Public-Private Land Use Given Its First Push

For years, a private concern has sold firewood on a wedge of surplus county land where Bristol Street and the Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar freeways meet in Costa Mesa.

In exchange, the weeds are pulled, and a nominal lease fee is paid to the property owner, the Orange County Flood Control District.

But a high-powered advisory committee thinks that Orange County ought to turn the fallow, 4.2-acre parcel southwest of John Wayne Airport into a long-term moneymaker as an office complex or commercial center.

Public-Private Project

In the first recommendation since its formation 1 1/2 years ago, the Real Estate Advisory Group this week will ask Orange County supervisors to consider public-private development of the site, which, if sold on the open market, could command an estimated $2.2 million to $2.7 million.

“We think it’s potentially a great resource, and I’m excited about the opportunity for the county,” said Newport Beach real estate attorney Paul C. Hegness, a member of the advisory group formed by supervisors to reevaluate the county’s land holdings.

“Our long-range goal is to try to put the county in a position where it has a continuing stream of cash over a period of years instead of a shot-in-the-arm here or a shot-in-the-arm there,” Hegness said.

The concept of developing public properties for private use, though not for outright sale, is becoming increasingly popular as financially strapped school districts, cities and counties across the nation seek to make the most of their limited resources.

Already in the county, a Hilton hotel sits on leased space in the parking lot of the Anaheim Convention Center, and a high school in Brea will be razed to make the site available for commercial development and another school built elsewhere to replace it.

If approved in concept by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the Bristol Street parcel, which is adjacent to the Santa Ana-Delhi Flood Control Channel, would be the first such venture by Orange County.

Sought ‘Best Guidance’

Tom Daly, an aide to board Chairman Ralph Clark, said the advisory group was created by supervisors “to get the best guidance possible on the county’s properties.”

In 1982, Orange County was the county’s fourth largest landowner, holding title to more than 31,000 scattered acres from the Cleveland National Forest to the sea and from La Habra to San Clemente. The county has continued to acquire thousands of acres and stands to own much more by the end of this century, most of it as land dedicated for open space and parks in exchange for approval to develop.

“County staff and board members know these properties are valuable, but we wanted to get the best advice possible for the taxpayers so we could make the best use of that land,” Daly said.

The Real Estate Advisory Group includes six private sector experts in various aspects of real estate and three county officials, working with the consulting firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

Private sector appointees are: Hegness; Robert Foreman, an appraiser with Real Estate Analysts of Newport Beach; Philip S. Inglee, president of Liberty National Bank in Huntington Beach; Richard G. Sim, with the Irvine Co.’s industrial research and development division; Chase McLaughlin, with C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, and Jack Raub, who is affiliated with the Mission Viejo Co.

CAO Heads Committee

Chairman of the advisory committee is County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish, with county General Services Agency Director R.A. (Bert) Scott serving as vice chairman. The county’s Environmental Management Agency director, Murray Storm, also sits on the committee.

Hegness said the idea of public-private development is a good one, though he concedes that there is “disagreement about this in the private sector.”

“But when you’re looking at the long-term impact of things like Proposition 13 and the Gramm-Rudman Act (a federal bill aimed at cutting the federal deficit),” Hegness said, “well, I think government is going to have to be a little more innovative in how it supplies the services people demand.”

Hegness cites Anaheim as a success story.

“They’ve done a super job with the Anaheim Convention Center. That operation as it stands today generates quite a cash flow for the City of Anaheim,” Hegness said.

Richard Acker, a county senior real estate analyst, said the county’s Bristol Street parcel if sold outright for development as an office complex or commercial center would be worth from $12 to $15 a square foot.

The advisory group considers it a potential gold mine.

“It’s in an area that is undergoing substantial redevelopment now. . . . It’s on a well-located street. . . . There are two new shopping areas almost next door,” Hegness said.