State Grant Nudges Disneyland Resort Plans Forward : Development: The $30-million contribution will go toward construction of a $223-million parking structure if expansion project proposed for Anaheim takes place.

The proposed expansion of Disneyland moved forward this week when the state formally agreed to contribute $30 million to the county’s plan to build the world’s largest parking structure.

The California Transportation Commission’s grant will go toward the $223-million, 12,000-car structure that would be constructed by the county next to the park if Disney’s proposed $3-billion Disneyland Resort expansion takes place. Gov. Pete Wilson had pledged the grant last summer.

The grant is one of the first Disney hopes government bodies at all levels--federal, state, county and city--will make to the expansion. Of the $3-billion estimated cost, Disney is asking that government contribute almost $800 million for such items as parking structures, sewers, streets and landscaping.

“This is a step in the right direction,” said Kenneth P. Wong, Disney Development Co.’s senior vice president. “But we still have a lot of work to do. But we are glad to see the governor’s pledge was passed.”

Lisa Mills, the Orange County Transportation Authority’s assistant executive officer, said her agency is proposing that of the $193 million in remaining cost for the structure, $131 million come from the federal government, $32 million from the Orange County Transportation Authority, $20 million from Disney and $10 million from Anaheim.

The state money will come from savings on other transportation projects in the county, Mills said. The county “would not normally get that money back,” she said.

“Normally the money would go back in the statewide funding pool,” Mills said. “It’s great that we get to keep that money here.”

Disney says the government expenditures are justified because Westcot would add 24,000 jobs and billions of dollars to the local economy.

But Steve White, vice president of Anaheim HOME, a group of local residents opposed to the expansion, said Thursday he does not understand why Disney should receive government assistance. If Disney needs a parking structure, new streets or sewers, it should pay for them itself, White said.

“I don’t know what could justify spending taxpayer funds to benefit a very profitable company,” White said. “I was reading a magazine the other day and saw that (Disney Chairman) Michael Eisner got paid $208 million last year. The company sounds pretty healthy to me.”

The structure would be connected directly to the Santa Ana Freeway and allow park-goers to get into and out of the resort without using Anaheim streets. Construction of the seven-story building tentatively is scheduled to begin in 1996, about a year after construction of the resort is scheduled to begin.

The proposed structure’s bottom floor would be a mass transit center, with bus and train stops and parking spaces reserved for park-and-ride commuters. The other six floors would be used by Disneyland visitors.

As proposed, the Disneyland Resort would include 5,600 hotel rooms, an amphitheater, a seven-acre lake, a shopping district and a new theme park next to Disneyland called Westcot. It is tentatively scheduled to open in 1998.