Tax Money Sought for Disneyland Expansion : Lobbying: Bypassing O.C. lawmakers, the company asks Congress for $400 million in freeway funds.

In need of cash to help finance part of their massive Anaheim expansion plans, Disneyland officials are asking the nation’s taxpayers to pay nearly $400 million to help them out.

The Disney Development Co. has persuaded five key California Democrats, all from outside Orange County, to push the House of Representatives to approve a special, $395-million federal highway project that would include construction of new exits off the Santa Ana Freeway to speed Disneyland visitors to high-tech parking garages near the Magic Kingdom.

The federal money would close a gap in financing for the special off-ramps and municipal parking garages that Disney has proposed as part of its huge expansion project. The cost of the exits by themselves is estimated at about $80 million. Disney’s expansion plans include new hotels and Westcot, an updated, West Coast version of Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Florida.

The $395 million would also help pay for construction of new high-occupancy vehicle lanes on the Santa Ana Freeway and the proposed parking garage complex serving Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim Stadium and other Civic Center businesses.

Disney officials earlier had asked the state Department of Transportation to pay for some of the improvements, such as the off-ramps, that would be funded by the federal “demonstration project,” but the state turned them down, according to a source familiar with the request.

Despite strong support from the five House Democrats, all of whom have received Disney contributions, the plan has raised concern among some who fear the public is being asked to pay for a project that, in part, will directly benefit a large, private enterprise.

Others suggest that the Disney project could delay other important Orange County transportation projects.

In addition, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who represents the district that includes Disneyland, said he was miffed by Disney’s failure to consult him about its plans.

“I think whenever you freeze out the local congressman and go with a one-party . . . approach, you make a mistake,” Dornan said. Dornan has drafted a separate request, at the behest of the city of Anaheim, asking for a $175-million demonstration project that, he said, would benefit businesses throughout the Anaheim Civic Center area. “Disney, as much as I love them, is a commercial enterprise,” the congressman said.

“What confuses me,” Dornan added, “is that Anaheim came to me with one figure that is still pretty substantial, $175 million, and (Disney is) upping the ante to $395 million,” Dornan said.

Disney vice president Alan Epstein said he saw no reason for Dornan to be upset.

“The city of Anaheim, being a large city with diverse interests, has sought grants for projects that go beyond the projects we’ve focused our attention on,” said Epstein. “The second point is that we at Disney have been somewhat more aggressive than the city in seeking a bigger federal share.”

The five Democrats who are pushing the Disneyland project--Reps. Mel Levine of Santa Monica, Howard L. Berman of Panorama City, Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, Don Edwards of San Jose and Vic Fazio of Sacramento--all have received contributions from the Disney Political Action Committee during the past three years, according to Federal Election Commission records. The PAC contributed $7,000 to Levine, $2,000 each to Berman, Fazio and Waxman, and $500 to Edwards.

Epstein and Kerry Hunnewell, also a vice president of Disney Development, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co., said the five Democrats were asked to solicit the funds because the Anaheim project involves “statewide benefits.”

Bill Andresen, Levine’s administrative assistant in Washington, said the congressman was first approached about the special funding request by Richard Bates, Disney’s Washington lobbyist, a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“He came to us,” Andresen said. “We responded because it looks like a good project.” Andresen said Levine also wrote letters on behalf of a tunnel project near Los Angeles International Airport and the Los Angeles Metro Rail subway.

In their letter to Rep. Robert A. Roe (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, the five Democrats said they were seeking the $395 million because “it will not only bring great economic growth to California but will be a state-of-the-art transportation model that encourages intermodality, efficiency and environmental soundness.” In return for spending the $395 million in federal funds, the congressmen said, “$2.4 billion in new economic activity would be facilitated.”

But the proposal might cause trouble for other projects. One Caltrans official said the new money, which would be made available over five years, would count as part of Orange County’s minimum allocation of federal highway funds. That means the Disneyland demonstration project would put other major Orange County transportation projects on the back burner, perhaps for years, said Carl B. Williams, an assistant director of Caltrans.

However, a top Orange County transportation official was more sanguine about the Disney proposal.

“There are some attractive elements to it,” said Stanley T. Oftelie, chief executive officer of the Orange County Transportation Authority. “Bringing large sums of federal dollars to the county is attractive, and (the Santa Ana Freeway) remains our No. 1 priority. The (freeway) is Main Street for Orange County.”

Oftelie said he is not overly concerned about allowing the new project to jump to the top of the list because improving the Santa Ana Freeway corridor has long been the county’s top priority. A $1.6-billion project to widen the freeway from Irvine to the Los Angeles County line is now under way. The new money would complement those efforts, Oftelie said.

The five Democrats are seeking to tack the authorization for the Disney project onto a new, five-year transportation bill that is making its way through Congress. The House version of the bill is scheduled to be introduced next week.

By authorizing a demonstration project, Congress in effect circumvents that state planning process that sets priorities for the use of normal federal transportation aid. The device is commonly used in Congress to provide funds for pet projects that might not otherwise be built. A source on the public works committee, which has jurisdiction over the new transportation bill, said congressmen already have forwarded to the panel more than 200 requests, totaling about $23 billion, for demonstration projects.

An Orange County congressman who is a member of the public works committee said he generally is suspect of all demonstration projects, regardless of their apparent merit. “They are the quintessential definition of pork,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach). Generally, he said such projects only “demonstrate what half a billion dollars can buy these days.” Cox said he has not yet taken a position on the Disneyland proposal.

Williams of Caltrans suggested that Disneyland ought to pay at least part of the cost, rather than relying completely on public funding for the portions of the project that will directly benefit the park.

“If you are making accommodations in a public facility that directly benefit one entity, then that entity should be prepared to be forthcoming with some help in covering the additional costs that are incurred,” he said.

Epstein said the money will not just aid a private company.

“The improvements for which we are seeking funding will have a broad benefit throughout the recreation area of Anaheim, throughout North Orange County and throughout the whole (Santa Ana Freeway) corridor,” Epstein said.

“We’ve been working with the city for some time to help create support for the (freeway) widening project generally,” Hunnewell said. The proposed legislation would also provide money for car-pool lanes and special freeway ramps.

Caltrans and county transportation officials have said they cannot pay for the Disney-related traffic improvements, which would be connected to a planned, elevated Anaheim “people mover” and new regional transportation center next to the Santa Ana Freeway.

The $1.6-billion widening of the Santa Ana Freeway from Irvine to the Los Angeles County line lacks several hundred million dollars to complete the project north of the Orange Freeway. Disney’s request for special federal funding would not help that situation, Hunnewell and Epstein said, except that planned car-pool lanes would be funded through Anaheim.

They said that Disney is helping others, including Anaheim and the Orange County Transportation Authority, lobby for those funds needed to complete the project along its entire length.

Robert W. Stewart reported from Washington. Jeffrey A. Perlman reported from Orange County.