Developer Not Giving Up on Disputed Theater Site

Despite sharp opposition from the community, Spectator Corp. will persist with its proposal to build a $27-million, 25,000-seat outdoor amphitheater at a site in Oceanside, the developer’s spokesman said Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, Mayor Larry Bagley said the project, intended for a 67-acre site at El Camino Real and Oceanside Boulevard, was virtually dead because of strong neighborhood opposition and stringent city planning requirements.

La Jolla-based Spectator has been publicly silent since Bagley’s announcement, but John Brice, whose public relations firm has been hired by Spectator, said Tuesday that “the site that raised concern, that’s still our target.”

“Our effort is to continue working with that location and to work with the neighborhood to satisfy their demands (to offset) traffic, noise and litter,” he said.

Brice said he could not provide further details, including whether Spectator still intends to open the amphitheater by spring of 1991. The mayor has said the developer couldn’t possibly go through the city’s planning process that quickly.

Spectator chief Hal Kolker, a former vice president of the San Diego Clippers franchise and a former vice president of the San Diego Sports Arena, has not returned phone calls and was out of town Tuesday.

Kolker said in January that the amphitheater would bring symphonies, rock concerts and Broadway-class performances to Oceanside, and his proposal appeared to have won favor with the local business community.

However, residents in the areas near the proposed site became alarmed at the notion of concert noise and up to 8,000 vehicles during peak attendance. Within a two-week period earlier this month, 1,600 of them signed petitions opposing the amphitheater and lobbied the City Council to reject it.

Bagley, who at first seemed warm to the project, said March 14 that the council took a dim view of the plan. Citing Spectator’s need to win council support for a general plan amendment and a zoning ordinance change, he said it was his “strong opinion there is no way (Kolker) can proceed with that parcel of property.”

This week, Bagley said he “would be surprised” if Spectator remained interested in the original site, and he believes the firm is exploring alternative locations.

“Any time there’s this much money earmarked for a project, there are alternative locations,” said public relations representative Brice, but added that he couldn’t identify what others might be considered.

Although Spectator will now try to mollify residents at El Camino Real and Oceanside Boulevard, there is no indication that opponents will be more receptive.

Barbara de la Torre, who organized the neighborhood petition drive, said Tuesday that “all the information we’ve gathered shows it can’t be a good site. It just would never work.”

She argued that traffic and noise from the amphitheater “can’t be mitigated” and added, “How are you going to stop noise from leaving an open-air amphitheater?”

City Councilman Sam Williamson said Tuesday that he spoke with Kolker recently and learned that other sites are being investigated, and that, “I just told him I didn’t think there is a place for them in the city of Oceanside.”