City Agrees to Sell Land to Target
Vol. 4, Issue 34, August 20-26, 2009
City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the sale of 14.79 acres of city owned land to Target for $13.8 million. The sale is pending entitlements to the property as well as final approval by the Target Corporation’s investment board.
The decision to sell the city property, located at the westerly corner of Avenida Vista Hermosa and Avenida La Pata, was made in recent years by the city in order to raise the remaining funds needed to complete the chronically delayed La Pata/Vista Hermosa Sports Park. According to the staff report, the park construction cost is estimated to be $32 million; the city has $19 million set aside for the park and would use the additional $13.8 million from this sale to fully fund the project.
A recent telephone survey by the city reflected overwhelming support for the sale of the land to Target.
According to City Manager George Scarborough, the entitlement process will take 12 months if an Environmental Impact Report is necessary, or nine months if a Mitigated Negative Declaration will suffice. Because of the timing and the fact that the full dollar amount will not be available to the city until all entitlements are completed, Scarborough recommended a 90-day delay before putting the project out to bid. He noted in his report that Council could then determine whether to move forward with the full bid for the park, its aquatic center and fields, or break up the project in phases. It is anticipated that large savings in construction costs can be realized currently due to favorable market conditions, and those savings could be lost the longer the project’s bid process is delayed (up to $6.4 million in savings, according to comparable figures).
Also factoring into the decision is how to include new plans for Courtney’s Sandcastle, a multi-sensory playground that was moved from the Marblehead Coastal development to La Pata/Vista Hermosa. There currently is no funding for the playground short of $170,000 raised by the Friends of San Clemente Beaches, Parks and Recreation Foundation.
—Norb Garrett
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i am glad we are getting a target, i am sick if having to either drive 20 miles, or going to wal-mart. there are 5 targets within 15 miles of each other but none near our area. itll also help the economy.
I'm glad we're getting a Target and I like the location.
Just FYI, I did not get this survey call. ( I am under 40 & do have a land line (since AT&T cell service sucks in my area)
You nailed it Jedi. City hall surveys are a farce. They have their own sources.
Not that I think this is a terrible idea, but I have some questions about the validity of this telephone survey. Who still has a landbased phone line? Old people kooks and shut ins thats who. Many people under the age of 40 have cut the cord and gone strictly cell..... That being the case how are you going to get an accurate survey unless you call cell phones?