A Times California Public Records Act request to learn more
about a Redevelopment Agency loan request from El Toro Brewing
Company has revealed that the city could have done a better job at
looking for other business owners to develop the former police
building on Monterey Road and Second Street
A Times California Public Records Act request to learn more about a Redevelopment Agency loan request from El Toro Brewing Company has revealed that the city could have done a better job at looking for other business owners to develop the former police building on Monterey Road and Second Street.
Brew Pub owners Geno and Cindy Acevedo were only one of three proposals considered by the city after it mailed 68 letters to business owners and financiers. The Acevedos got a bargain deal from the city paying $650,000 for prime real estate land in the heart of downtown.
There’s no question that the location’s economic development and success will be critical as the city seeks to make Morgan Hill’s downtown thrive.
Our City Council members had the best intentions at heart when they gave the project to the Acevedos in 2005, but, once again, it’s evident that our municipality could have used an expert opinion on land-use planning and more oversight as it handled the original plan to develop the land.
That’s why the question of whether the city should grant El Toro Brewing Co. a $400,000 Redevelopment Agency loan to finish paying its general contractor for the building is important.
The city seems poised to give the Acevedos the loan. On April 4, council voted 4-1 to preliminarily approve the loan. The decision angered many well known downtown business operators who believe giving El Toro Brewing Co. is a bad business deal and unfair to those struggling and facing similar business-related debts.
Many sadly forecast that the city is prolonguing the Brew Pub’s death and continuing to risk the Acevedos financial future.
The $400,000 loan to El Toro Brew Pub is not the first of its kind. In recent years, the agency has issued other loans to Charles Weston and Lesley Miles, owners of Weston Miles Architects, Inc., for purchase of the Granary on Depot Street, and to Gunter Bros. for its renovation project on Monterey Street north of Main Avenue.
We applaud Councilman Greg Sellers for casting the dissenting vote in April against the RDA loan request and remaining true to his word. “I felt it would be hypocritical of me to vote to give them additional funds when the deciding factor for me was the original financial deal,” Sellers told reporter Tony Burchyns of the Acevedos promise that they wouldn’t need RDA money for the project.
Council, acting as the RDA, now needs to act in a responsible manner by making the RDA loan terms fiscally prudent for taxpayers.
Council needs to remember RDA funds should primarily be used to eliminate blight. The loan request and recent RDA activity in the city comes at a time when many municipalities are being accused of abusing RDA law.
That’s why we urge caution in light of the recent RDA transactions occuring at City Hall, including last week’s allocation of RDA money to temporarily fund three public safety-related positions.
