Voters Are Rejecting Cypress Project

Cypress voters Tuesday were overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed 167-acre business and recreational project for one of the largest remaining open spaces in northwestern Orange County, culminating years of debate and legal wrangling over the site.

With 21 of 23 precincts reporting, the special ballot measure was being defeated almost 2-1.

But a spokesman for Hollywood Park Realty Enterprises, the owner of the property, vowed to “vigorously pursue” federal and state lawsuits against the city to permit development at an even greater density.

The Cypress Downs project would have transformed a former public golf course surrounding the Los Alamitos Race Course into a business park, office complex, hotel, retail and commercial shops and 31 acres for churches and schools. Of those developments, only the churches and schools could be built under the current zoning.

The development site surrounds the Los Alamitos Race Course, bordered on the south by Katella Avenue, on the north by Cerritos Avenue, on the west by Denni Street and on the east by Walker Street.