GARDEN GROVE : City Considering a School Complex

City Council members sitting as directors of the Agency for Community Development have told City Manager George L. Tindall to pursue the possibility of building a college facility on city-owned land in the Civic Center area.

In a report to the City Council last week, Tindall said that officials of the Coast Community College District were interested in locating a facility on vacant land between Main and Euclid streets and north of Garden Grove Boulevard.

Tindall said Rancho Santiago Community College officials also have expressed an interest in having a facility at that spot.

The 8 1/2-acre parcel under consideration is near the Civic Center, the Gem Theatre and the amphitheater, Main Street shopping center and Garden Grove High School.

Over the years, officials have proposed a series of ill-fated redevelopment projects for the location, among them an office tower, a headquarters building for the Orange County Transportation Authority and a theater complex.

Councilman Mark Leyes, the chairman of the Agency for Community Development, said Monday that an education center, with perhaps a movie theater complex and restaurants, would be a desirable way to attract daytime customers who could shop and attend events.

Leyes, who acknowledged that discussions are sketchy, said four-year colleges also might be interested in sharing the proposed educational facility.

Councilman Robert F. Dinsen, however, said that the site is perhaps the city’s most attractive piece of land and that he “can’t go along” with the proposal.

He pointed out that Garden Grove would be unable to collect property taxes or sales taxes from an education center.

The Agency for Community Development has asked Tindall to proceed with discussions with both the Coast Community and Rancho Santiago college districts as well as with the state university system.