Disneyland’s Project Will Add to Pollution

A second theme park Walt Disney Co. wants to build in the Disneyland parking lot will increase traffic, noise and air pollution but not to the extent of a larger project the company proposed five years ago but never built, according to a report released Friday.

The proposed $1.4-billion Disney’s California Adventure represents a dramatic scaling back of a $3-billion resort the company proposed for the same site, thereby reducing any adverse effect on surrounding areas, an environmental impact report concludes.

Disney will bypass a rigorous review of its new proposal because the city had already approved an environmental impact report in 1993 in connection with the original resort project, which the company abandoned last year because it was too ambitious to build.

On Friday, the city released an addendum to that report, noting the smaller scope of the new project and other changes that it says will substantially reduce expected adverse effects.

“We’re confident that the EIR addendum addresses any and all issues that might be raised,” Deputy City Manager Tom Wood said. “We believe this is the first step in realizing an exciting and vibrant destination resort.”

Disney’s California Adventure will have three themed lands based on Hollywood, the beach scene and California’s wilderness areas. The theme park, to be constructed on two-thirds of the Disneyland parking lot, will also include a 750-room luxury hotel called the Grand Californian.

In addition, a 200,000-square-foot shopping, dining and entertainment complex called the Disneyland Center is planned. Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for next year, with an expected opening in 2001.

Another phase, to be completed by 2010, would include an additional 2,800 hotel rooms and more parking facilities.

The original environmental report listed seven unavoidable consequences from the expansion project. These included increased traffic congestion; noise and air pollution during construction; worse air quality from the increase of vehicles the project will draw to the area; and elimination of agricultural land. The addendum states that California Adventure will not entail “substantial increases” of those problems.

The documents outline some changes from the original. The parking layout will change to reflect the project’s smaller size; there will be some minor realignment of West Street between Cerritos and Katella Avenue, and West Street will be lowered to make way for a possible pedestrian overpass.

City officials maintain that benefits, such as increased property, sales and hotel tax revenue generated by the new Disney development, outweigh any problems the project may create or intensify.

Disney officials estimate that the new theme park, hotel and entertainment district will yield 14,500 jobs, 8,100 of those in Anaheim. The company projects annual revenue from the expansion at $25 million for the city of Anaheim, $10 million for Orange County and $35 million for the state.

But some opposition to the project is expected from local school districts, which want to be compensated for the additional students resulting from the development.

The report acknowledges that the project may have “indirect enrollment impacts,” because employees might relocate into the boundaries of the school districts. But the document concludes that the problem will not be as severe under the smaller project.

Other opponents to the project are the members of Home Owners Maintaining their Environment, or HOME, a vocal group of Disney critics concerned with increased traffic.

The separate 127-page development agreement between Anaheim and Disney assures Disney that its project will not be affected by any changes in city laws and other rules and regulations that might go into effect between the time the agreement is approved and the project is completed.

The document will be on public view for 10 days. The Planning Commission will vote on it Aug. 19. That will be the final step in the approval process unless the panel’s decision is appealed to the City Council.