Anaheim Dreams as It Assesses Prospects : Development: A number of ambitious projects could bolster the city’s standing as a tourism and sports center. Investment, especially by Disney, is seen as crucial.

The time has come for dreams to become decisions.

Just as Disneyland, the Convention Center and Anaheim Stadium transformed the city’s image a generation ago, Anaheim’s destiny may forever be shaped over the next few months by an assortment of crucial decisions and fanciful projects.

Will the Walt Disney Co. build its massive resort? Will the Los Angeles Rams skip town? And the most important question: How can the city maintain its coveted reputation as a tourism and professional sports mecca? “This is definitely a key time for the city,” Assistant City Manager Dave Morgan said. “These types of decisions probably only come around every 30 years or so and can change the direction of a city for generations.”

Whatever Disney and the Rams decide, it’s clear the city won’t be passive about its future.

City officials are studying whether to build a lavish sports complex that would convert the Big A to a football-only stadium, include a new ballpark for the Angels, add restaurants, stores and a virtual-reality entertainment center and connect them around a park-like setting of canals and landscaping.

Officials aren’t entirely sure how they would make the ideas work, or even if they’re feasible. But to Anaheim’s dreamers, the plans are anything but far-fetched.

“Everything we accomplished in the past could have been looked at as pie in the sky, and look at what’s happened,” said Irv Pickler, a just-departed city councilman. “Anaheim hasn’t scratched the surface yet. . . . There are so many things we can do in this city.”

“I think you’re going to see some dramatic changes in Anaheim in the next 60 to 90 days,” said Bob D. Simpson, whose term as councilman also ended this month.

Among other options the city is considering:

* Handing over the management and operations of its 27-year-old Convention Center to a private operator and giving the dome-shaped landmark a massive renovation and enlargement before the end of the decade.

* Creating a sports authority to oversee the Pond and the two stadiums.

* Linking the Disneyland area to the proposed sports complex by a light-rail or monorail system.

The city already has set into motion a $172-million urban face lift of the area surrounding Disneyland, which will include lush landscaping, wider streets, underground utility lines and uniform signage. Now, city officials say they are focusing on the property around Anaheim Stadium.

The goal, they say, is to convert that area from floundering office buildings to a thriving sports and entertainment playground that will be directly linked to Disneyland and the city’s profitable convention center market. City officials say that their plans are extremely preliminary and conceptual. More important, city planners have not figured out how to pay for such daunting projects.

But investment from the private sector, especially Disney, would seem to be key to success.

City officials hope that Disney executives will not only move forward on the $3-billion Disneyland expansion, but also will see the potential financial opportunities if they became partners with the city in the sports complex concept.

Walt Disney Chairman Michael D. Eisner said he expects to make a decision “very soon” on the expansion plan.

But some are growing frustrated.

Frank Elfend, a City Hall lobbyist who represents hotel developers in the Disneyland area, said “there is a growing sense in the community that something has to happen, thumbs up or thumbs down” on the Disney project. Hotel developers are waiting with plans to expand if Disney does, but are tired of waiting--upward of two years now--for a decision.

City officials certainly haven’t given up on Disney, or on its connection to the stadium area. They envision an Anaheim where tourists check into local hotels for days, visit Disneyland, attend a Mighty Ducks hockey game one night and Rams football game the next, filling time in between by shopping in local stores and dining in local restaurants.

“It’s an exciting idea,” said Jeff Farano, president of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

Such a scenario may not be all that far-fetched for Disney, which has Disneyland and the Mighty Ducks to anchor the ends of the ambitious project.

Disney officials say that the Ducks have exceeded expectations, both financially and in their performance on the ice, and that the company is interested in pursuing new team sports. The officials say they haven’t closed the door on participating in the sports complex development, which could also include hotels and a restaurant row.

If Disney doesn’t get involved in the sports complex, some city officials say privately that the opportunities could then be offered to a Disney competitor, such as Universal Studios or MGM.

But even before city officials line up developers and partners for the sports complex, they have to make sure there will be professional teams to fill the stadiums.

Currently, they are struggling to put together a deal to prevent the Rams from fleeing the city. Part of that deal involves remodeling Anaheim Stadium for football only.

Most city officials expect the team to make a decision by the end of the year, but even if the Rams leave, city officials believe they could attract another National Football League franchise.

Meanwhile, the city is in the middle of negotiations with the California Angels to extend the team’s lease and build the team a new baseball-only stadium, probably in the parking lot of the current stadium.

City officials have said stadium projects could be financed with the help of redevelopment funds, which were made possible after the stadium area was declared a redevelopment district because of damage sustained during the Northridge earthquake. The city is also apparently considering other financing methods, such as a surcharge on sporting event tickets.