An Ordinance of the Council of the City of Santa Barbara Adopting the City of Santa Barbara

ORDINANCE NO. ______

AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA ADOPTING THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY’S PROGRAM FOR THE USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN TO ACQUIRE REAL PROPERTY

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Santa Barbara (“City Council”) adopted Ordinance No. 3566 on November 14, 1972, approving and adopting the Redevelopment Plan for the Central City Redevelopment Project, (the “Redevelopment Plan”) and subsequently amended by Ordinance No. 3923 on August 30, 1977, by Ordinance No. 4438 on December 16, 1986, by Ordinance No. 4894 on December 6,1994, by Ordinance No. 5085 on November 24, 1998, by Ordinance No. 5089 on January 12, 1999, by Ordinance No. 5314 on April 27, 2004, by Ordinance No. 5363 on June 14, 2005 and by Ordinance No. 5388 on June 6, 2006;

WHEREAS, the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Santa Barbara (“Agency”) has been designated as the official redevelopment agency in the City of Santa Barbara to carry out the functions and requirements of the Community Redevelopment Law of the State of California (Health and Safety Code Section 33000 et seq.) and to implement the Redevelopment Plan;

WHEREAS, on November 24, 1998, the City Council of the City of Santa Barbara adopted Resolution No. 98-156 and Ordinance No. 5085 extending the eminent domain authority of the Agency to August 30, 2007;

WHEREAS, SEC. 402 of the Redevelopment Plan provides that any or all real property located in the Project Area may be acquired by the Agency, by gift, devise, exchange, purchase, lease, condemnation, or any other lawful method, but the Agency is not required to acquire any such property. The Agency may also acquire real property outside the Project Area as authorized by law. It is in the public interest and necessary, in order to eliminate the conditions requiring redevelopment and in order to execute the Redevelopment Plan, for the power of eminent domain to be employed by the Agency to acquire real property within the Project Area and as allowed by law. The commencement of eminent domain proceedings to acquire property within the Project Area shall not occur after August 30, 2007, unless extended as approved by the City Council and as provided by law; and

WHEREAS, Section 33342.7 of the Health and Safety Code, which was added by Senate Bill 53 (“SB 53”) and became effective on January 1, 2007, requires that a legislative body that adopted a redevelopment plan prior to January 1, 2007, adopt an ordinance on or before July 1, 2007, containing the redevelopment agency’s program to acquire real property by eminent domain.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Pursuant to Section 33342.7 of the Health and Safety Code, a description of the Agency’s program to acquire real property by eminent domain is set forth in the Exhibit attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference. The Agency’s program to acquire real property by eminent domain may be amended only by amending the Redevelopment Plan pursuant to Article 12 of the Community Redevelopment Law (commencing with Health and Safety Code section 33450.)

SECTION 2. The City Council of the City of Santa Barbara hereby approves and adopts the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Santa Barbara’s program for the use of eminent domain in the acquisition of real property pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 33342.7.

SECTION 3. The City Clerk is hereby directed to send a certified copy of this Ordinance to the Agency.

SECTION 4. This ordinance is an administrative activity of government identifying existing eminent domain powers and will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment, therefore, the action does not qualify as a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15378.b.(5).

SECTION 5. If any part of this Ordinance is held to be invalid for any reason, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of this Ordinance, and this City Council hereby declares that it would have passed the remainder of this Ordinance if such invalid portion thereof had been deleted.

SECTION 6. The City Clerk will certify to the passage of this Ordinance by the City Council, and cause the same to be published once in the Santa Barbara News-Press, a newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated in Santa Barbara, California, and it will take effect thirty (30) days after its final passage.