Court Orders Anaheim to Halt on Arena

Plans to build an $85-million indoor sports arena in Anaheim were halted--at least temporarily--Friday when an Orange County Superior Court commissioner ordered the city to take no more “steps in furtherence” of the project.

Commissioner Julian Cimbaluk stayed arena plans until Feb. 14, when another hearing can be held on the issue.

Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter said the action is likely to delay construction to the point that the arena will not be ready for the opening of the professional basketball season in the fall of 1991 and could possibly jeopardize efforts to lure an NBA franchise to town.

But Hunter said he is still confident Anaheim will be able to build its arena before a nearly identical one, proposed in Santa Ana, is under way.

“By the time Santa Ana reaches our point, it’s going to have just as many problems,” Hunter predicted.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, however, said his city is moving ahead at a deliberate pace, “dotting all the i’s and crossing all the Ts. We’re going to take our time and do it right. . . .

“One of the two sites is eventually going to have the arena, and that’s something to cheer about,” Young said.

The lawsuit heard in court Friday was filed by Jack Stanaland, owner of Orange Tree Mobile Home Park, which is immediately next to Anaheim’s proposed arena site.

The suit was one of three filed Friday against Anaheim. The others were filed by the Los Angeles Rams and Anaheim Stadium Associates (ASA), a development firm.

Each of the suits claims the city hastily approved its arena project without proper regard for its environmental effects.

Attorneys for the city said they were uncertain what effect Cimbaluk’s order will have on escrows that have not yet closed on property being acquired for the arena or what effect there will be on negotiations with the arena developer, Ogden Projects Inc.

“This does more than just affect the city’s ability to construct on the site,” said attorney John L. Fellows III, who represented the city at Friday’s hearing. “We thought the law was on our side and we still think it is.”

City officials had hoped to begin construction in February and to open the 20,000-seat arena by October, 1991. But in papers filed in response to the mobile home park lawsuit, Assistant City Manager James Ruth said that clearing and grading of the 26-acre arena site cannot begin at least until April 30.

Stanaland’s suit seeks to prevent the city from spending money, “consummating agreements to acquire property . . . acquiring property,” and clearing the site and building an arena.

Stanaland’s attorney, Robert S. Coldren, said the city “intends to commence construction in February and . . . is on the verge of consummating land-acquisition transactions which would irretrievably commit the city to the arena project.”

The Rams and ASA, a partnership that includes Rams’ owner Georgia Frontiere, have similar concerns.

“If we prevail, then if the city wants to continue with the project, they would probably have to start over,” Rams’ attorney Peter N. Scolney said.

Some critics have charged that the city rushed its approval of the project in order to begin construction before ground is broken for the nearly identical arena in Santa Ana.

Stanaland has complained that the arena would create noise, traffic and unsafe conditions for his 400 tenants. The arena would be located next to the mobile home park on Douglass Road, north of Katella Avenue.

The Rams are concerned with the proposed use of Anaheim Stadium’s parking lot for arena parking and the scheduling of arena events at the same time as Rams’ games. ASA has complained that the environmental impact report on the arena was based on outdated and inadequate information and was adopted by the city without giving the public adequate time to review the issue. ASA has been granted development rights to Anaheim Stadium’s parking lot.

Stanaland, the Rams and ASA seek court orders to set aside the approval of the arena environmental impact report, rezoning and parking lot permit.

Faced with threats of lawsuits, the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday postponed for two weeks acting on a request by the California Angels, Los Angeles Rams, Orange Tree Mobile Home Park and ASA to set aside the Dec. 27 approval of the environmental report, zone change and parking lot permit.

Hunter and other councilmen said they need more time to analyze the numerous issues raised by the arena critics.

But the Rams and others were facing a deadline. State law requires court challenges to environmental impact reports to be filed within 30 days of the document’s adoption, which runs out Monday.

California Angels attorney Don Morrow said the baseball club hopes its complaints about the arena can be worked out without lawsuits.

Morrow said the city may extend the deadline for filing a lawsuit in order to continue negotiations with the Angels. The team wants assurances that there will be no events scheduled to begin at the new arena within an hour of the start of Angels’ games a block away at Anaheim Stadium.

“I think we’re prepared to go to court if we don’t get this worked out,” Morrow said. “To protect our fans, I think we’d have to do that.” Hunter has said that even though he believes the city would prevail in court, the delay would set back construction about six months, long enough to miss the opening of the 1991-92 basketball season.

Councilman Irv Pickler, the lone City Council opponent of the project, has charged that in the city’s rush to acquire land for the arena, Anaheim officials have paid more for the property than its appraised value.

Moreover, Pickler said, he believes Anaheim has approved too much money--more than $21 million to date--to acquire land for a facility that may never house a professional sports team.