One Santa Ana Community Seeks to Strike a Deal With the City and Developers

​A forum tonight in the Parish Hall at St. Joseph's Church in Santa Ana may lead to what's billed as Orange County's first Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), a legally binding pact between a developer, a city and a community.

"For the first time in Santa Ana, community residents, city council members, the developer and planners are sitting together negotiating what the community really needs in this area-- but we need all the support we can get," says resident Carolina Sarmiento in an announcement of tonight's forum.

It is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the church near the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Lacy Street.

The future of housing, open space, street safety and cultural and historic preservation of that area of town will be up for discussion, according to Sarmiento.

"This is one of the most innovative planning strategies to get the community to truly be part of the decision-making process," she says.

A flier on the forum follows after the jump . . .

​