Council action brings apartment development closer to fruition
IMPERIAL — The city here recently declared intent to vacate a portion of West 13th and West 14th streets in order to accommodate a new housing project.
The Imperial City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution of intent to proceed.
There is one more step the council must take for work at the streets to begin.
Wednesday’s approval only solidified that the city intends to vacate the street sections.
During its Dec. 16 meeting, the city will receive another presentation and vote on the conditions of the project. One condition the council will be voting on, in particular, is the timeframe of the project.
The sections of the streets are located in the west side of the city — specifically, just north of Imperial High School.
At the far west end of West 13th and West 14th streets are rights of way, which connect to nothing more than a dirt lot.
“Our general plan does not contemplate that those rights of way will ever be used,” Imperial City Manager City Manager Dennis Morita said during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
This dirt lot sits in between the two streets and La Brucherie Road.
The two streets and La Brucherie currently do not connect, because the dirt lot is there.
With the resolution, the city declared its intention to vacate the portions of the dirt lot between La Brucherie and the two streets, with the intent that the streets will connect to La Brucherie.
The area of dirt lot in between each street is approximately 150 feet in length and 80 feet in width, which is the area to be vacated.
“That’s an undeveloped area,” Imperial Councilman Geoff Dale said. “That ground is really nothing. And if anything, it’s going to pay the city back in taxes someday with the improvements.”
The remaining space in the dirt lot will be the site for a new housing project, titled the 12th and 15th Street Apartments — an 80-unit multi-family apartment complex.
It is believed that the connection of the two streets will help alleviate new traffic that the apartment complex will bring from other streets in the area.