Crisis for Dipper : City Considers Giving Coaster Renovation Job to Plunge Builder

For years, a ragtag army of roller coaster buffs has fended off the threat of the wrecking ball by spending their spare time fixing up the Giant Dipper, the historic 1920s amusement ride that looms over Mission Beach like a ghost from the past.

The volunteer army--called the Save the Coaster Committee--has had one goal: Restore the wooden structure to its former glory, before vandals and neglect rendered it a charred, weather-beaten eyesore.

Now, however, San Diego city officials believe the committee has failed to meet its goal. And the city is thinking about reassigning the committee’s right to renovate the roller coaster to someone else--possibly the developers who are building a controversial shopping center next to the amusement ride.

The idea has some people fuming.

“I think the Mission Beach community and the city at large . . . their confidence in city government would really be shaken to see this action taken at this present time,” said Helen Duffy, president of the Mission Beach Town Council.

Historic Landmark

At issue is what the city will do with the committee’s lease to renovate the Giant Dipper, a national historic landmark that stands at Mission Boulevard and Mission Bay Drive.

The proposal also is rekindling ill feelings in the community over the shopping center development around the Plunge, next to the roller coaster.

Duffy said many of the people who have worked to restore the coaster over the years also fought against the Plunge development.

The question of building 70,000 square feet of commercial space around the indoor swimming pool touched off a storm of protest and resulted in a citizens’ initiative aimed at curtailing development in Belmont Park, where the Plunge and the Giant Dipper are located.

Though the measure gained enough signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot, most people concede the developers have rendered the question moot by breaking ground and completing nearly a third of the construction work on the shopping center before voters will ever get a chance to decide it.

With that taken care of, some say, they suspect the developers are trying to wrest control of the Giant Dipper and use it as a “drawing card” to the development.

“They frankly wanted the coaster for themselves,” said Norm Starr, president of the committee. “They’re greedy. They want to run it and make some money at it.”

Builders Back Restoration

One of the developers, however, said Tuesday that he and his partners only want to make sure the roller coaster will be restored--perhaps in working order--before the shopping center is opened in May.

“We’ll do whatever is appropriate to have someone restore and operate the coaster,” said Graham MacHutchin, adding that complete renovation could cost as much as $1 million. “Either the city will find an operator, or if they want to assign it to us, we’ll find an operator.”

Under an agreement with the city, the developers have the first shot at renovating the roller coaster if the committee loses its lease. Yet MacHutchin said he and his partners would gladly step aside for someone else determined to take on the rehabilitation task.

“I think the frustration is a result of the Save the Coaster Committee’s having been unable over the past five years to find the necessary funding to save the coaster,” he said. “There are other ways of attaining that goal.”

The aging attraction, built in 1925 by San Diego land mogul John Spreckels, seemed destined for demolition as late as 1982, but the committee won a three-year lease from the city to perform the renovation.

In return for the right to work on the structure, the committee promised to provide the sweat and money necessary to get the job done.

When the job wasn’t finished on time, the city extended the lease until this December. Completing a schedule of improvements would give the committee the option to renew the lease for another 20 years, city officials said.

Much Has Been Done

Starr said his volunteer group--armed with a $150,000 state grant and $50,000 in donations--has done a lot to save the coaster.

The committee has removed a “mountain” of trash, put up lights and painted the relic with a wood preservative, he said. It has replaced 20% of the lumber in the structure, has bolstered the foundation and is now fixing the coaster’s brake system.

But city officials say the group is still behind schedule on agreed improvements and doesn’t have the money to finish the job.

The group hasn’t begun repairs on an area of “spur” track, hasn’t painted some of the wood damaged from fires, and has failed to build a combination office and museum building, said Jane Humes, a city property department employee.

The committee’s failure prompted the city’s labor relations manager this month to recommend giving the lease to someone else.

Bruce Herring, the labor relations manager, was called upon to mediate a dispute between the committee and the developers, Belmont Park Associates, on other matters. The two sides, operating on leases from the city, couldn’t agree on who would pay for landscaping between their properties or who would pay for liability insurance to cover the people expected to walk through an entrance at the roller coaster into the shopping center.

In reviewing those issues, Herring also noted the lack of progress in renovating the Giant Dipper.

“The fact that more cosmetic work on the coaster has not been completed . . . is even more glaring and exaggerated when contrasted with the expensive construction project next door,” Herring wrote in a memo dated Aug. 18.

Would Move Quickly

He also said the city may want to make the reassignment in September--more than three months before the lease is to expire.

He recommended the early reassignment, he wrote, before the November initiative can pass and possibly “restrict future commercial uses of the roller coaster, including operation.”

Herring wrote that a roller coaster operator in Santa Cruz has expressed interest in spending the $1 million necessary to renovate the ride.

Deputy City Manager Maureen Stapleton said Tuesday the city will continue working with the committee, asking its advice on renovation of the structure. She said she will meet with Starr and others Thursday and the idea of reassigning the lease will be discussed today by the city’s historic-site board.

“I’m very much concerned that you are under the impression that we’re kicking the coaster committee out and going our own way,” Stapleton said. “The coaster committee has not been able to acquire the financial resources to do what it wants to do. Everyone wants to see that coaster restored.”

Starr, however, sees it differently.

“We’ve saved the coaster, and nobody seems to think we’ve done anything, and all they want to do is take it away from us,” he said.

Any reassignment of the lease would have to be approved by the San Diego City Council.