Roughly sixty people attended the Saturday morning meeting organized by a La Verne Ave. neighborhood group (held at Simmzy's at 9 a.m. before its regular 10 a.m. opening).

The primary speaker was Bill Lorbeer, chair of the Belmont Shore Parking & Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission. The Commission's Feb. 20 agenda includes an item proposing to support City purchase of the property.

Also attending and fielding questions was City Hall's Property Services Bureau Manager, Victor Grgas. With his was Jim Fisk, the city staffer assigned to handle matters for the advisory Parking Commission.

Third district Councilman Gary DeLong was also present and fielded questions, including one shouted at him near the end of the meeting: Does he support the purchase? "Time will tell," DeLong replied.

The house at 205 La Verne s is just north of 2nd St., next to an alley behind a commercial building now housing Simmzy's.

Street parking is a challenge. Here's how the 200 block of La Verne Ave. looked, north and south, at 10:00 a.m. Saturday Feb. 15.

The audience was a mixture of La Verne Ave. residents (allowed by organizers to comment, ask questions and invited to fill out a questionnaire) and other Belmont Shore residents (allowed to listen.) In the latter category were long time Belmont Shore residents Jeff Miller (BSRA Sec'y) and former BSRA President Melinda Cotton.

In response to an audience question seeking the status of the house, Mr. Grgas said what city staff's memo accompanying the Feb. 20 advisory Parking Commission agenda item says: in accordance with City Council direction at a November 5 closed session, city management made an offer on the property which has been accepted (subject to standard contingencies.)

Mr. Grgas said that assuming the process moves forward, the offer would go to the City Council for approval in open session and if the Council approves the purchase and sale, it would move into escrow to close the deal. (Previous LBREPORT.com coverage, here.)

Mr. Grgas noted that the funds to purchase the property would come from sums paid by businesses owners, property owners in the district over roughly a 25 year period to pay for a bond, the proceeds of which were to be used for purposes of creating new parking in the district. He stressed that the purchase money isn't General Fund money but money specifically being raised by business owners in the district for that purpose [parking]

Asked by an audience member if this is a done deal, Mr. Lorbeer said "We're here to listen to you guys." When that didn't satisfy the audience member, Councilman DeLong added, "Here's a definitive answer: Maybe."

After intervening discussion, Mr. Lorbeer said that 25 years ago, business property owners voted to approve a City established Mello-Roos assessment. He said he and others have been paying the assessment with the understanding that the money would be used for the type of property purchase now being discussed. "So we've been waiting for 25 years. The city's portion of that deal was they would tear down some houses and make some surface parking lots to help both us and you," he said. Mr. Lorbeer added, "I'm hear to listen to hear what you guys say. This is not a done deal. This information will go back to the Parking Commission and to the City Council and we will definitely take your thoughts into consideration."

Asked if such property acquisitions are now part of a plan by the city, Mr. Lorbeer said it's been part of a plan for over 25 years and is nothing new. He noted that the amount of revenue collected limits the amount of bond financing the City has, which in turn limits the amount of work that can be done, whether for a house or for something else. Mr. Lorbeer noted that in 2009, the City used $3.5 million in such funds to repave alleys and re-do parking lots on the south side of 2nd St...and such funds were also used to acquire the "Colonna lot" (which might have become housing) to preserve current parking. "In 25 years of commercial property owners paying this additional [Mello-Roos] tax, we have not built a single new parking lot. We've simply bought existing parking lots and maintained that parking instead of losing it." .

Responding to a resident with a home bordering an alley, Mr. Lorbeer said no one is targeting her house or others, eminent domain isn't being used, but if at some point in the future the owner decided to sell the house, and if the City at that point had bond financing available (which he said he doesn't believe the City has now beyond the current transaction and perhaps one more), a purchase by the City for parking might be possible.

"We wanted to start this process with you guys to hear your thoughts first, because if we put a parking lot there obviously you would be the most affected," Mr. Lorbeer reiterated.

Public comments made verbally at the meeting ranged from skeptical to critical; one person (who wasn't allowed to speak at length since he didn't live on La Verne) indicated he supported the proposed action.

One resident objected on grounds the meeting was "backwards" -- held after the City had already started the process of buying the house. The resident said the public meeting on whether to buy the house should have been held before proceeding to buy the house.

City staffer Grgas replied that one can't negotiate one's hand in public but when the opportunity arises on a voluntary sale basis, one can make an offer. Mr. Grgas said Mr. Lorbeer came to the City "and said please take this to the City Council in closed session for direction, which we did on November 5. Following that direction, we made an offer. The offer was accepted with contingencies. We are now in that period. Escrow has not opened until those contingencies have been dealt with. If this process moves forward and the contingencies are dealt with, then we will open escrow and go through the remainder of the process," he said.

The resident said, "So now it's on our part to do whatever we can to block this process, right?"

Mr. Grgas replied that nothing will get done until the Council takes formal action to approve the purchase and sale agreement in an open session. Mr. Lorbeer added:

"I asked them to look into this because my duty, not as a commercial property owner but as a Commissioner, is to look at all the viable options. This is a viable option that has been on the table for 25 years. We've been paying for that. So I don't have a choice. I see a lot that's available...I asked the City to contact the listing broker...and they did it, and here we are."

Mr. Lorbeer invited residents to come to the advisory Parking Commission meeting on Thursday (9:00 a.m. at Bayshore Library, 195 Bay Shore Ave.) Among the items on its agenda for the meeting is an item proposing to support the City's purchase of the property.

As the meeting ended, a resident shouted: "DeLong, do you support this?" Councilman DeLong replied: "Time will tell."

Developing...with further to follow on LBREPORT.com.