Judge Signs Order to End Big A Parking Lot Dispute

A judge has signed a final order in the 5-year-old lawsuit over development of the parking lot at Anaheim Stadium, ending one phase of the once-bitter dispute involving the California Angels baseball club, the city of Anaheim, and Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere.

The order bans high-rise parking garages for baseball patrons but allows development on some areas of the 146-acre lot, giving both sides a claim to victory.

The final written order of Orange County Superior Judge Frank D. Domenichini was circulated this week to the parties and was described by lawyers who had seen it.

Domenichini’s order allows building on three tracts totaling about 20 acres, land that he has ruled the Angels have no rights to. In addition, the order allows the city to restripe the parking lot to produce additional areas where building could occur--a project that already is under way, according to Michael Rubin, a lawyer representing the city.

The city lured the Rams to Anaheim 10 years ago, in part with promises that the team would be given rights to development around the stadium. A development partnership announced plans in 1984 to build office towers that would house 10,000 workers.

Angels owner Gene Autry then sued to block the development, claiming that the city had granted his team prior rights to surface parking spaces. At the trial, which lasted more than a year, Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth testified that high-rise parking garages would so harm the Anaheim franchise that he would recommend that it be moved.

Domenichini rejected requests by Autry’s lawyers to eliminate from his tentative order any specific references to the city’s rights to develop regardless of the Angels’ objections, according to Rubin. The tentative order was circulated last month.

Also last month, a spokesman for the development partnership said planning had resumed for development on the lot. Should the Angels appeal the order, Rubin said Tuesday, the case could continue for years.

“The decision clearly allows for building and development on the parking lot,” Rubin said. “Whether it’s high-rise (development) or not depends on what the city and (the developers) want to do.”