San Diego Business Journal

San Diego City Council has approved the formation of a new organization, called Civic San Diego, to oversee redevelopment services previously handled by the city’s Centre City Development Corp. and Southeastern Economic Development Corp.

Council on June 25 voted 7-1 to approve the reorganization, which takes effect July 1 and was proposed by Mayor Jerry Sanders in the wake of the state’s disbanding of community redevelopment agencies amid budget cuts.

According to a city staff report, Civic San Diego will be a nonprofit corporation replacing the two existing nonprofit entities. The proposed fiscal year 2012-13 budget for the new agency is approximately $5.9 million, a decrease of $3.9 million from the combined 2011-12 budgets of the current agencies.

Plans call for a combined reduction in staffing of just over 45 percent, or approximately 26 positions.

Centre City Development Corp. was started in 1975 and focused primarily on downtown redevelopment, and Southeastern Economic Development Corp., started in 1982, handled similar duties related to the city’s southeastern neighborhoods.

The new agency will handle the functions of both of its predecessors, including matters related to land use permitting and planning, management of the downtown parking district and economic development. It will also assist in the continued wind-down of existing state-backed redevelopment programs, the staff report said.