The owner of a downtown Vista motel is accusing the city of trying to kick him out of his business and his home.
City officials announced Monday they're trying to purchase the Vista Riviera Motel as part of a redevelopment project along Vista Village Drive and Vista Way that could include a new car dealership.
But Pankaj Desai, who owns the motel with his son Vijay Naik, doesn't want to sell. He told the North County Times this week that his family has owned and operated the business for more than a decade and that he, Naik and a maintenance worker also live at the motel.
"I'm doing good business," Desai said. "My location is the best location so why should I sell it?"
But Desai said he's worried because he knows that under California law, he may not have a choice. The city could acquire the site through a process called eminent domain, which allows a government agency to take private land for public use or development, as long as it pays fair market value, determined by a court.
"They have the power and they want to utilize it against the small guy," Desai said.
Bill Rawlings, Vista's director of redevelopment and housing, said last week that any talk of eminent domain proceedings is premature because the city is still trying to negotiate to buy the motel. Desai said the city has offered him $1.65 million.
"We're a long way from making any kind of decision about eminent domain," Rawlings said. "We are still in negotiations with (the owners). We are talking about how we could put together a deal to acquire the property that would be mutually beneficial."
Redevelopment plans
The motel, a .71-acre property with two buildings, is next to three properties already for sale. The city has negotiated the purchase of those lots which, combined with the motel site, would create a 2.89-acre parcel directly across the street from the city's busy Vista Village shopping center.
The land is prime real estate because Vista Village Drive is a main thoroughfare that cuts through the center of Vista and is used by an estimated 40,000 motorists every day.
Over the past few years, the city has spent at least $3 million to purchase properties in the downtown corridor as part of a long-term plan to spur economic development. Most recently, the City Council approved spending about $1.25 million on two sites near South Santa Fe Avenue.
Those properties, as well as the Vista Riviera Motel, lie within an expanded redevelopment zone that was created in 2008 when Vista's City Council approved an updated redevelopment plan.
That redevelopment plan says the city can use eminent domain ---- take properties for public use ---- in part to eliminate "blight." The city's defines economic blight as properties with high crime rates, high vacancy or low lease rates, stagnant or declining property values or unsafe and unhealthy buildings.
Desai said Friday that his property doesn't qualify. The paint on the tall wooden "Motel" sign is faded and chipped and the two motel buildings are a little dated, but Desai and his family keep the motel clean.
Desai said he'd be willing to work with the city to enhance the appearance of the motel but said it's "ridiculous for them to try to kick me out."
He said typically about 60 percent of the motel's 25 rooms are rented each night. Rooms rates are $60 per night, he said, but many customers stay for a longer period, such as families who are between apartments or people staying in the area for work.
Still, it's in stark contrast to the newer shopping and entertainment center across the street that features businesses such as Famous Dave's restaurant, the Krikorian Metroplex 15 movie theaters and Lowe's home improvement store.
Ruth MacAdam, a member of the city's Project Area Committee, said on Monday she thinks it's time for the motel to be torn down.
"I walk by there every day ... It's really a mess," she said.
Futile fight?
Desai has hired attorney Sue Loftin of The Loftin Firm in Carlsbad , but she didn't return several phone calls this week.
Tim Sandefur, senior staff attorney with the property rights advocacy group Pacific Legal Foundation, said business owners rarely prevail in lawsuits over eminent domain.
One argument has been that it's wrong to take property from one business owner so another can develop the site. But Proposition 99, a ballot measure passed in 2008, expanded municipalities' power of eminent domain by allowing that kind of redevelopment, Sandefur said.
That measure followed a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that said local governments could force property owners to sell off their land to make way for private economic developments even if the property isn't blighted.
"It was possible until recently to say, 'No, there are limits on that,'" Sandefur said. "Redevelopment is now defined as a public use in the state constitution.
"Unfortunately property owners have virtually no protection against eminent domain in California until the state constitution is amended," he said.
Still moving forward
With or without a deal inked to buy the motel, Vista is moving forward with paperwork required for the purchase.
Rawlings said the city must establish a replacement housing plan because the owners and a maintenance worker live at the motel. Desai, Naik and their wives share a two-bedroom apartment and the maintenance worker lives in a single bedroom unit.
"The plan deals with the absolute number of affordable housing units in the city," Rawlings said on Monday. "Let's not eliminate affordable housing units and not replace them."
Rawlings said the city would need to replace those two residences with other similarly priced units if it purchases the property. The city's plan calls for their replacement in a future low- to moderate-income housing development on West Los Angeles Drive.
"We want to move forward and create development opportunities in the city but we want to do it in a way that's responsible," Rawlings said.
The City Council will discuss the replacement housing plan and potential purchase of the Riviera Motel at its workshop meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, 600 Eucalyptus Ave.
Contact staff writer Cigi Ross at 760-901-4067.
