Officials Dispute Kell’s Pessimism Over DisneySea : Resort: Ernie Kell defends his view that the theme park will probably go to Anaheim. Other city leaders say the project, planning remain on track.

Mayor Ernie Kell’s startling remarks last week that the Walt Disney Co. is unlikely to build its $3-billion theme park in Long Beach drew anger and even disgust from city officials who suggested that the mayor was talking through his hat.

But sources close to the more than yearlong negotiations between Disney and Long Beach said Kell’s assessment was not without foundation. The pace of the talks has slowed, critical cost questions remain unanswered and the latest version of the DisneySea resort--with six hotels, a cruise ship terminal and a nautical theme park--is a shadow of its former self.

“Things are not progressing the way they were in the past,” one source said. “It’s no longer a theme resort; it’s down to a theme park. And to build another theme park, you have to put up a lot of bucks, and what you end up with is just another Disneyland.”

Disney has positioned Long Beach and Anaheim in a race to become a worldwide tourist destination. The company has spent millions designing separate resorts for each city, and it plans to announce by the year’s end which one it will build.

In the first negative remarks made by a public official since the race began, Kell said last week that Disney is 80% likely to go to Anaheim because objections from environmentalists have made the Long Beach ocean project unworkable.

Plenty of other city officials disagreed: City Manager James C. Hankla said the negotiations with Disney are moving along “professionally” and that “there is a transaction on the table.” Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Roy Hearrean, who sits in on the talks, said Disney seems “optimistic” about Long Beach.

And several city councilmen suggested that the mayor’s opinion was not only without factual basis but had come dangerously close to driving Disney into the arms of Anaheim.

“I could strangle him,” Councilman Les Robbins fumed after hearing of Kell’s remarks. “I’m really unhappy that Ernie would go around making statements like that when he doesn’t know as much about it as I do.”

Kell and the City Council do not participate in the closed-door negotiations and are merely briefed about their progress. But some of Kell’s closest friends and political allies sit on the city’s negotiating team.

One source close to the talks said the pace of negotiations has slowed since Disney failed this year to win legislation that would allow it to build the resort on 250 acres of ocean landfill in the Long Beach Harbor. Powerful environmental groups opposed the bill, which never got out of committee, and Disney left Sacramento with something of a black eye.

That forced the company to consider building a scaled-down project on one-third the amount of ocean landfill. The Port of Long Beach drew up such a plan last month, but Disney has yet to respond.

“They have never accepted or commented back on that design. This is the first time it’s ever taken more than two days for them to get back with an answer, (and) this is the wrong time for things to slow down,” the source close to negotiations said, referring to Disney’s year-end deadline. “We haven’t discussed anything on the rent (Disney would pay the port), who would pay for the project or how.”

Noted Kell: “We used to see a flurry of activity from Disney, with renderings coming through. But there has not been one rendering on the new configuration.”

David Malmuth, a vice president for the Disney Development Co., says Disney executives are carefully studying the original resort plans and several alternatives. He called the scaled-down version “very challenging,” but said Long Beach remains in the running.

But to pursue the original vision of a mammoth resort would require going back to Sacramento for legislation to amend the California Coastal Act, a move the environmental community has promised to resist again. And Disney may be reluctant to risk losing a second time.

“They got such a black eye out of it the first time,” one harbor source said. “Disney has never been beaten before. They are the wizards who can do anything, but they couldn’t even get to first base on this one.”

A movement appears to be under way at City Hall to reintroduce the legislation, this time under the city’s banner instead of Disney’s. Kell said he already has “put out feelers” seeking legislative support.

But without a victory in Sacramento, Kell said, the chances of Disney building in Long Beach are slim.

“In ancient Rome they used to hang the bearer of bad news,” the mayor said. “But I have had many, many prominent people in this city tell me it had to be said.

“Why continue to lead people on because you don’t want to give them the bad news? The chances of (a Disney resort) materializing have diminished greatly. That’s my opinion and I stand on it.”