College to Take Over Stadium in Long Beach

After 10 years of on-and-off negotiations, the City of Long Beach and Long Beach City Collegehave reached an agreement under which the city-owned Veterans Stadium will come under control of the college.

According to the agreement, ratified Tuesday by both the City Council and the college Board of Trustees, the college will make $3 million worth of improvements in the 35-year-old Clark Street stadium in exchange for “beneficial title”--complete control of the facility at least until the year 2015.

Earlier negotiations broke down, according to LBCC spokesman Arlyss Burkett, because the two parties could not agree on a legal arrangement whereby continued public use of the stadium could be assured. Under the new agreement, said Burkett, control of the 50-acre facility will revert to the city if and when the college ever ceases to use it for events open to the public.

Among improvements planned by the college are expanded seating, a renovated press box, better restrooms and structural strengthening. The college plans to pay for the improvements, Burkett said, by leasing to a developer 6.4 acres it owns at the corner of Carson Street and Lakewood Boulevard which is now the site of a parking lot and a baseball diamond.

In addition to moving the diamond to the stadium grounds, Burkett said, the college is considering the construction of classrooms, office space and storage facilities at the site.