BUENA PARK : Study Will Target New Tourist Dollars

In hope of attracting more tourists to Buena Park, the City Council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, this week unanimously approved to spend $41,250 for a study to bolster future development in the city’s entertainment area.

The study, which will be conducted by Harrison Price Co. of San Pedro, will examine current and potential development uses that would best fit in the entertainment corridor and identify properties for entertainment or tourist-related businesses, city officials said.

With Knott’s Berry Farm as the largest attraction, the city’s entertainment corridor stretches along Beach Boulevard from Orangethorpe Avenue to La Palma Avenue, and also includes the area along La Palma between Beach Boulevard and Stanton Avenue.

Council member Rhonda J. McCune questioned the city’s need for the study, which will be paid for with redevelopment money. The entertainment area is within a redevelopment project area.

“I’m just trying to figure out what we hope to gain. I want to feel like if we spend the money, we’ll get money back,” McCune said.

Thomas E. Lynch, director of development services, said new developments in the area would improve the city’s tax base.

Other council members agreed that the study is needed in order to look at ways to improve the city’s economy. City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said the study is a unique opportunity for the city because Knott’s Berry Farm is also planning to hire the same company to conduct a study to prepare expansion ideas.

The council’s hiring of Harrison Price is contingent on Knott’s Berry Farm also contracting with the company for a study related to the future of the theme park.

The study would take about five months to complete.