Lawyer Would Help City in Disney Talks

The City Council is expected to approve today the hiring of an outside legal team to head up negotiations with Disney executives on the company’s planned $3-billion Westcot Center expansion.

Lawyer Thomas F. Winfield III would be hired at a rate of $250 per hour to join Deputy City Manager Tom Wood as Anaheim’s representatives at the negotiating table.

Winfield is with the firm of Brown, Winfield & Canzoneri, based in Los Angeles. Its attorneys are specialists in municipal government interests and real estate transactions.

Anaheim City Atty. Jack L. White said Brown, Winfield was selected because of the magnitude of the proposed project, which Disney officials unveiled last week.

The 470-acre expansion would include three new hotels, an entertainment area spread over 100 acres, a face lift for Disneyland itself, retail districts and lushly landscaped public areas. The project would also call for significant but yet-unspecified contributions of public dollars for freeway improvements and land acquisition to build three off-site parking.

The public costs for construction and acquisition of land designated for parking structures and proposed freeway improvements are expected to be important issues when city negotiators meet with Disney executives.

“This is going to take a lot of time and effort,” White said Monday. “I told the council I would be happy to do this myself,” he said of the negotiating, “but it would take a lot of time away from my regular duties.”

White said the contract does not specify a length of time for completing the negotiations. The city will review Winfield’s billings on the project monthly, he said.

Winfield, 49, said his firm represents several government agencies, among them various city redevelopment agencies and the Los Angeles County Housing Authority.

“We would be looking at what they are proposing and analyzing what the impact is,” Winfield said of Disney’s plans. “From what has been presented, it looks as though Disney has spent a long, long time on their plans. We would also need to take a considered look at their proposal.”