Pico Rivera Officials Weigh Reuse Plans for Northrop Site

Northrop Grumman Corp. is consulting Pico Rivera officials and residents about what should fill its 200-acre site once the aerospace giant leaves the city by 2000.

A mix of industrial and manufacturing uses tops the company’s list of proposals, although Northrop representatives also have presented plans to replace the B-2 bomber plant with a theme park or mall.

Working hand in hand as property owner and zoning authority, Northrop and city officials agree that a successful reuse plan must provide a good balance of jobs, tax revenues and long-term marketability.

Of special concern is that the recycled plant accommodate a broad mixture of employment opportunities, said city administrative services director Christine Schaefer.

“We are interested in a work force in the city that is diverse and brings in all facets of business,” she said.

Northrop officials say their suggestion for a mixed-use industrial and manufacturing park would provide the city flexibility to weather economic downturns. For even greater adaptability they have proposed dividing the property among retailers, researchers and residential developments.

Two other proposals, including a giant mall, would make a single use of the entire parcel along Washington Boulevard. Perhaps the most ambitious of these is the Las Americas Cultural Center, a $3.2-billion theme park.

Backed by the Norwalk-based National Hispanic Education Foundation, the park would include entertainment, re-creations of pre-Columbian civilizations and a research-compatible aquarium and rain forest simulation.

Northrop and city officials hope to settle on a reuse plan by November, in part because 40 acres along the south side of the property sit idle and could be sold and developed before the plant’s closure.

Though many of the plant’s 5,000 employees live outside Pico Rivera, Northrop has provided the city’s economic drive since its arrival in 1981. For that reason, Northrop reuse consultant David Armanetti said, as many residents as possible should participate in the reuse considerations.

“It’s the equivalent essentially to a military base closure . . . in terms of its economic impact on the community,” he said.

A first round of community meetings aimed at introducing the various proposals concludes Wednesday at El Rancho High School’s cafeteria at 6501 S. Passons Blvd. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.