Family Fun, or the Road to Civic Ruin? : Development: Backers of planned Lego theme park in Carlsbad tout cultural and economic benefits. Opponents foresee creation of another Anaheim. Debate builds as referendum nears.

Is it a battle royal between the irresistible Lego and the immovable NIMBY? A case study of how bad things happen to good towns?

And why is the business-friendly reputation of the governor of California resting on what happens in a tomato field just east of the Pea Soup Andersen restaurant and motel?

Read on for answers--partial, conflicted and political--about this building-block drama with statewide, national--nay, even international-- significance.

On June 7, voters in this upscale seaside community 35 miles north of San Diego will vote on Proposition D, an advisory referendum that asks whether the Carlsbad City Council should approve plans for a Lego Family Park USA.

The proposed 40-acre, $100-million park, planned for a hilltop just off Interstate 5, would be the first American theme park built by the Danish makers of those tiny plastic blocks that litter the floors of 70% of American households with children. Projections are that the park would draw 1.8 million visitors a year--a large percentage of them coming from Los Angeles and Orange counties--after it opens in 1999.

On one level, the Carlsbad debate is another round in Southern California’s seemingly never-ending fight over suburban growth.

Lego backers say Carlsbad has to either grow or wither, but opponents say an amusement park is the wrong kind of growth and could scare away the light and clean industry that fills the city’s lushly landscaped, campus-like business parks.

In a slug-it-out campaign waged in the local newspapers and public-access television channel and through a proliferation of signs on the partisans’ lawns, the opposing combatants seem to be talking about two different parks.

The pro-D, pro-Lego crowd speaks of the proposed park in terms of fun, wholesomeness, family togetherness, the laughter of small children and increased tax revenue to keep the Carlsbad municipal coffers flush and recession-proof.

“It would be an absolute asset in terms of education and culture,” said Peder Norby, president of the Carlsbad Rotary Club and leader of Carlsbad Cares, the Lego park support group. “It would be a small, passive, education-oriented park for children.”

The anti-D movement warns darkly of traffic, strip development, cheap motels, fast-food restaurants, increased crime and hormonally-charged teen-agers ruining the tranquillity of this city of 65,000.

John Linehan, a business consultant, thinks a Lego park would metastasize into something awful, begetting cheap motels, fast-food eateries and trinket shops, like Katella Avenue in Anaheim.

Linehan is a member of Neighbors Involved in Carlsbad’s Future, which was originally Neighbors Against the Invasion of Lego (NAIL) until that acronym was deemed too negative. The group eschews the better-known label NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).

Linehan and other opponents are sending brochures to every home in Carlsbad with photos of Buena Park before and after the arrival of Knott’s Berry Farm and Anaheim before and after Disneyland. The unsubtle message is that theme parks, however modest their beginnings, tend to devour their host cities.

“Every child wants to go to a theme park, but no adult wants to live near one,” said Linehan.

Lego chose Carlsbad for its first American park after a year of assiduous courting by rival suitors: California Gov. Pete Wilson and Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder. Wilson was nearly bubbling last November when he joined Lego executives at the La Costa Resort & Spa to announce Carlsbad’s triumph over Prince William County, Va.

The Lego execs, speaking Danish and English, lauded Wilson’s success at moving heaven, earth and the state Legislature to put together a package of economic incentives and amend the state tax code.

The governor arrived with bureaucrats, publicists and oversized charts to herald the Lego decision as proof that California is rebuilding its economy “block by block by block,” even when the blocks are miniature. “California is back in business,” Wilson enthused.

Proposition D is only advisory, but Lego has said it will take its blocks and go home if the proposition loses. Which explains why Wilson took time from his uphill reelection fight to come to Carlsbad one recent Friday night to keynote a $75-a-plate fund-raiser for the Pro-Prop. D forces.

A no vote on Proposition D could send a chilly message that California is not receptive to the tourist industry, said John Poimiroo, state director of tourism. Poimiroo was part of a squad of state and local officials who formed “TeamCalifornia” to lure Lego with promises of infrastructure, political support and marketing assistance.

So eager was Wilson to get Lego for Carlsbad that he took time from directing the California National Guard during the Los Angeles riots to call Lego officials and assure them that not all of California was in flames.

“If Carlsbad does not want this project, we will be very frustrated,” said Poimiroo.

Elaine Lyttleton, past president of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, said she understands that when the words theme park or amusement park are heard, the average American conjures up images of the hurly-burly of Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott’s.

“But the reality is that Lego is more like the Quail Botanical Gardens” in nearby Encinitas, Lyttleton said. “Amusement park is not even the right adjective to use to describe what Lego plans.”

Lego promises that the park will be filled with flower gardens, a miniature lake, kiddie rides, a “driving school” for tots, “hands-on” playrooms, and replicas of the U.S. Capitol, the Parthenon, Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, Chief Sitting Bull and other cultural icons made from millions of Lego blocks. The target audience is children from 2 to 13.

Anti-D leaders retort that Lego will soon find that its low-key European formula does not fit the more lusty, action-packed American idea of entertainment. They foresee Lego being forced to chase the lucrative teen-age market by installing rides with thrills and spills, attractions that glow and bump in the night, and maybe even rock ‘n’ roll concerts.

“Once the camel’s head is in the tent, the tent starts to move,” said Linehan. “We’ll become Amusement Park Central.”

“I want to live in Carlsbad, not Anaheim,” said Geoff Bell, a dentist.

“We’re not the group of fanaticals that some of the papers have described us as,” said Jim Young, a commercial real estate agent.

Boosters say claims of creeping Anaheimism and increased crime are scare tactics unworthy of civilized political debate. “The lesson has been learned from Anaheim and Disneyland,” Poimiroo said. “Other parks have learned how to lessen the impact.”

Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly says he does not mind that his city is being used as the bogey man by the anti-Lego campaigners. He just wishes they would tell the whole story about what Disneyland hath wrought.

“Anaheim is the leader in terms of job creation in Orange County,” Daly said. “If Carlsbad voters want to create jobs, they should think about that when they vote on Lego.”

Opponents are fuming that Lego has attempted to co-opt Carlsbad’s children.

The Oceanside Blade-Citizen, whose editorial page is foursquare for Lego, sponsored a contest asking students to write essays about the virtues of Lego, with first prize being a trip to England and Denmark. It followed up with an editorial cartoon suggesting that without Lego, Carlsbad youth will be tempted to join gangs.

Also, the word has gone out that teachers may find summer jobs at Lego.

“They’re buying the schools,” said Pat Knox, a psychologist.

“It’s communistic,” said Scott Jones, a landscape designer, referring to the boosters’ attempts to sway adults’ votes by influencing their children.

“No theme park can educate our children,” said Cecilia Sawyer, a fourth-grade teacher.

Norby, the leader of the pro-D team, is leading a pre-election trip to Denmark so that 40 Carlsbaders and local newspaper and television reporters can see the Lego park in Billund.

His enthusiasm for Lego is ancestral. He is Danish-American, the owner of a Danish bakery in Carlsbad and travels twice a year to Denmark.

Norby said he doesn’t believe that just because there has never been a park like Lego in this country, its smaller-is-better formula cannot succeed.

“Of course it can succeed,” Norby said. “That’s what makes America great.”