Disney’s Expansion Plans Are Not a Free Ride : Development: Issues of traffic congestion, air pollution and paying for the massive public improvements must be dealt with. Company officials cite the new jobs and increased tourism.

Once upon a time, Disney’s magic transformed Orange County from orange groves into an international vacationland.

The same purveyors of fantasy are now proposing a resort adjacent to Disneyland that is nearly five times larger than the Magic Kingdom. They dream of doubling the number of tourists to the area to 25 million annually after 1998.

Company officials say the $3-billion Westcot expansion, announced here last week, would have an energizing ripple throughout Southern California. They say it would create jobs, generate more tax dollars and clean up a blighted neighborhood around Disneyland.

But with these jobs and visitors come increased traffic congestion. There are also environmental concerns to address: How will a county caught in the clutches of a five-year drought support a park planning to maintain a six-acre lake and acres of lush vegetation and green public plazas? Disney says it can help solve some of the problems its project will create.

There are numerous concerns that park planners, government officials and residents must weigh in the coming months as Disney decides whether to locate its second Southern California theme park in Anaheim or Long Beach, where the company has proposed a $2.8-billion ocean theme park called Port Disney. Here are some issues:

Jobs

Disney has not said how many jobs would be added to the Orange County economy if the Anaheim project is built.

A source involved in the project said its economic impact “should not be significantly different” from the proposed Port Disney project in Long Beach.

That project, according to a report by the Brentwood consulting firm of Kotin, Regan & Mouchly, would create 27,100 construction-related jobs in Long Beach through 2000, when the first phase would be completed.

First-phase construction also would create another 21,000 jobs in Los Angeles and four surrounding counties. A second phase would create an additional 10,800 jobs, for a total of 58,900 jobs.

When completed, Port Disney would support 23,900 jobs in Long Beach, and another 12,800 jobs in the five-county region, for a total of 36,700 new jobs.

Traffic

With 13 million additional visitors a year and as many as 50,000 jobs from Disney’s expansion, the biggest worry for most residents and government officials is traffic congestion.

Disney officials boast that their proposed system of freeway connector ramps to parking garages, moving sidewalks and people movers would reduce traffic congestion now attributable to Disneyland.

Traffic experts caution that the area is expected to grow dramatically--as will traffic--from a new sports arena, additional office space, and hundreds of new retail establishments.

“It’s very possible they can work out the traffic immediately around the site, but the regional traffic implications and the air quality concerns are very serious,” said Frank Hotchkiss, planner and architect with The Planning Center, a Newport Beach-based firm.

Caltrans officials say that the Santa Ana Freeway, which is being widened from six to 10 lanes, could handle the extra traffic produced by Disney’s expansion. They are worried about weekends, when severe congestion is not limited to the commute hours that Disney-bound tourists tend to avoid.

The segment of I-5 near Disneyland carries about 159,000 vehicles a day, 6,231 of which are estimated to be headed to and from the park. After the freeway is widened, the segment near Disneyland is expected to carry about 200,000 vehicles per day. The number of cars going to and from Disneyland would double to more than 12,000.

Air Pollution

The environmental impact report for the Santa Ana Freeway widening project states that although air pollution in the area would decline, levels still would exceed federal clean air standards. Although the report took area growth into account until 2010, no Disneyland expansion was considered.

To expand Disneyland, Disney officials must overcome several air quality obstacles.

First, they must obtain permits from the South Coast Air Quality Management District before they could add new pollution-emitting machinery on site, such as gasoline-powered motors used to run some attractions. Air quality officials said that for every pound of new emissions Disney’s on-site equipment will produce, 1.2 pounds must be eliminated somewhere else.

That can be accomplished, air officials said, by replacing existing, dirtier machinery with more modern equipment.

Or the company can offset new pollution by reducing it at other company facilities in the air basin, such as at Disney’s Burbank studios. Disney also could buy air pollution credits from firms that have reduced emissions more than the law requires.

Utilities

The Disney expansion would require large amounts of water, electricity and sewer capacity, but the usage is not expected to strain city and county systems.

Adequate water would not be a problem because Anaheim gets most of its supply from the county’s ground-water basin, which is fairly well-stocked even after a five-year drought. Most of Disneyland’s water rides, pools and attractions use recycled water.

The city also expects few problems with electricity, said Ray Merchant, spokesman for Anaheim.

Disneyland now uses about 19 megawatts of power. (Each megawatt can power 720 homes.) The new Disney projects would use an estimated 75 to 100 more megawatts.

Tourism

Of all the Southland tourist spots hoping to benefit from Disneyland’s expansion, the Movieland Wax Museum’s Mark Edwards put the feelings most succinctly: “Disney is going to get the bulk of the business; we’re going to be the little suckerfish on the shark.”

From Magic Mountain in Valencia to Sea World in San Diego, people in the amusement business agreed that more visitors to Disneyland would benefit the region’s entire tourism economy.

“Witness what Disney World has done for Orlando. That’s basically a flagship theme park for the area,” said Dan LeBlanc, a Sea World spokesman.

Tourism industry analysts have said that the local tourism industry has been crippled by the recession and fears of terrorism that stemmed from the Persian Gulf War.

Many hope that an expanded Disneyland would be a magnet for tourists, as the original Disneyland was when it opened 35 years ago.

Taxpayers’ Cost

The public bankroll needed to satisfy Disney’s appetite for additional acreage, construction and transportation improvements for its Westcot Center proposal has Anaheim number-crunchers working overtime.

City Councilman Tom Daly said city staffers are looking at “every known mechanism” to defray what is expected to be a hefty bottom line for the city.

Already, Disney officials have said they expect the city to buy at least 50 acres of prime property--in an area where prices have hit $1 million an acre--for three multistory parking structures. A commitment of additional tens of millions of dollars would likely be needed for freeway ramps.

Although city officials cry that they are cash poor, a number of funding options are available. Each option is certain to make life more expensive for Anaheim residents, businesses and visitors.

A leading option is activating the Anaheim Parking Authority. Although the district was created several years ago, the City Council never used its power to tax businesses or motorists for using public parking areas.

Such levies could produce a few million dollars each year, Daly said. Typically, parking authorities take existing public land or acquire property for parking lots and charge businesses for the privilege of providing employee parking.

Officials also could raise the hotel occupancy tax rate. Tourists now pay an 11% tax on room rates in Anaheim, just below the average 11.6% for major tourist destinations in the country, officials said.

Times staff writers Marla Cone, Jeffrey A. Perlman, Bob Schwartz and free-lance writer Anne Michaud contributed to this story.