One of the things that I like about urban planning in California is the political process. Although burdensome, the political process created in part by the California state law guards against abuse by any one party.
However, if a community group does insist on hijaking the process, development can be stopped, which can sometimes be a negative thing.
One of the property bordering my company's site was going to be turned into Home Depot in 1999. Unfortunately, with a very strong anti-development and anti-big-box movement, Home Depot pulled out. It was just too expensive to keep fighting the community. This was a factory that was closed down in 1989 and sat vacant and fenced up for 10 year.
Fast-forward 7 years, and the site is still vacant and fenced up. That 11 acres of abandoned site hurt the community's ability to revitalize itself.
Now, my company is in talks to take over the site because we are suing the neigbhoring company for contamination. The deal is not happening because the other side wants an impossible indemnity. It would be too expensive and too risky for us to let the other side off the hook completely. Back in 1999, Home Depot and this company were going to give each other mutual indeminity...
So, the only likely result is redevelopment, which would take another 15 years before something will happen.
This story would not have been as personal has it not for getting to know the community. Almost everyone I meet supports the Home Depot deal, and they never found out what reallky happened. There was one woman who spearheaded the fight against it, and she is also my company's biggest opponent in many other projects.
Without full understanding of economic development, this woman spent hours meeting with city officials and staff and wielding her influence with the various organizations around the area to fight development. I cannot help but feel sad for the community because this woman is not serving them. She is so idealistic that she drives away many opportunities that this poor community needs.
This story is a reminder that there is a dark side to the open political proces...
