Red Tape Snags Valley Fair’s Attempt to Relocate at Pierce

The fate of next year’s San Fernando Valley Fair was put in jeopardy Tuesday as fair organizers learned that they may be banned from Pierce College--despite an invitation last week from campus leaders.

Administrators of the Los Angeles Community College District said they are prohibited from permitting the fair to use the Woodland Hills campus until a long-range master plan for the school is developed.

College district leaders said Tuesday that they are obligated to honor a resolution passed by the district’s board of trustees 3 months ago that blocks development at Pierce College until the first-ever master plan is completed. Such a land-use study cannot be finished before the summer, officials said.

Stunned fair organizers said there is no alternative location that can be used for the 4 1/2-day event, which is being ousted from its former home at Devonshire Downs after the first of the year.

“We have no fallback plans,” said Mel Simas, the fair’s manager. “I don’t know what we’ll do. I’m very, very disappointed.”

Bid for Waiver

Simas predicted that fair officials will try to explain to trustees that a waiver to the development moratorium should be issued on grounds that next year’s fair would be a one-time event that would leave no permanent mark on the campus.

Opponents are likely to argue against such an exclusion, however. They have repeatedly warned that opening the door to the fair for a year is likely to lead to the event taking up permanent residence at the campus.

The possibility of problems surfaced Friday when college officials notified district administrators that Pierce professors had voted to endorse the fair’s 1989 campus plans and prepare a contract allowing the fair on campus. Pierce administrators had said they would follow the recommendations of the faculty.

“There are strong feelings that the comprehensive land-use study should be completed first,” said Norman Schneider, a spokesman for the district. “The consensus of all the folks involved seems to be that we need to get that process going before we think about anything else at Pierce.”

William Norlund, a Pierce vice president, said it is doubtful that a master plan can be completed before the end of the current school year. He said Tuesday that he had thought that the fair’s organizers had been aware of the pending land-use study.

“I don’t know what their options are,” Norlund said. “The land-use plan will probably take some time. We’ll probably have to have an outside firm to do some of the research. I’m sure it will take months.”

Simas said fair officials must have a contract in hand by late February to organize the 1989 fair--which is scheduled for July. Some commitments were to have been made in January, he said.

Simas and other fair organizers had said they had intended to ask college officials for permission to move permanently to Pierce if next year’s campus event had been a success.

“The district is raising the issue of the foot-in-the-door,” Ted Nauman, a fair consultant, said Tuesday night. “I think it’s erroneous. They’re coupling the fair with commercial events. They’re challenging the word of the board of directors.”

District Stance

Nauman said a district lawyer called late Tuesday to tell him of the district’s stance. “He did not leave me with any hope, but he did not shut the door,” Nauman said.

In adopting their resolution, trustees acted after hearing complaints from Woodland Hills homeowners that the fair, a proposed science museum and several other campus projects were leading to piecemeal development of the 400-acre Pierce campus.

“We support the district 100% in this matter,” said Robert Gross, vice president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization. He said his group has called for a review of all existing campus contracts and leases as part of the upcoming master-plan study.