Buyer of Race Track Vows Public Space : Citizen Concerns Cited in Plan to Reserve Part of Los Alamitos Site

In an effort to appease residents of Cypress, the buyer of the Los Alamitos race track pledged Friday to set aside at least 16 acres of a proposed 160-acre development for open public or community space.

The vacant land, which included a golf course, is part of a 300-acre site that takes in the Los Alamitos race track. SDC Development of Newport Beach agreed to purchase both the land and the race track last week for $100 million.

James C. Watson, SDC senior vice president, said the company intends to develop the 160-acre site for retail, office and industrial use. About 16 to 27 acres of the lot will be given over to community use, perhaps as a site for a church facility that would include open space for athletic fields.

As part of the transaction, SDC will uphold an agreement between the city of Cypress and the property’s present owner, Hollywood Park Realty Enterprises, to spend $11.3 million on refurbishing the race track and improving adjacent roads, sewers and water facilities.

Hollywood Park Realty will continue to run the race track until 2001 under a lease-back agreement and has agreed to pay SDC an annual rent of $3.5 million.

Hollywood Realty purchased the property in 1984 for $63 million and planned to develop it, but became embroiled in an expensive and lengthy legal battle with Cypress residents who opposed the closing of the golf course and the loss of open space to the community.

Watson indicated that SDC would attempt to accommodate the community and that working closely with the Concerned Citizens of Cypress for Greenbelt and Open Space Conservation would be “a critical element of our plans.”

“We certainly can’t make progress toward the development if we do not understand their concerns,” Watson said. “We have had preliminary talks and we understand they would like to protect some open space.”

Watson said that SDC could not make any specific comments about how the public space would be used or if it would be sold or donated to a church. However, he did rule out the possibility of reopening the golf course.

He said that SDC had set up meetings next week to discuss the matter with the citizens group, the Cypress City Council and Cypress Mayor Margaret Arnold. SDC has also held talks with three church congregations, including Grace Church of Los Alamitos. SDC will put together an “outline of a definitive proposal” within 30 days, he said.

Watson added that completion of the transaction is contingent upon SDC’s determination that it will, in fact, be able to develop the land.

SDC’s development plan, when it is completed, must first win City Council approval. Even then, SDC could face further opposition from residents, as Hollywood Realty did.

In 1986 the City Council approved Hollywood Park Realty’s development plan and rezoned the 160 acres from public and semipublic use to industrial and office space. But irate golfers and other residents who opposed the rezoning led a successful battle to block development, culminating in the passage of a referendum in November that was approved by 54% of Cypress voters. The measure requires that any rezoning of public or semipublic spaces must be put to the voters.

Joyce Nicholson, chairperson of Concerned Citizens of Cypress, said she would need to see more specific plans before commenting on the SDC proposal, but added: “We are not going to stand for something like the Hollywood Park plan. Ultimately, the development will be decided by the voters, which is what we originally fought for.”

City Councilman member Jerald Mullen said that possible inclusion of a church on the site would be a “welcome innovation.”

“I think this would be very pleasing to the people in the community and would go a long way to reducing the community’s resistence to this whole development project,” Mullen said.