ANAHEIM : Community Center Tops Council Agenda

The City Council will hear proposals today on a planned downtown community center and the repairs needed for earthquake-damaged Anaheim Stadium.

The council is also scheduled to:

* Decide which groups will receive shares of a $3.7-million federal block grant and whether to adopt an ordinance that will allow only one company to place bus benches in the city. Both votes were postponed last week.

* Approve a settlement with the owners of a long-established restaurant near Disneyland that will save it from closure when the amusement park expands.

* Discuss in closed session the impasse between the Rams football team and the Magnolia School District over the Rams’ practice facility. Both sides have made final offers to resolve a lease dispute and the city must decide whether to cover the financial gap between them.

The community center--tentatively scheduled for construction in 1996--would include a gymnasium, senior center and art gallery.

“We’ve been meeting with some community groups and we are going to unveil for the council what we have come up with,” said Christopher Jarvi, the city’s parks, recreation and community services director.

To repair the stadium, the 17-ton Sony Jumbotron scoreboard, which collapsed during the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake, will have to be temporarily moved to another spot in the stadium, city spokesman Bret Colson said. During the quake, it fell from the roof above the left-field stands, crushing hundreds of seats in the upper deck.

Other scheduled council topics include:

* A list of 19 city departments and community groups that have been selected by a citizens committee to receive block grants from the federal Housing and Urban Development Department. The council can amend the list. City departments set to receive some of the largest grants are the downtown community center, $974,000; code enforcement, $718,000; and the police anti-gang unit, $211,000.

* A proposal that would require bus bench companies to bid for the right to place 500 of their advertising benches in the city. The company that agrees to pay the city the most money and keep their benches the cleanest would be awarded the contract. Other companies would have to remove their benches.

* A settlement with Tiffy’s Family Restaurant, at the corner of West Street and Katella Avenue, which will allow it to remain open if Disneyland expands later this decade. The restaurant would have been torn down to expand the area’s streets, but the streets have been redesigned.

The discussions on the community center and the stadium damage will be held during a study session scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd. The council is scheduled to convene its regular meeting at 5 p.m. to vote on the block grant, bus bench, Rams and restaurant settlements.