Gold Line Extension Could be Delayed by Redevelopment Lawsuit

The Gold Line Construction Authority is pursuing other options to secure $750 million from Metro for the Gold Line Foothill Extension after that is needed to unlock the money.

But if those options do not prove viable, the impact of the court's ruling could be "devastating," GLCA spokeswoman Lisa Levy Buch said in an interview Tuesday.

"It could be a devastating problem," Buch said. "I think that’s why we're looking at other options."

Buch declined to discuss the specifics of the other options the GLCA believes could allow it to secure the funding.

"It has unfortunately created an inability to move forward on the purchase of the land but we are looking for other options to keep the project on schedule," Buch said, noting that construction wouldn't begin on the land for more than one year.

But the agency still has to secure half of the land needed for a to obtain the money from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and it cannot secure that much land without executing a deal with the city of Monrovia.

In July, for $56 million to be used in the authority's maintenance facility project. But the city could not officially execute the deal when the state passed a law barring redevelopment agencies from making transactions unless they made millions in cash payments to the state.

The City Council and thus keep its redevelopment agency alive. But the law didn't take effect until this month, shortly after the California Supreme Court issued a stay order that keeps redevelopment agencies from making deals.

The stay order was issued by the high court as the result of a lawsuit filed by the California Redevelopment Association (CRA) and League of California Cities against the state in response to the redevelopment elimination law. The lawsuit alleges that the law violates the state constitution.

The CRA filed an appeal to the high court's order asking judges to allow cities that have passed continuation ordinances to continue normal operations. City Manager Scott Ochoa said in his weekly report that attorneys expect to hear the court's response on the motion this week.

If it is denied, Ochoa has said that the case might not be decided until January, potentially preventing the GLCA from accessing the $750 million for several months.