ANAHEIM : Building Ban Near Disneyland Retained

In a move that left both council members and most local developers each feeling like they got the bad end of the deal, the City Council extended for 90 days a moratorium on building around the Disneyland area, balking at a one-year freeze that had been recommended.

Some members of council supported the longer building ban, which city planners had recommended, but voted for the less severe moratorium after Mayor Fred Hunter and Councilman William D. Ehrle made it clear that they would not support the longer plan. Any urgency ordinance needs four of the five council votes to pass.

“The city of Anaheim has so much to lose,” said Councilman Irv Pickler, who voted for the 90-day freeze, but was in favor of a one-year moratorium. “I think the people of Anaheim deserve the best, and this is just a shame, it’s just pathetic.”

The Disney Development Co. had also supported the longer freeze, though representatives declined to comment on how the shorter ban would affect their plans to develop a second theme park in Anaheim next to Disneyland.

“We have been supportive of the city’s planning efforts for a long time,” said Kerry Scott Hunnewell, director of development for the Walt Disney Co. “As we see it, the only way . . . is to continue the moratorium.”

Council approved the ordinance Tuesday on a 4-1 vote with Ehrle opposing.

City planners had urged passage of a one-year freeze so that they could continue studying ways to improve traffic and other problems in the area.

The Rev. Ralph Wilkerson, president of the Melodyland church near Disneyland, spoke against the one-year moratorium at the public hearing Tuesday night. He cited the difficulty of selling property during a building freeze as a detriment to his organization’s ability to do its business.

Most developers at the hearing said that a total repeal of what began in May as only a 30-day moratorium would have been preferable to the 90-day extension.

“Any time there’s any kind of artificial controls, it makes it difficult,” said Frank Elfend, a local developer.

The emergency ordinance was first enacted May 1, and was extended for 90 days in mid-June. This was the last time under state government code that the city could extend the moratorium. But city officials said the council might try to use its authority as a charter city to extend the moratorium when it expires in December.