended the council meeting with several theater supporters, ready to plea for the future of his operation, which he said “puts San Juan Capistrano on the map in the entertainment industry as far as theater is concerned.”

Still, it will be up to an oversight committee that will watch over the successor agency and will have all the real power to determine whether the theater gets a reprieve, along with the disposition of all the agency-owned properties, Clark said.

The San Juan Capistrano Oversight Board, as it is to be called, will be comprised of two representatives from the county, one from the Orange County Department of Education, one from the Chancellor of California Community Colleges, one appointed by the mayor, one from the and one a former employee of the dismantled Redevelopment Agency, Clark said.

That last one is likely to be appointed by the mayor as well, Clark said, as the Redevelopment Agency did not employ anyone who was not already an employee of the city.

Councilman Sam Allevato noted that the oversight board will have a majority of outside interests, not the city’s interests.

“People will have a vested interest in taking away anything they can get,” he said.

Clark responded that was the very intention of the legislation the that required the dissolution of redevelopment agencies across the state.

One property that must eventually be liquidated is the Lower Rosan property that retailer Home Depot was once eyeing, Clark said. The oversight board will want to maximize the land's profit, advertising it for its highest and best use. It is currently zoned for commercial and manufacturing and is used for temporary vehicle storage, according to a Power Point presentation Tuesday.

If Lower Rosan sells for more than what the city owes on it, the oversight board will dole the profits out among many agencies, Capo Unified getting the most, according to a staff report. The city’s share will be 1.3 percent of the profits.