Carlsbad is about to study whether to include roughly 1,000 acres for a potential new redevelopment area that could improve parks, traffic circulation and the downtown's deteriorated barrio.

City officials on Wednesday began reviewing which consulting firm will win a $30,000 contract to help determine whether the city launches its second redevelopment effort.

At this point, nobody is predicting whether the city will go ahead with another redevelopment plan, let alone hazarding a guess as to what specific projects would be undertaken.

"We really don't have any preconceived ideas," said City Councilwoman Ann Kulchin. "You're better off not formulating something in your mind."

If this sounds like an uncertain way to begin a renewal project, consider that such redevelopment talk didn't exist until a year ago, when some residents of the Latino quarter complained their circa 1916 barrio has been economically neglected.

Consisting of about 4,500 people and 1,300 modest dwellings, the barrio exists next to Carlsbad's downtown that, under the city's first redevelopment project, has evolved from a blighted area into a tourist-tempting commercial "village" of boutiques and restaurants.

The barrio is bounded by Carlsbad Village Drive (formerly Elm Avenue) to the north, Interstate 5 to the east, Tamarack Avenue to the south, and the railroad tracks at the west.

Latinos urged the City Council to include their barrio in the city's 11-year-old downtown redevelopment area. Barrio property owner Ophelia Escobedo said: "I think they're beginning to realize the Hispanic people are interested in developing the area."

Beside improvements to existing streets and homes in the barrio, Escobedo and others want to see a bigger commercial area that would take on a Mexican cultural theme.

However, city officials have ruled out including the barrio in the city's existing downtown redevelopment zone, or creating a second zone containing the barrio alone.

The reasons are financial.

Money for redevelopment projects comes from so-called tax increment financing. Under such financing, property tax rates are frozen when a redevelopment area is formed. But when property is reassessed at a higher value, like during a change of ownership, the tax revenue from the greater value is funneled into the redevelopment program.