Committee OKs Loan for S.D. Olympic Training Site

San Diego’s quest to cash in on the Olympic dream received a major boost Thursday when a key state Assembly committee agreed to lend $15 million in public funds toward building a year-round Olympic training center in the South Bay.

The proposal, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), received the bare majority of 12 votes required to pass the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, over the objections of the panel’s powerful chairman that the $15-million transaction was tantamount to a “giveaway.”

Campbell’s bill would lend $15 million from the general fund to the private, nonprofit San Diego National Sports Training Foundation to help build a $70-million all-season Olympic training facility on 154 acres west of the Lower Otay Reservoir.

Scattered Sniping

The bill has been the subject of scattered legislative sniping because it does not require the private foundation to pay back the money. Instead, it calls for the public funds to be replenished through the sale of personalized Olympic Training Center license plates, at $100 a pair.

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, criticized the personalized license plate scheme as unrealistic.

His criticism was based on a Department of Motor Vehicles analysis that estimated that such license plate sales would bring in $1 million during the first two years, but only $100,000 annually after that--a scenario that would require 142 years for the state to recoup its $15 million.

“There is no repayment provision, and it would take 200 years to repay the loan. . . . It’s just a giveaway,” Vasconcellos said at Thursday’s hearing. “I won’t be here then to make sure that it happens.”

But Campbell countered by saying that the DMV estimate was misguided because it was based on the $2 million in sales of specialized license plates for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. The 1984 license plate sales fell flat because they were not promoted, said Campbell, who was president of the Coliseum Commission during the Los Angeles games.

“This will be significantly promoted,” Campbell told The Times in an interview before the hearing. “Now we’re going to go out and get significant public service announcements working to sell the plates, and you’ll have a group of people who will also be out there to promote it--all the Olympic athletes in California.”

Besides the financial objections, the political issues surrounding the bill also raised some eyebrows around the state capital.

Lawmakers Surprised

Some San Diego lawmakers said they were surprised that Campbell, whose district lies miles north in Los Angeles and Orange counties, was contacted by the San Diego officials to carry the bill. One of the training center’s most public proponents is San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl.

“I continue to be surprised,” said state Sen. Larry Stirling (R-San Diego). “I don’t know why the councilwoman would have gone around the San Diego delegation.

“We’re disappointed that she did, obviously,” said Stirling. “We wanted to be helpful and involved.”

But foundation director David Nielsen said Campbell was enlisted for the job after he received a glowing referral from a member of the state’s Department of Commerce.

Enthusiastic Backer

McColl said Campbell enthusiastically took up the foundation’s cause. “He came down and asked us about the program,” said the councilwoman. “He was very enthusiastic and was interested in the benefits of it for Californians and the youth.”

McColl has spearheaded the drive to build an all-season training center for Olympic athletes as a way to provide wholesome models for San Diego youth. The center, which has received the blessing of the U. S. Olympic Committee, is also expected to provide an economic boon to the South Bay area near Chula Vista where residential and commercial development is strong.

The EastLake Development Co., a partnership that includes the politically powerful J.G. Boswell Co. agribusiness firm of Los Angeles, has already agreed to donate 154 acres overlooking the Otay reservoir. The training center site is also contiguous to the former Otay Ranch, which was recently purchased by the Baldwin company, a large Orange County development firm.

Nielsen said plans call for the construction of 250,000 square feet of buildings on the site, including a 300-bed dormitory, with about 1.5 million square feet of outdoor training areas. The foundation hopes to break ground next spring and complete construction in 18 months--in time to start training for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

$7 Million in Pledges

So far, said Nielsen, the foundation has received about $7 million in private pledges and will receive $1.2 million of that by the end of the year.

In all, the foundation is hoping to raise at least $50 million from the private sector, an amount that includes the $13-million donation of land and infrastructure--streets, sewers, drains--from EastLake Development.

Because the total project is expected to cost $70 million, Nielsen said the state’s $15 million is crucial.

Nielsen said that Thursday’s action by the Assembly committee made him “very, very happy,” and he added that he “felt very badly” about the criticisms voiced by Vasconcellos. Nielsen said the foundation will be supplying more information to buttress its assertion that specialized license plate sales will be brisker than the DMV expects.

Campbell’s bill now goes to the full Assembly for approval. It must pass through the Legislature before lawmakers break for the year next Friday for the money to be sent to the foundation this year.