ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : This Is No Race to Bet on

There they go down the stretch! The cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim are involved in a race to be first with an indoor sports arena, and both are pulling out the stops.

Did we say race? Some even call it war. An attorney for one developer said as much when he observed that, “the missiles are in the air and there’s no calling the missiles back.”

Within the last month, both city councils waved through quick agreements that involved substantial commitments of public money, even though everyone in Orange County seems to agree that only one city can support an indoor arena.

For all this enthusiasm, there are as yet no professional sports franchises to play in either stadium.

But the speedy commitments of public money are what take one’s breath away.

Santa Ana’s agreement one evening last week to loan King Guanci Development Inc. of Newport Beach $3.5 million annually for 30 years was rushed through quicker than you can say “indigestion.” Council members arriving at a meeting on Tuesday were presented by the city staff with a memorandum of agreement that they had never before seen and yet were asked to sign. In fact, details of the agreement had been negotiated right up to the last moment.

When Councilman Richards L. Norton made a reasonable request for time to study it, he was reminded that the race was on and that the developers needed to be able to show financial backers that they had their houses in order. And the city justified its haste by asserting that a detailed agreement would come later, with a fuller public review.

To his credit, Norton voted against approval. In doing so, he became the only council member in either city to withhold support from concluding agreements.

When the dust had settled, Santa Ana had committed itself to paying the developer up to $500,000 in preliminary planning expenses if project financing was not given final approval. That’s not a bad deal for the developer, who was able to capitalize on a nervous city’s eagerness to catch up with Anaheim, which already had concluded its stadium deal.

But Anaheim, where nobody at all voted against the conclusion agreements with a New York developer, was willing to pay an even higher price: It could be liable for up to $2.5 million a year if there are operating shortfalls.

Anaheim aims for a November ground breaking. Santa Ana is charging ahead. This is some race to the finish line.