ANAHEIM : Bungee Jumping Plan Withdrawn

An amusement park operator on Monday withdrew a proposal to bring bungee jumping to the city after a straw poll of the Planning Commission showed it would fail.

Court Huish, general manager of Anaheim Family Fun Center, said he withdrew his plan to build a 70-foot bungee jumping platform because he didn’t want the commission to also reject his plans to build a children’s carnival at the park. Located at Glassell Avenue near the Riverside Freeway, the park now features batting cages, an arcade, go carts and bumper boats.

The commission then delayed approval of the carnival, which would include a Ferris wheel and a carousel, pending a study of its affects on local parking.

All seven commission members told Huish they would reject the bungee jumping proposal because it would be a distraction to freeway drivers and an “attractive nuisance” that would draw gang members to the area.

After the meeting, Huish and Thomas J. Woodward, president of Air Boingo, which would have built the attraction, said they do not understand the commission’s concerns.

Woodward said the platform would have been 500 feet north of the freeway and out of view except to those drivers who made a conscious effort to look for it. His company opened a platform in Riverside County five weeks ago next to a freeway and he said no problems have been reported.

“To see (the Anaheim platform), drivers would have to turn their heads completely to the side,” Woodward said.

Huish said there is no crime problem at the park now and he doesn’t think adding bungee jumping would have caused one.

“We are a family fun center, so we want a customer to feel comfortable bringing his daughter to us,” Huish said.

But city officials and commission members disagreed.

“I am totally opposed to bungee jumping if it can be seen at all from the 91 freeway,” Commissioner Bob Zemel said.

Police Investigator Jim Gandy said gang members do visit the center and the miniature golf course next door, Camelot Golf Center, and bungee jumping would bring more.

“It would attract more people, so there would be more cruising in the area,” Gandy said. “I don’t think gang members do bungee jumping.”

Participants in the fast-growing sport leap headfirst toward the ground while strapped into thick rubber bands.

According to the center, jumpers would have fallen about 50 feet. The bands would have been stretched to their maximum limit and the jumpers, who would have paid about $19 for the experience, would have bounced at the bands’ ends until they were lowered to the ground. A 10-foot air bag would have been placed below the jumpers in case the bands broke, which Woodward said would be a highly unlikely occurrence. No one on the commission questioned the proposal’s safety.

Bungee jumping has been increasing in popularity nationally in recent years as participants have taken the plunge legally while attached to cranes, hot air balloons and towers, while also illegally jumping from buildings, bridges and cliffs.