Fair Board Threatens Amphitheater Suit : Operators Given 30 Days to Correct Alleged Violations of Lease

The Orange County Fair Board threatened to file a lawsuit against managers of the Pacific Amphitheatre unless violations of their lease, including non-compliance with noise and alcohol ordinances, are corrected by mid-September, state and fair board officials said Tuesday.

The action, the result of a closed-door fair board meeting July 25, marks the first time officials of the fairgrounds have gone on the attack in a 2-year-old battle between Ned West Inc., the theater’s operator, and Costa Mesa residents who have gone to court over what they say are intolerable noise levels generated by performances there.

A Superior Court judge ruled earlier this year that local noise laws do not apply to the theater because it is on state property, and an attorney for Ned West said Tuesday that the firm does not believe it has violated its lease. A ruling on an appeal of the Superior Court decision is expected within about 90 days.

In a letter, A. Wells Petersen, deputy attorney general, and Norbert Bartosik, fairgrounds manager, charged amphitheater operators with nine violations of the lease agreement, including failure to “comply with an implied covenant to not violate laws in the operation of the amphitheater.”

Concessionaire Accused

Neither Petersen nor Bartosik would comment on specific charges. A copy of the letter obtained by The Times said that “noise generated by performances booked by lessee consistently exceeds that prescribed by Costa Mesa city ordinance 84-29.”

The letter also accused a concessionaire of Ned West of continued “selling alcoholic beverages to minors despite notice given to lessee that this unlawful activity was taking place.”

Deborah Nessett, an attorney for Ned West, said the firm does not believe it is in default of its agreement and plans to respond to the charges within the 30-day period prescribed in the letter.

Nessett said that because the Superior Court ruled that Costa Mesa’s noise ordinance does not apply to the amphitheater, the charge that its operators are in violation of municipal law is a “dead issue.”

Alcohol Charged Denied

She also denied that minors have been knowingly served alcohol and said that amphitheater operators on their own have taken steps to control liquor sales at the concert spot, including rigid inspections of identifications and cutting of alcohol sales prior to the end of concerts.

“We never have ever purposely sold alcohol to minors and have instituted a very strict program regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages that had nothing to do with the state,” she said.

The fair board also alleges that Ned West failed to construct a stage house as agreed in the lease, that it failed to maintain grounds properly and to reimburse the board for various legal fees, and that without permission it erected temporary buildings on the property that are visible to the public.

Petersen, who termed the letter “a motivational tool,” said he is optimistic that the alleged breaches of the lease can be remedied without a lawsuit. Should the matter go to court, he said, the state could seek either to take over the amphitheater itself or ask a judge to force Ned West to comply with its demands.