City Expected to Hire Own Architect for Arena : Anaheim: A proposal aims to get the stalled project back on schedule while holding down costs.

In an effort to get back on a “fast track” with its 20,000-seat indoor sports arena, the city is expected to hire its own architect to draft new plans and hold construction costs below the $94 million quoted by the developer.

But not everyone at City Hall is pleased with the idea.

“We shouldn’t be spending taxpayers’ money until we have consummated a deal that we know is going to happen,” said City Councilman Irv Pickler, the only council member to vote against the arena project.

City Manager James Ruth, who recommended the council approve the plan at its regular meeting Tuesday, said the change in architects would not affect the city’s current arrangement with Ogden Corp. The city no longer has a contractual obligation to use Ogden as the arena developer, Ruth has said, but continues to negotiate with the New York-based firm.

However, under a proposal on Tuesday’s council agenda, the city would pay up to $425,000 to Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc. (HOK) of Kansas City for the schematic design phase of the architectural services. HOK has designed the $70-million Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, the Bradley Center Arena in Milwaukee (home of pro basketball team Milwaukee Bucks) and the new Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles baseball stadiums, now under construction.

“The city seems to be coming up front with all the money,” Pickler said. “All the responsibility seems to be falling on the city’s shoulders.”

The full bill for the Anaheim Arena architectural services would be $3.6 million, according to Ruth’s report to the City Council. A developer, once having obtained construction financing for the project, would take over the HOK contract and repay the city, Ruth said.

“In this manner, it is possible for the project to proceed on schedule while the city completes its agreement with the arena developer,” Ruth said.

The city hopes to complete construction of the arena by the fall of 1992, the same timetable projected for another arena proposed in Santa Ana.

Spokesmen for Ogden could not be reached for comment Friday. But Ogden, which has feuded in recent months with the city over the stalled project, had previously hired the HNTB architectural firm, which has completed interior and exterior renderings of the project.

City officials said Ogden has no objection to the city hiring a different firm to design the facility. Ron Rothschild, Anaheim’s director of administrative services, said he expects HOK to develop a project that will improve the design of the arena as well as reduce costs.

City officials began to object to Ogden’s arena proposal earlier this year when construction bids came in at $94 million, about $9 million more than expected.

“I don’t know if we have a number that we consider to be tolerable,” Rothschild said of the construction costs. “We’re expecting it to come under what the other design cost . . . by a significant amount.”

But city officials offered no explanation Friday for why the city, rather than Ogden, will advance the costs for the new architect.

“I can’t answer why (Ogden) isn’t paying it,” Rothschild said.

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Arena still must clear significant hurdles posed by three lawsuits filed by the Los Angeles Rams, Anaheim Stadium Associates and Campanula Properties, the owner of a mobile home park adjacent to the arena site on Douglass Road and Katella Avenue.

City Atty. Jack White will ask the city attorney on Tuesday to approve out-of-court settlements in the suits, which have halted arena construction and site preparation. White said that as of late Friday, an agreement had been reached in only one of the suits--the one involving the Rams--but he was hopeful that settlements could be reached on the others by Tuesday.

White said a tentative agreement with the Rams would prohibit arena events from beginning within two hours of Rams games and ban the arena from using any part of the Anaheim Stadium parking lot during Rams games. The city also would agree to pay the Rams 50% of parking proceeds if the new arena’s parking lot is used by people attending Rams games, he said.

And finally, the city would agree to pay the Rams’ $100,000 attorney fees stemming from the team’s lawsuit filed in January challenging Anaheim’s arena environmental report.