BUENA PARK : Vets Get Reprieve on Closing Clubhouse

Veterans have won a reprieve to keep their clubhouse open while they continue looking for a new home.

Wearing their military caps, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8954 filled the City Council chambers Monday night and gave impassioned pleas to the council not to close down their post.

After a two-hour public hearing to consider revoking the post’s permit to operate its bar and meeting hall, the council unanimously approved giving the post until May to find a new home.

“It buys some time,” said Councilman Donald L. Bone, who added that the post’s permit to operate will be revoked if a new site has not been found by the deadline.

“The clock begins to tick--and the ball is in your court,” Bone told about 50 veterans, some of whom were from other Orange County VFW posts.

City officials said that the post has been in violation of its conditional-use permit since the clubhouse opened 30 years ago because parking was never provided for the facility, located in a residential neighborhood at the corner of Homewood Avenue and 8th Street.

Councilwoman Rhonda J. McCune said the matter is simply “a land-use issue.”

In years past, when the post rented out the clubhouse for parties, residents complained about noise and parking problems. A drive-by shooting also spurred residents to demand that the post relocate.

In an effort to assist the post, the city’s redevelopment agency two years ago offered to buy the post’s property for $50,000, give another $50,000 for relocation costs and pay up to $20,000 for asbestos removal.

The council’s action Monday directed the city staff to re-evaluate the current offer for the purchase of the property and relocation benefits to make sure the offer is fair, Bone said.

About a dozen veterans addressed council members, asking them for more time to relocate.

“We certainly are not the enemies of your city, and I feel the city should not be the veterans’ enemy,” said Richard Pignone, VFW state senior vice commander and member of Anaheim Post 3173.

For more than two years, city officials have been helping the veterans look for a suitable place to move the clubhouse.

Post members recently found a building in an industrial area, but became frustrated after the city imposed requirements to install fire sprinklers and pave the parking lot. The extra cost made it prohibitive to move there.