LOS ALAMITOS : Council Reluctantly Picks Settlement Plan

Though expressing reluctance to do so, the City Council has approved Option A of the Orange County bankruptcy settlement.

Officials said they will continue to evaluate that decision, however, until the judge overseeing the county’s bankruptcy petition makes a final ruling.

Under Option A, Los Alamitos would receive about 76% of the $2 million it had in the county’s failed investment pool. Part of the remainder would be returned in recovery notes and repayment claims.

By choosing Option A, council members waived their right to sue the county for further damages.

Councilman Ronald Bates said he is concerned that the settlement agreement favors larger investors. “Maybe the settlement was developed on the wrong premises,” Bates said.

In other business, the council at its meeting last week passed an ordinance regulating adult-oriented establishments in the city.

The ordinance, which ends a moratorium of almost two years on such businesses, would require that they be confined to industrially zoned areas and away from “sensitive land uses” such as schools or churches.

City Manager Robert C. Dunek told the council that no adult businesses are located in Los Alamitos now.

The council took no action on a proposed increase of 48 cents in the basic rate for cable television service. The increase will take effect automatically because of new federal regulations, Dunek said.