Residents living near Beach Boulevard have long raised concerns over blighted motels in the area, which often grapple with drug dealing and prostitution – along with a nearly constant police presence.
Now, Anaheim officials are moving to forcibly acquire the Rainbow Inn and turn it into an affordable housing tract through eminent domain after the motel owner refused a nearly $7 million buyout offer from the city.
City Council members are expected to vote on the issue at their 5 p.m. meeting tonight.
It’s part of the city’s effort to redevelop the roughly 1.5 miles of Beach Boulevard extending from Lincoln Avenue to Ball Road – a stretch of road city staff noted contains 18 rundown motels and blighted strip malls.
“The area became a magnet for criminal activity including human trafficking and prostitution, illegal gambling, drug use and distribution, thefts and violent crime including murder,” reads a staff report.
City council members have already bought the two motels surrounding the Rainbow Inn in an effort to build 120 affordable apartments and 15 townhomes, according to the report.
The nearly $7 million buyout offer through the city’s housing authority was made to the Rainbow Inn this past December, but negotiations fell apart and the owner didn’t accept the offer.
“Staff for the Authority recommends that the Authority begin eminent domain procedures for the acquisition of the Property to combine it with the Authority’s adjacent properties, the Anaheim Lodge and Covered Wagon properties, to provide a viable affordable housing development site,” reads the staff report.
A couple years ago, city officials began putting a host of restrictions on Beach Boulevard motels, including the Anaheim Lodge, requiring them to have onsite management and beefed up security.
[Read: What’s the Best Way For CA Metro Areas Like Orange County to Deal With Rundown, Seedy Motels?]
Some of the motel owners were also required to paint their addresses on their roofs for police helicopters, which are a regular presence flying along Beach Boulevard and throughout West Anaheim.
Anaheim – and especially neighboring Stanton – have been using the state’s Project Homekey program to buyout and convert motels into specialized housing for homeless people that have onsite programs like medical and mental health services, also known as permanent supportive housing.
Stanton city officials have been aggressively pursuing the program since its inception during the pandemic and have committed at least $6 million to convert rundown motels into housing.
Officials there also issued a moratorium on new motels.
[Read: Stanton Issues Moratorium on New Motels Over Prostitution, Drugs and Crime]
Meanwhile, Anaheim City Council members are slated to kick off the eminent domain procedure on Tuesday by finding that taking over the Rainbow Inn is a vital public interest in the city’s effort to meet its state-mandated housing goals.
A city staff report notes that after the public hearing, “if the Authority finds that the public necessity so requires, the Authority should adopt the attached Resolution of Necessity authorizing condemnation proceedings for the purpose of acquiring the Property.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
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