SANTA ANA : Latino Rights Group Sues City Over Mall

A Latino rights group sued the city Thursday to stop construction of an outdoor mall on grounds that the project would displace dozens of low-income residents.

In a suit filed in Orange County Superior Court Thursday, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional asked the court to set aside the City Council’s approval of an eight-building mall named Bristol Village and require the city to conduct an environmental impact report.

Without such a report, the city does not know the exact number of residents who will lose housing to the mall, attorney Richard Spix said.

“The city is once again insensitive to the needs of its low-income residents,” Spix said.

The suit names the city and private developers Donald Krotee Partnership and Hyun Mo Youn as defendants.

The council unanimously approved the mall in early February. Staff reports stated that the mall would help clean up the neighborhood.

Developers had planned to build the mall at Bristol and Brook streets, where police have blocked off the intersection with a concrete barrier because narcotic traffic is so heavy in the area.

Mayor Daniel H. Young called the suit a “tragedy.”

“Here’s a development offer that we had hoped can help a neighborhood plagued by a tremendous amount of drug trafficking,” Young said. “This lawsuit gets in the way of solving problems.”

Spix said the mall, which will be constructed in three phases, will result in demolition of 32 apartment units in the area. Residents living in those apartments will be displaced, he said.

Because the mall is a private development project, the city will not be required to provide financial assistance to those residents.