Golden Idea for Disney

Is it ever too late for a good idea?

According to recent news reports, state and county transportation officials have pledged $50 million for freeway ramps and the world’s largest parking garage to entice the Walt Disney Co. to build Westcot in Anaheim--even though Disney still hasn’t committed to the project.

As those who live in Anaheim can attest, traffic in the Disneyland neighborhood is already clogged. On a typical summer day, it’s not unusual to spend more time in line on the Santa Ana Freeway and Harbor Boulevard than at Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney’s proposal to build Westcot in Disneyland’s parking lot doesn’t exactly thrill its neighbors.

Westcot would be a West Coast version of Epcot--Walt Disney’s vision for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Anyone who has visited Disney World in Florida knows that its transportation infrastructure is based not on cars and parking garages, but on monorails connecting the attractions and hotels.

So here’s what I think is a good idea. The Disney Corp. should build Westcot not in Anaheim, but in Irvine’s “Golden Triangle.” The two Disney facilities would be linked by the urban rail lines already planned by the Orange County Transportation Authority. Just as monorails link Florida’s Epcot and Magic Kingdom, so too would the urban rail line link Anaheim’s Disneyland and Irvine’s Westcot.

The Golden Triangle is the huge tract of undeveloped land formed by the intersection of the Santa Ana, San Diego and Laguna freeways. It is next to the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, scheduled for closure by the end of the decade. Originally planned as a mall and office complex, the Triangle remains largely unbuilt. The mall could not have competed with South Coast Plaza or Laguna Hills Mall, and Orange County is woefully overbuilt with excess office space.

So why try to shoehorn Westcot into Disneyland’s parking lot when the triangle offers much more open land and a far superior transportation infrastructure? In addition to the nearby freeways, the Laguna Freeway will eventually link to the Eastern Transportation Corridor and open the area to the Inland Empire. And let’s not forget that Irvine’s Multi-Modal Transportation Center is already open for business in the triangle. This facility was envisioned years ago as the anchor for an Irvine monorail system financed by $125 million from a state transportation bond. That money still sits in a special account.

OCTA’s plan for its initial 13-mile segment will run the urban rail line from Disneyland to South Coast Plaza. By extending the line to Irvine’s station, Mouseketeers could connect from Disneyland’s monorail system to the OCTA line and head for an Irvine Westcot. This would spread throughout the county the economic benefit of the entertainment colossus, as well as dispersing its traffic congestion.

Former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran recently proposed that the Marine base, already slated for closure, be dealt to the Irvine Co. in a land swap that would preserve open space. This would turn over conversion of the base to a business that knows how to develop property.

The Irvine Co. owns the Golden Triangle land. It could enter into a development agreement with Disney to build Westcot. Imagine the synergy of Orange County’s top entertainment enterprise and its foremost development company.

In the 1980s, the Irvine Co. became the first private developer to pay for its own interchanges, enhancing its projects along the freeways. The same approach could be used here--a Disney/Irvine Co. consortium could fund the infrastructure improvements as part of the El Toro conversion. We could forget the public gift of $50 million to underwrite Disney’s expansion.

These improvements would be minimized by building the urban rail line with its terminus at the Triangle’s Multi-Modal Transportation Center. It would give Orange County the opportunity to break from the endless cycle of more freeways and more traffic. After all, wasn’t that Walt Disney’s message in 1959 when he built his monorail?

Irvine’s claim to fame is its heritage as a master-planned community, a vision that the New York Times once said “may be the American future.” That thinking was precisely what Uncle Walt had in mind for his first Community of Tomorrow. Wouldn’t Westcot and Irvine be a perfect match?