Buena Park Council to Vote on Rezoning Golf Course June 1

The Buena Park City Council probably will decide the fate of a controversial plan to rezone the 23-acre Big Tee golf course for commercial and residential development on June 1, officials said Friday.

The city Planning Commission Wednesday voted 5 to 2 to recommend rezoning the site after first voting against it due to confusion over a procedural matter. The recommendation now goes to the council.

Mayor Don Griffin said he has not decided whether to support rezoning. “We haven’t held any public hearings. I think it would be a bit premature to make any comments on it now,” he said. Other council members agreed that it was too early for them to take a position.

The Big Tee golf course is owned by Gordon McComber and leased by Marvin Sader.

Many residents of Buena Park and surrounding communities who attended the Planning Commission session spoke strongly against a proposal to build retail stores and a 71-unit condominium project on the site.

Admonishing commission members before the meeting, J. D. Culbertson, a La Mirada resident who lives directly behind the golf course, called it a “positive environment” for young people. “You don’t see people smoking dope. You don’t see people drinking. Where are they going to go? You going to push kids back out into the streets?”

Richard Oremsby of the Big Tee Senior Citizens’ Club has said that supporters of the golf course “will try to get it (the rezoning issue) on the ballot in a special election.”