Anaheim Stadium Renovation Deal Set for Council Vote

City and Walt Disney Co. officials spent much of Friday finalizing details of a historic lease agreement that would keep the California Angels playing at a renovated Big A for at least 23 more years.

A deeply divided City Council, which has been debating the matter for several months, is expected to take a final vote on the agreement Tuesday.

“Both sides have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to make this deal happen,” an upbeat City Manager James D. Ruth said Friday. “It was done in a spirit of cooperation, trying to understand each side’s point of view.”

The council vote, expected to be narrowly split, will come almost exactly one year after Disney announced that it was buying 25% and operational control of the Angels.

When the purchase was approved by major league baseball in January, the company made it contingent upon reaching agreement with the city over who would pay for renovations to Anaheim Stadium.

The final document varies little from the tentative memorandum of understanding approved by the council last month, indicating that the city and Disney had agreed on all major issues, Ruth said.

According to the lease, the two parties would share a $100-million renovation of the stadium 70-30, with Disney paying the larger portion of the cost. The city would pay its $30-million share from three sources: $10 million from existing stadium revenues; $10 million in excess hotel bed tax revenue; and $10 million from city reserves, according to additional city documents released Friday.

Disney will keep virtually all of the stadium’s profits unless certain high thresholds in attendance and parking are met, meaning the city will no longer be able to draw from stadium profits to pay $9.3 million in existing stadium debt and $500,000 a year in property taxes for the facility.

The entertainment giant, in turn, would take over operations of the city-owned facility for the duration of the 33-year lease, which gives the baseball team the option of breaking the lease--with heavy financial penalties--after 23 years.

The baseball team would become the “Anaheim Angels” beginning with the 1997 baseball season.

The final vote is virtually certain to be a 3-2 split. Mayor Tom Daly and Councilmen Frank Feldhaus and Lou Lopez are staunch supporters of the deal, while Councilmen Bob Zemel and Tom Tait are against it.

City officials said Friday more than 200 callers have expressed support for the deal. But several tax-fighter groups that oppose it demand that it be placed before the voters.

Copies of the final lease agreement are available for inspection by the public at each of the city’s five libraries. The document also will be on display at the City Clerk’s office beginning Monday, city officials said.

The council meets Tuesday at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd.